Jimbob's Journal
Harmony by
Jim Harris
The young Lakota warrior wandered
alone in the desert. He had tears in his eyes and a great sadness
in his heart. He had incurred the wrath of the United States government
by fighting for his beliefs. Surely the government would eventually
find him and put him in jail - or worse. He worried that he might
never see his family or his homeland again.
Then he had a vision. In it,
he heard all of the creatures of the Earth, speaking in unison,
"We are here, we have always been here, and we will never
let you down as long as you believe in us". From that moment
on, his loneliness and sadness were gone. He knew that he had
found his own truth, and that there was no punishment that he
could not endure for the sake of his Mother Earth. He was eventually
jailed for his actions, and considered it an honor to suffer for
his ideals
You may be surprised to know
that this story took place in the 1990's, not the 1890's, but
things don't change much for a people who measure time in moons
and seasons rather than in fads and technologies. They tell stories
that have passed down unchanged through hundreds of generations.
They are tied to the Earth and to all of its inhabitants in a
way that most humans can no longer understand. It can't be learned
from any book, or induced by any drug, it is a living, spiritual
thread that stretches back to a time before recorded history.
In the Native American world
view, all life is interconnected and all has spirit. It is said
that Geronimo could summon storms to protect him from his adversaries,
and some modern legends also attest to that sharing in the power
of nature by those who believe. Children are taught that every
living thing has a lesson to learn, a tale to tell. When you break
lifelines and disrupt cultures and families, you destroy their
harmony and weaken their spirit, and spirit is considered the
most important part of one's being. It transcends the limitations
and weaknesses of the body, and affects all the other spirits
around it. By living up to your highest standards, you strengthen
your spirit and make the road easier for those who follow in your
footsteps.
None of this may make sense to
us modern Americans, but there are those among us to whom it is
undeniable truth. I respectfully submit that we who now live on
this land owe it to our own spirits to try to understand, and
to attempt to live in closer harmony with our world.
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