The laws of...

The law is a funny thing.  The actual law, the interpretation of the law, the consequences of the law.  The last two days have been spent in ARPA and NAGPRA training.  For those of you unfamiliar with those laws, they were created (in a nutshell) for the protection of Archaeological Resources and Native American remains and funerary objects.  My job is strongly guided by these laws and everything I do must be in compliance with these laws.  However, I also have to be in compliance with the laws of the Tribe, which can sometimes create some very unique situations.

What we've learned over the past two days is that these laws, while in many cases have helped in the preservation of certain culturally significant objects, have also lead to terrible conflict, suffering, and ignorance.  Isn't the law supposed to help solve these issues?  Isn't it supposed to bring peace to those who have suffered the most? I like my job.  Hopefully we are making baby steps to help all involved realize what's at stake if nobody follows the law--just the heritage and identity of thousands of people--

On a more positive note, we were serenaded by my boss at lunch.  We were all treated to Osceola's Pizza during our training and got to enjoy some good ol' Everglade pies.