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THE LAKOTA AND THE MORNING STAR
This being Native American Heritage month I salute the indigenous people
whose knowledge and principles I wish we’d done more to embrace…
instead of doing everything in our power…their culture and identity to erase.
If we’d only taken the time to see the world, our Earth, from their perspective
from their unique point of view….
we could have learned a lot…take for instance…the Lakota Sioux.
Let’s start with the name they chose…Lakota…and we begin to comprehend…
for they saw Lakota as a gift…it simply means ‘banded together with friends’.
The Lakota formed a partnership with Mother Earth…with her they felt a spiritual connection.
and so…they treated her with deference…with reverence and affection.
They kept Dreamcatchers over their beds…so as they slept…once they bid the day adieu…
It would catch all of their bad dreams…while letting only their good dreams through.
They would look to the morning star…once their final dream had gone…
and they would pray to her for wisdom, understanding…
as she ushered in the dawn.
The morning star was so important to the spiritual life the Lakota built
It can be found in their art…in their designs, in their clothing…
and it is sewn into their quilts.
The Lakota believed in a healthy mind and body…they were among the first to understand….
we must respect the Earth and all her creatures…and live in balance with the land.
We could have learned a lot from the Lakota…if we had taken the time to embrace them…
We cold have benefited from one anotherIf if we had not tried to erase them.
Thankfully, we did not erase them form the Earth…
though lower in numbers, bruised and battered the Lakota have survived
and the culture and their identity we hoped to destroy…their people have revived.
So I made a wish upon the morning star on my walk today…
that our country…our world would begin to change it’s fate…
by adopting the philosophy of the Lakota…before it is too late.
Copyright ©
Jim Yerman
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