God Bless America..?

Wise words indeed...

--ryan



----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Hudson
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 9:32 PM
Subject: FYI: [AniTsalagi_Language] God bless America

Gentle Brothers and Sisters,
The debates over the Pledge of Allegiance and Christianity are both examples of issues that are being used to keep our people from focusing on retaining our identity as ANiYuNvWiYa.  There are valid arguments on both sides of each debate. 

ANiYuNvWiYa, like all Native Americans have demonstrated unparallel patriotism for several generations.  The percentages of Native citizens fighting in all wars since the "police action" in Korea has exceeded those of all other ethnic groups in our population.  How ironic that our brothers served under a flag that still allowed racial discrimination against our people.  I have seen photographs made in the late 1970's that showed advertising signs demonstrating blatant racism against Indigenous people.

In our Pow Wows today, we honor veterans and hold the American flag high with our Eagle staff.  It would be easy to ask why.  One possible answer is that according to the prophecies, in order to prevent the coming hardships, we must bring all of the races back into harmony with each other and with our mother the Earth.  The words used to form the United States of America say that they ordain that type of society.  Could it be that our warriors fight to support the possibility of such an ideal society?  If so, we have a long way to go as a nation and not much time to achieve these aspirations.

The big irony here is that our nations lived according to the principles that the dominant society is trying so diligently to implement.  Their insurmountable obstacle, however, is materialism.

As was pointed out, Christianity is not an ANiYuNvWiYa religion.  Many of our Brothers and Sisters belong to the various sects of Christianity.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this.  There are many paths to Creator.  What is important is what is in the heart.  Problems arise when people stray from the path given them and become lost and out of balance. Our ancient religion, at times called KuTaNi, has stressed balance in all things, and the importance of respect. 

It is not difficult to list the hypocrisies and sins of various individual Christians. Wars have been fought, peoples have been exterminated, and great misery has been unleashed on Mother Earth in the name of Christianity.  It would not be our way, however, to judge all Christians by the actions of others.  The fundamental tenet of Christianity is to do unto others, as you would have others do unto you.   If this and the other teaching of Jesus had been followed to the letter, so much of history would be completely different.

The problem is that Christianity was hijacked at various times as a means of holding power over people.  To this day, many good people allow their religion to control their thinking, and serve as an intermediary between them and Creator.  Christianity is not the only world religion to have skeletons in its closet, however.  Even our religion got out of control for a short time before our ancestors began to move north out of what is now Mexico.
The real problem is that we are allowing ourselves and our families to become hypnotized by the materialism of the dominant society.  Before Desoto, we lived in harmony with nature.  We asked other beings for their sacrifice to sustain our families, and honored them for giving up their lives.  We protected the air, the soil, and the water.  We honored the fire, and used it wisely.  We honored and respected our young, our Elders, our Brothers, and our Sisters.  If one was hungry, we were all hungry.  If one was warm, we were all warm.  We went to war to protect our lands together, and we sought peace together.  We listened to all opinions, sought the wisdom of our Elders, and were of one voice.  What we "lacked" in material goods, we made up for in happiness and longevity.  Material goods were of no use to our ancestors.

Although the dominant society tried first to eradicate our ancestors, then tried to "educate" our culture away, it has survived.  The current war for our souls, however, is in danger of being lost.  Television has proven to be an effective device to show our Brothers and Sisters the latest and greatest in useless devices and conveniences.  Like lemmings, we are buying into consumerism.  Soon, it will be difficult to retain any cultural identity.

We need to reject consumerism and concentrate on teaching our children how to live in balance with all beings.  They need to learn to appreciate even the smallest things, and to accept the consequences of living out of balance with Mother Earth.  We have the Tobacco Teachings as a guide. It is said that all four races were given portions of the original wisdom to learn and share.  It is not too late to learn to work together and restore balance between all of the people of the Earth.

If we do not learn to work together, we will continue to live out of balance.  More and more damage will be done to our mother, populations will grow out of control, and a vicious cycle will become more and more vicious until the cataclysm that has been predicted for generations begins.

Our traditional religion tells us that Creator guides all things, and that nothing happens without a reason.  This concept is not uncommon in other religions.  What ever your faith, and however patriotic you are, there is room to grow in our traditional ways.  I ask that you always endeavor to see the lesson in all things.  Great challenges are at hand.  We have much work to do, and must find a way to accomplish these things as in the past, as ANiYuNvWiYa.

YiGaQuu OsaNiYu AdaNvTo AdaDoLiGi NaQuu UtloGaSDi NiHi,
May the Great Spirit's blessings always be with you,

YvWiUSGoLv
Daniel