Native American message-

[Guest guest]

My search for that Unity in different paths took

me to this message.

Uma<br>--<br>“We have another chance to learn

‘mitakuye

oyasin’<br><br>“Mitakuye oyasin” meaning “all my relatives” is something

Lakota people say when we pray. Do we really mean it?

Our words are being poised in front of us as we

contemplate this horror that happened on the East

Coast.<br><br>The pain, the fear, the anger, and thirst for revenge

are causing many to contemplate more violence. Then

there are those who say the United States is only

getting what it has handed out. Are any of these emotions

suited to “mitakuye oyasin?”<br><br>How many of our

relatives, innocent people, were killed in the last 10 years

in the bombing of Iraq? How many bodies of our

relatives will be pulled from beneath the rubble of the

World Trade Center?<br><br>Is there any difference

between one set of relatives and another? Are they all

human beings? They each have different religions. Some

are Christians. Some are Moslems. Both have spiritual

beliefs that are different than the Lakota way of looking

at life.<br><br>Yet when we pray we say all of them

are our relatives whether Christian or Moslem or Jew

or someone who follows other beliefs. So a body

pulled out from the rubble in one part of the world, or

a body pulled from the rubble in another, are they

still our relatives?<br><br>Were those sailors killed

at Pearl Harbor our relatives? Were the people who

died at Nagasaki and Hiroshima our

relatives?<br><br>If we are truly Lakota and we really mean what we

say when we say “mitakuye oyasin,” then the answer is

yes. Where the soldiers shooting at our grandparents

at Wounded Knee our relatives? If we are true to our

word then we have to say “Yes.” That is a hard one to

say.<br><br>It’s not easy being Lakota. The elders always tell us

that. There were many holy men from other times and

places with names like Jesus and Mohammed who would, not

just understand, but know what that means: it’s not

easy being Lakota. They also knew what “all my

relatives” mean.<br><br>Tunkasila, God, or a Supreme Being,

if you will, is always handing us gifts but we don’t

recognize them. These gifts come in strange wrappings. We

are being handed a major gift right now, the gift of

truly understanding “mitakuye oyasin.” How do we unwrap

it? And then, how do we pass it on?<br><br>We, Lakota

people, are so tiny in number when compared to all the

other kinds of people in the world. We experience

oppression and injustice at the hands of the United States

everyday. Our people quietly die each year because of the

oppression and injustice. Yet, if we really know who we are

as Lakota people, we give thanks for the

opportunities the Creator gives ... and mean it. It’s not easy

being Lakota.<br><br>It is this understanding of

“mitakuye oyasin” that the world needs, especially now,

especially in the United States. How do we teach this

understanding? We are so tiny, and poor in money. But we are

rich beyond belief because we have this understanding

of “mitakuye oyasin.” We have something the whole

world needs.<br><br>If the rest world truly understood

“mitakuye oyasin,” would there be massiv. killings lik. the

World Trade Center? <br><br>The people of the strongest

and richest country in the world have suddenly become

victims. Why are so many of the world’s smaller countries,

ones that have been opposed to, and in some cases

oppressed by the United States, suddenly coming forward to

offer words of condolence and support?<br><br>Could it

be that the people in those countries can empathize

because they know what it feels like?<br><br>What place

in the world is not subjected to terrorism as a

daily or weekly occurrence other than the United

States? Now the United States knows what it feels like

all over the world. Now the opportunity is here for

Americans to begin learning what “‘all my relatives” truly

means.<br><br><br>--- cont'd

[Guest guest]

cont'd---<br><br>When your relative is hurt, you

go to them and offer them healing. We have that

opportunity now. Lakota children are hurting because they

feel the pain of the children in New York, Washington,

D.C., and other places whose parents have been killed,

or are missing. They also feel the fear that such a

tragedy causes.<br><br>We, adults, have a responsibility

to help all the children heal. We have the

responsibility to teach them about ‘all my relatives.’ And not

just Lakota adults, but all adults have that

responsibility.<br><br>I have often believed that if the majority of

Americans knew the whole truth about the injustice and

oppression experienced by Native American people, then they

would want it stopped. I know from experience that most

American people do not know the whole truth.<br><br>The

same goes for the United States’ involvement with

other countries of the world. I do not believe any

ordinary person living in the United States really knows

the whole truth about what goes on in the rest of the

world. But if we all felt that all people were “our

relatives” then this world would definitely be a different

place.<br><br>I would like to suggest we help our children begin

healing themselves and other children in New York, and

Washington, DC, and in Pennsylvania, by helping them write to

each other, school to school, individual child to

another individual child, to talk about the mutual pain

they all share. The fear and pain of the most innocent

ones of all, the children, must be healed lest this

violence continue into their generation and their

grandchildren’s generations. If we help heal their pain and teach

them “mitakuye oyasin” at the same time, do you think

maybe there will be less violence? Isn’t it worth a

try?

<br><br><a href=http://www.indiancountry.com/?article=515

target=new>http://www.indiancountry.com/?article=515</a><br>--------------------\

--------<br><br>Do we hear a familiar call?<br><br>_/\_