There is a huge difference between being brave and being unaware of the danger. As Coraline in Neil Gaiman’s book says: “When you are scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.”
I was not scared when we ran out of gas on the boat (see a previous post) just annoyed.
I was also standing during the “shooting”. In both cases not because I was brave, because I did not realize that it could be dangerous.
PANG… wizzzzz… PANG… wizzzz
It was a familiar sound. You hear it all the time on TV. The “pang” of a riffle and the “wizzz” of the bullet ricochet on the rocks few meters from us.
I was with 4 other researchers looking for Inuit graves on a desolated land out of the village.
- I don’t like this at all.
We were under fire. The shooter was easily identified: a local practicing shooting.
He did not see us and continue shooting for a while; some of the bullets ending quite close to where we were standing. This is where the story ends. One of us ran to the guy to tell him that we were there and he stopped.
In Greenland, fire weapons are tools.
You are allowed to shoot when you turn 16 and each family own several riffles. It is not unusual to see people walking around with a rifle.
It is used for hunting, snow rabbit for example but also whale or seal. The technique to shoot a seal is quite interesting. When the hunter spots a pod of seals, it shoots at random, hurting and killing several ones, and brings back the one that does not sink.
It is also used to resolve conflict. As a consequence, the rate of murder is extremely high in small villages such as Qeqertarsuaq.
There are also loads of accidents. There is no clear regulation or place to practice shooting. So you can imagine what happen if you put a gun in the hands of a 16 years old kid with no clear idea of how far a bullet can go.
This is probably not mentioned in the Tourism advertisements.
September 6, 2009 at 10:09 pm |
The important thing is : are you alive ?
Please say yes.