In the Time of Our Grandfather’s Grandfathers
“In the time of our Grandfathers Grandfather…” how many times have we heard these words uttered in the history and stories told to us by the Tribal Elders and Storytellers.
How enlightening and educational, how inspirational are the words of the Ancient ones. How valuable are our heritages to the understanding of who we are, why we feel the way we do.
And yet we find ourselves gravitating to Pow-wows and other inter-tribal activities to fill the social vacuum created by the “aculturalization” of our People. In a need to retain our cultures, to “feel” Indian, to cling to the old ways… we have accelerated our destruction.
…do not continue to fuel the destruction of the Nations of Peoples… but continue to be a Shawnee, Blackfoot or Dakota. Be at one with your People.
The warning of our ancestors cries out again, but with new words. Today they say do not lose our rich past… do not turn away from the truth of tens of centuries… do not continue to fuel the destruction of the Nations of Peoples. Do not become Inner-tribal, or just American, but continue to be a Shawnee, Blackfoot or Dakota. Be at one with your People.
Be at one with all your ancestors, because you are the total sum of all your ancestors. You didn’t choose to be an “Indian”. Christobal Columbo, the lost Italian named us that. Before the greatest single tragedy of the last 500 years began, (the “discovery” of America) we all were affiliated by birth or adoption with one of the many Nations that existed here.
Do Not Let the People Die
I don’t know the names of all the different People past or present, here on the Great Turtle Island, but you know who you are, who your Nation is. You must learn your history… and pass it on. Don’t just let it die. You must learn who you are before it is too late.
I will see you at the next inter-tribal, and I will dance inter-tribal song and dance, I will eat fry bread, and maybe someday you will come to my place and have journey-cake with me with the sweetness of the maple tree. But I won’t be an Inter-Tribal.
We can sit down and smoke the pipe, say thank you to creator for all he has given us. And you can tell me how your grand-fathers grand-father and grand-mothers grand- mother thought about this place on the turtle island. You can tell me how they felt about being who they are. But we won’t become Inter-Tribal.
There are not many of us left… we must stay with our people and marry, and have children with our own people… Can’t you… see how important it is?
It is my prayer you will be able to tell me these things; because you found out before it was too late for you; because you have dedicated a portion of your life to learn about your People… before it becomes too late, and we all become Inter- Tribal. Each day we don’t do something to preserve who and what we are is a day lost forever.
You know that maybe about 1000 years ago, even 600 years ago there were maybe as many as 30 million people living on the Great Turtle Island. No Europeans, no Africans, (maybe a few Asians) just our people. But with the turn of the 20th century, there were maybe only 2 or 3 hundred thousand Red People in the land we call North America.
Now if the figure was only 20 million instead of 30 million, and the figure was 2 million instead of 200 thousand… man, can’t you see the story is the same.
There are not many of us left, and can’t you see that we must understand who we are and preserve these things. Can’t you see that we must stay with our people and marry, and have children with our own people? Can’t you see these things and see how important it is?
In the 2000 census, maybe they will find there are more people than they thought. Many like me who have one foot on a red horse and one on a white one. Maybe there are l0 or 11 million more Red People like that. But my good friends, they probably will find less than a million who have no white, yellow or black mixed in their red blood… the Pure Bloods.
We will never recover from the terrible loss created by the intermixing of races, and this is as it should be, because it was a loss… the greatest loss a people can experience.
We Still Count
But we should never, for a moment, ever allow ourselves to think that we do not count anymore. That we are “just Indians”, the continuing embarrassment for the United States.
They say we should assimilate and try to be like the white people, black people or yellow people. They say we should forget the old ways and play the Nintendo or watch TV and make our mind go soft while we do these things.
Do not do this. It is not good.
Our hope in life should be that all those in the Circle will be good, striving for that perfection as not to embarrass and disappoint our Creator by our lack of effort, when we return Its Thoughts at passing.
Look at us and understand that we cannot ever again allow ourselves to be tricked into being inter-tribal, inter-racial. You of much blood, do not allow us to go away. It is up to you to not make the Red People disappear. You must plant the seed of our People together and make us grow whole again.
You young men and women, yes mostly you women, once again will save The People. How many times have we asked more than is possible of our women? How many times have they given their all to make us strong? Grandmother, your sisters are the true power of all People.
We will never be the 20 or 30 million people that we were before. It may be another l00 years that l million people of pure blood will maybe become 5 or 6 million pure bloods, and there will be more millions of people like myself, one/half of something or the other… and the other one/half Red. Maybe these people will be 15 or 20 million, and maybe then they will live in that great new state of the Native Americans, the 5lst state. From this state we will have our People sitting in the Congress and the Senate.
Our people will need to have different thoughts. Different types of commerce. Different ways to do business. We will have to develop different methods of raising the needed funds to serve our People. Never again will we allow somebody tell us how to live, how to cut our hair, how to worship and what language to speak.
As this comes about, then all the things we are doing today will have been of worth.
When I lay my head down for that last time, I will go to the sleep that carries me across the Great House and through the other door, out into the web, into the land where all the Grand-fathers and the Grand-mothers live, and Creator is there.
If I have gone through and some of this has been done, then I will be able to smile as I pass through the web knowing that I have been a very small, but important part, of this thing.
That would make me feel good.
That is as it should be.
Our hope in life should be that all those in the Circle will be good, striving for that perfection as not to embarrass and disappoint our Creator by our lack of effort, when we return Its Thoughts at passing.
Etowan chena chuk Debenindis.
Understand and be free.
Perhaps the most important fact of our existence is that the more we understand the Gifts of Creator, the more we are like It. The closer to that Perfection we come, the more knowledgeable, empowered and energized we become. With these Gifts we become as free as the Spirit that dwells within. Being as Creator is the ultimate freedom.
ADEAN.
It is done.
As you can see, the nuance of a simple prayer entails the acknowledgement of our Creation, existence, relationships and the promise of a tomorrow unlike anything we can ever conceive. The simple prayer uttered is the complete Circle of our essence.
(Excerpted from “View From the Medicine Lodge: A Modern Perspective on Ancient Wisdom” by Jim Great Elk Waters & Kelly Talking Heron Pavlovic. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.)
