Taker are distinguished from Leavers by three beliefs: that there is one right way for people to live; that they have that one right way; and that everyone in the world must be made to live that way.

The Maya may very well have put the food under lock and key within their own civilization, but they were not impelled by these three beliefs to conquer the Western hemisphere. So, even if they were like us in some ways, they still don’t fit the definition of Takers. As you point out, they eventually did prefer to return to a lifestyle in which food is “free for the taking.”

ID: 563
posted:
updated: 28 Apr 2002