Babemba Tribe Essay

If a member of the Babemba acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he or she is placed at the center of the village, alone. All work ceases, and the entire tribe gathers in a large circle around the violator. Then each person in the tribe, regardless of age, speaks to the accused, one at a time, recalling all the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his or her lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy is recounted. All the individual’s positive attributes, good deeds, strengths, and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. No one is permitted to fabricate, exaggerate or be facetious about the accomplishments or the positive aspects of the person. This tribal ceremony

It is a way for them to punish themselves. They see themselves as failures, as people that are not entitled to beautiful relations, they are not entitled to love. They see themselves as not being worthy and whether they are conscious of it this or not, they are punishing themselves for this behavior.

If somebody is treating me in a bad way just because they choose to, if they get mad and frustrated about a simple thing that I do “wrong”, I know that it is not because of me and what I did, but because the pain is already in them and they project that on me, they want me to take blame for their problems and frustration. It’s now very important how you choose to respond to this situation. You can either choose to make it your problem or you can choose to respond to it and see it as something that does not belong to you. It’s like a present given to you by somebody. If you refuse to accept it, it is not yours. I love how Viktor Frankl talks about this in his book Man’s Search for