Futuristic...Or Not

While reading my LAS (Liberal Arts and Sciences) text book, I learned that the Inupiaq language, a dialect of the Alaskan Inuits, has no future tense. This idea struck me as crazy at first. I didn’t know it was possible to not have a future tense. I didn’t know a language existed where it was impossible to talk about what you are doing tomorrow, or even a minute from now. The more I think about it, the less I can fathom the concept. We live in a culture where everything is centered around the future. From a very young age, we are prompted to think about what we want to be when we grow up. As we grow older, the decisions we make often center around how they will affect us in the future: What kind of classes do I have to take to get into my college of choice? What college will give me the best education, and therefore the best success in my future life? Now, I am sure the Inuits think about the future, but to have no way to express it in words, that is such a crazy thought. At the same time however, how wonderful to think about. These people care so little about the future, about what will happen later, that they do not even have need for words to express such ideas. When I think about it, it might be nice to live so in the moment that I don’t need to talk about what will happen tomorrow, or in a year, or in five years. What a different life these people must live.

This tidbit of information was in what they call “Cultural Connections” - little side stories about interactions between people of different cultures. The Inuit man tells his visitor “Too much think...That’s what makes you nervous.” How true. I know I personally spend way too much time thinking, and it certainly does make me nervous. Just as it says in Matthew 6:34: “So don’t worry about tomorrow,for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” That is definitely something I need to remember more often.