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Ndn, Your depth of feeling and adherence to the old ways is most merit worthy and, from your words, it is patently evident how your knowledge represents inestimable value to the Lakota people. If you do not wish to accept another under the label of " Indian, " due to lack of the required documentation, then you are fully entitled to your view, so long as, however, you ~ Do Not, attempt to deny the ~ Essence, of the ~ Spirit, Within that person, for such interpretation is within the jurisdiction of NO man's authority, to pronounce, Yea or Nay.
Wali , Quote : " I won't even bother explaining to you what I meant, because that message was personal and from the heart. "
Well I, for one, fully appreciate where you're coming from, Wali, as, indeed, I am certain will many others.
Quote : " Overtime my struggle evolved from involving just black people to involving the entire native world. My mother once told me something that I will never forget, and I will always stay true to this advice. She told me, “son, if all the brown people of the Earth work together, we not only get back our lands, but we would also get back our respect and dignity.”
Again, Wali, I am in accord with your intentions. I am of mixed blood, myself, light brown, and my objective in coming to these boards, was to stand ~ United, not only with the Lakota, but with ALL indigenous peoples, across the board. NOT, that I espouse that each seperate culture should be reduced to one contained homogeneous lump, to the contrary, I hold to the ideal that each should become all the more ~ Vivid, in the individual expression of their own unique and sacred qualities than ever before, that the rich gift of their tribal spirit, be re-newed and vivified, along with the expanded awareness of their Selfhood. Which begins ~ Now.....
Great wonders can only come forth of a full and varied spectrum, such as can be found within the magnificent arch of the rainbows rays, or a shell or crystal,.... or the wonderous intricate design within each gently drifting snow flake...... Nature's pallete is overflowing with variety ......
I have to say, I am strongly averse to the idea of so called technological progress, another word, to my mind, quite simply, for ~ Assault, upon Nature. The abuses that white man has dealt out continuously upon the people as well as the Earth and her resources, is self evident. There is absolutely~ Nothing, that technology and so - called scientific progress can provide, that a delicate little flower, a simple rock, or the resonant tone of a chant or a beaten drum cannot give to the environment, infinitely more harmoniously potent, than anything concoted in a lab.
It is ~ Precisely, WHEN, we ~ Divide, the Balanced and natural essence's within a plant, as, indeed, within a ~ Whole and Natural, human being, that disasterous problems occur....
I am not certain of Grandmother Bearpaws meaning, in respect of her regard toward science, nor wether she wishes for the distinct cultures to merge, or to relegate the past to mere historical interest. We, All of us, have come forth of our ~ Roots, we should never forget this, nor should we attempt to bury, that, which we have endured along the way with regret or shame. With this in mind and firmly under our belt, alongside our medicine pouch, and our totem strengthened through the fires of our trials. Let us step forth toward our destiny, ~ Proud, and Invincible in pursuit of our goals.
In these ALL IMPORTANT DAYS, more and more natives, across the Earth, are making headway toward re – emergence, as ~ free, autonoumous peoples. We can ~ Only, achieve this, however, through Love, Respect and Co-operation. Not through bitter argument, nor bad feelings toward one another.
Bearpaw is my Grandmother, Ndn, my Grandfather, Wali, flip, Avi , Dakod, Pahanna, Eloisa, my brothers and my sisters. For this IS how I see you. We are, all of us, in this ~ Together !
If we ~ Must, wrangle amongst ourselves, can we not, at least, recognise our kinship at the end of each day, before the sun dips below the ~ Beautiful Horizon, which we all of us strive, so desperately to reach,... in our own way. Or are we to continue to give the ~ Powers that be ~ Exactly, what they ~ WANT ! .... ?
If, we are to reclaim our sovereignty, to stand, as once we did, with our upturned faces, ~ Ashine with joy in blessing to the firmament.. Then, it is ~ Essential, above all else, to make ~ Peace amongst ourselves. Secondly we need to lay bare our wounds, so that they might be cleansed and purified, in readiness for what the future has to offer, rather than continue to live in denial, and thus in defeat of our aims. A man in denial is like a stagnating and filthy pond, feeding off its own detritus, giving birth to nothing but unwholesomeness, disease and failure. Why be stale waters, ( our brains are 84 per cent water and our bodies 75 percent ) when we can be fresh, sparkling, vibrant fountains of life ? Why be like unto a barren tree, its fruits, dried and withered whilst still in bud, when we can spread our verdant branches across the entire circumference of the Earth, laden with the succulent fruits of our wise and peaceful offerings ?
It is absolutely vital to ~ Exorcise, our deeply battered psyches of the unatural, and ~ False, reality, which has been so rudely forced upon our hearts and minds, that our own Indigenous Path has almost disappeared from view. Let us no longer simply observe the four directions, but, rather, let us offer up the very ~ Wings of our own Spirits, to the ~ Winds, so that they might course through our fractured feathers with their healing breathe, and bestow upon us the ~ Vision, the Wisdom and the ~ MIGHT, of a creature, Born of the Heights !
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