marichriaddi

A better future
I keep reading letters to the editor at the newspaper I work at from people talking about what the tribes needs to do to help people. I agree on some level about what they say, but at the same time, I can’t help but to think that the tribe building some treatment facility and juvenile detention facility will help much. Where do our problems lie? Is it in the government? Is it in the education system? Is it the inadequate healthcare? I think most, if not all of our problems, can be solved. However, it takes a special consciousness and awareness to really understand what needs to be done in order for this solving of problems to be achieved. A lot of people’s problems center around abuse. Most of the time, people have not gotten the love and support every person needs to have when growing up. As a result, these people grow up hating the people they are because they were never shown how to love themselves. It is sad, but at the same time, as an adult, we all have the responsibility and choice to make a decision regarding our lives. As an adult who went through heaven or hell when growing up, we can all choose to cower in fear regarding our purpose and destiny on this Earth, or we can stand up strong and weather every storm that is to come in our lives with strength and resilience. Everything that happens in our lives is for a reason. Every experience we go through in life creates the person that we are supposed to become. Some of us people react negatively to experiences. When something befalls us, we cry out to God to show us a sign! As though God would show up dressed in a suit and tie to solve all of our problems. Then, when nothing happens…we feel betrayed. However, looking around at everything this world has to offer is really God showing us signs everyday of the power this earth has and we ignore it, because we have so much other things to do or not do. I read in a book once that there is a concept of things being held in our first or second attentions. Sometimes, people fixate on things that really don’t matter much, like money. People focus all of their first attention on obtaining money and for what? A Cree prophecy says it best, “When all the trees have been cut down,?when all the animals have been hunted,?when all the waters are polluted,?when all the air is unsafe to breathe,?only then will you discover you cannot eat money.” When a person’s entire energy is being driven by something like money that is simply paper with a lot of meaning attached to it, a person forgets what is really important. Some people don’t realize the amount of power and energy that each person has within them. Think about the person you are and take away the flesh, bone, blood, and veins that is your body. What would be left after that is the real You. The real You is that energy that drives the blood to pump through your body, that makes the synapses in your brain cause chemical reactions, and affects others around you is the real you. Physicists hypothesize that energy can be either created or destroyed. If people are simply muscles, tissue, blood, and water bound by energy, can’t we agree that sometimes that energy isn’t put to good use? Objects held in a person’s first attention can become powerful in that person’s life. If a person highly regards money, and money is held in the person’s first attention, this person may forget what is really important about things. Sometimes, as people, we can overlook what is really important about every experience and person we find ourselves looking at because we are fixated on mindless things like appearance. Also at times, there can be so much going on in our lives that we forget to see the beauty of it all. Life is beautiful if you choose to see it that way. Living on the Flathead Rez can be like heaven or hell if you choose it to be that way. I argued with my cousin once because she maintained that if she hadn’t lived on the rez and stayed in school at Missoula, she would have been a lot better off. However, I had to dispel that kind of thinking right away, because no matter where you live, it is all your choice as to how you live. You choose who to hang out with, your appearance, and your education. Nobody else can do that for you but you. No matter where you go in this world and no matter what kind of people you meet, there are good people and bad people. Every step on the journey of life is merely an experience that shouldn’t be thought of as good or bad. The choice you must make when confronting any kind of obstacle should be the choice of what you must do to rise above it and become a better person.
I see that some people who suffer from substance abuse, trauma, trials, and tribulations never choose to do anything about it and eventually die. Some of those people look to others to help them, yet do nothing to help themselves. Then, when they commit suicide or die in a hospital, people around them feel helpless, powerless, confused, and blame themselves. All of the energy that person created around themselves didn’t really help anybody. Instead, it consumed them and affected others around them until those people felt that pain . Yes, some people can learn a hard lesson from that, move on, and become stronger from it. However, it is those who don’t that worry me.
Why is it that some people can grow stronger from horrible circumstances and others seem to shrivel up and weaken? I have a theory that it centers around our family and our ancestors. Native people come from a strong people. In the past, our conflicts centered around enemy tribes, wild animals, and the elements. Times were hard to deal with back then, it wasn’t a walk in the park. Yet, our ancestors knew the world around them so well and knew how to overcome those obstacles because it was taught to them by their ancestors before them. Nowadays, with foreign invaders wanting every inch of land and an education system that teaches the foreign perspective to confused Indian children, we have different problems to face. Our grandparents and parents have been defeated soundly by these foes called alcohol and drugs. However, much of our first attention is focused on alcohol and drugs because they are tangible things that we can see and touch. Because those tangible things are easy to blame because we can see them and touch them, we place all of our problems on substances and white people instead of becoming aware of our power to change and to control our world and reality. Our second attention should see that it really isn’t substances that have plagued our ancestors, family, and friends. What is really going on to cause people to turn to substances? I think that the policies regarding Native people being assimilated into American society is the main idea in this problem. I believe that the only way to combat it, is to return to our ways. We should at least educate ourselves about who are family is, where we come from, and our tribe’s history and stories. In addition to that, we should at least hold onto a Native mentality and way of thinking, seeing the world, and creating reality. I read a neat thing about Hinduism and karma that says the same things as Natives did back in the day, but a little differently. It said something along the lines of…knowing your influence and actions on the world around you is an awareness of being able to control them. ? Well, it’s like…if you really understand your connection to the world and others around you, you understand the power you have to affect things POSITIVELY! When you don’t have that understanding, you abuse those around you and cause a negative connection and influence in others around you.
When a person knows who they are and where they come from, they have a sense of themselves. They don’t feel lost, like they have forgotten their path, or helpless to change circumstances. They do something with their lives and I think all Native people can, do, and will do this today.

2lineCarrandMorgan

i like your nutty thoughts on the bean

__________________
its said by Deganwidah,
I am Deganwidah, and with the Five Nations confederate lords I plant the tree of the Great Peace. . . . Roots have spread out from the Tree . . . and the name of these Roots is the Great White Roots of Peace. If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall show a desire to obey the laws of the Great Peace . . . they may trace the Roots to their source . . . and they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree. . . .
for my Dad
then again somtimes i see a woman in the trees she only looks at me and i can only look at her i m what she is now....i thank her as i see her... then somedays i see her as she was and that i will never be,and still we look at each other,
hello my Mother my sister today i saw you more than befor ,now i know i have a need more to walk with you here than ever i knew befor. Thank you

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“Something is at work in all of us,”
Peter Kinew


Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass..It's about learning to dance in
the rain.
for the wolf