The STRENGTH of the People.
What many do not realize is the history of strength of Native People. Oppressed over hundreds of years, robbed of land, of culture, pushed out and ignored by society except when convenient, they are people who have known great suffering, great trials and yet, overall they have maintained a great spirituality and strength-love based, compassionate strength that is incomprehensible, and admirable. I don't know a people that have remained so peaceful and steadfast in the face of this kind of horrific abuse.
We all have our breaking point, but it may be that Native Peoples tolerance comes from their place of spirituality-how else can you explain it? The ability to remain peaceful while witnessing your people being beaten, abused, humiliated and in the past killed is truly otherworldly. The moments that I have spent in my past, and recently attest to the fact that there is something unique about them. Perhaps it is their true connection with nature and the Creator, a connection which is practiced everyday, all days, not as a routine religion, but as a way of life.
Even I, being the peaceful hippie that I am, when standing in front of aggressive riot police had mixed emotions of compassion and sadness for what they are doing, and a conflicting anger of wanting to punch them. It is so difficult to remain compassionate in the face of injustice. Often when people on our side would even say the slightest harsh words, they were reminded by someone nearby of love and prayer. Whether it was directly spoken to them or not, before the negative thought completed itself, you heard and felt an overwhelming sense of love, prayer and peace from the protectors.
And even in the recent face of aggression, rubber bullets, baton beatings, mace, tazers, wrongful arrests, humiliation of arrests, abuse and killing of horses, you still hear prayers, peace, and love resonating from our side. The protectors are water and nature protectors. But now even more I believe, this title also translates to protection of our true spirits. Protection from the infiltration of negative in the form of aggression, anger, hatred, greed, selfishness.
The overall spirituality of peace, love, compassion, and prayer that exists there reminds us to protect what we should be as humans-exactly the example that we see in the faces of the people who struggle constantly against the aggressors.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Daily Life, Connections and True Education
Each day I was blessed to connect with at least one new
person who greatly expanded my mind.
From the friends I made while helping with security, to the sit down
conversations I shared with Lakota Youth members, and other Natives that shared
their stories of life with me. Each
person touched my heart greatly and I immediately felt a sense of love for
them. Whether it be because we were all
working wholeheartedly for this important mission, or other reasons, these
connections were true, meaningful and strong.
We talked of history, the battle of Wounded Knee as one
young guy was from Wounded Knee. We
talked of strategic ideas, past anomousity between whites and natives and both
agreed that there is no room for that in this new paradigm. They identified and helped to relieve me of
my “white guilt”. I was struggling at
first- feeling like I had to go over and above to make up for the atrocities our
ancestors. In true Native nature, they showed me love and compassion, and were
wise and forgiving in their words to me.
We ,in our small conversations were consciously agreeing to move forward
together, and create new solidarity as humans, as warriors for the people and
nature forgetting the color differences of our skin, the past, and focusing on the work to be done for the
future.
I spent several nights awake, watching the gate, seeing the
sunset, the moonrise, the amazing view of stars, the moonset, and then the
sunrise. Watching it over this beautiful
open country further stirs your desire to protect it, as you can literally feel
the energy of the river in front of you and the earth beneath your feet. The quiet night, and darkness where at times
the only sound heard was the crying coyotes , and the crackling fire makes your
world and mind go in slow motion. This
silence is profound, clarifying, cleansing in comparison to the fast paced
lives many of us come from.
The non existence of quantified time is another blessing
that truly allows your spirit to soften.
I truly believe our society’s demand for a constant schedule creates a
deep anxiety in our souls. There was
never a talk of which oclock it was -or to be somewhere at a specific time. Our prayers began at sunrise when you heard a
loud speaker call for the water protectors.
Sleep often began at night, because all day was for work and
preparation, and when the sun set, often times dancing began and later people
sleep, all in their own time. Even
though you are operating on this non-schedule, its amazing to watch as a
natural sync begins among the people and place.
Its surprising, and so beautiful.
Most people are so mindful of the others, there is little need to worry
about self. Often, as you begin to
struggle for something, before you even have to ask for help, someone is aiding
you. It’s a beautiful, refreshing way of
life.
Keep in mind, I am trying to convey many positive moments
and I had the blessing of spending a vast amount of my time just as the militarization
of police was happening. We had planes
and helicopters flying over constantly, we stood face to face with police in
riot gear, we watched our brothers and sisters dragged across lines that the
police established and be arrested and treated unfairly, but this was far less
than what has escalated in the past week or so.
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