Sara
first of all, I wish to thank you for all that you do for the oyate and for individuals that need the help from a kind knowledgeable voice and hand.
Secondly, after what I have been through in the last couple days, I want to join you in the effort to get all of our relatives to contribute whatever they can.......$2.00,..... a small batch of frybread.....a few copies of pictures of the people......some koolaid mix........whatever, it may be, anything and everything whatever the value, is in fact a gift to humanity.
I think your planned event is greatly needed and worthy of blood sweat and tear support from those that can and will give......those that can give $, will....those others that cannot, will figure some other way to help. I would be otherwise satisfied to just send some funds to you for your use, but I think that that is not enough for me and my family, this go around.....
It all leads to a moment in time in our lives....... as it is true for so many of us that see twelve feet in front of our faces on a regular basis, and no further....... this is an account that maybe all of us now out here in the unclear wilderness, need to hear, and need to heed.......I have been tracking our progress in trying to claim the high road on these discussions of what is going on.
There is no high road, nor any low road.....there is only THE road that we all see and know, and which we try out or seek on occasion, but never trully walk upon with committed footsteps.
Sara, I had the opportunity today (the 16th) to realize miracles....... I had the chance to spend significant time with my younger (but taller) brother who I always miss.....I was able to talk leisurely with a favorite aunt who knows all about my joking motives....I had a total stranger in line in the traffic jam, stop his car to let me in the line, and waved at me with a smile.....I had the chance, again, at the age of 45 years, to speak by phone with my forever loving and forever caring, parents, as they in turn discussed my trip.....I had the brightening knowledge that my brother's little weiner dog was going to be okay after a scary health issue...I had federal officials smile at me while I greeted and talked to me about discovery of ancestry......
But, above all the other above mentioned miracles, I was able to walk today amongst the sacred spot where so many of our long lost anscestors were imprisoned and were kept against their will for so long .........It was a gift to be there........it is a gift to see it.......it is actually somewhat more helpful in my mind's eye, to feel the wind down there, where all those teepees were placed and
where the pain and suffering was centered in that concentration camp at the base of the cold stone soldier fort at Ft. Snelling.
I have seen it and now have felt it.......I stood in the mud near the turn of the river.....I looked at the whitetails that saw me walk to the river's edge, and only the big older one ran, leaving the young ones to stand there like statues to watch me walk by to the water's edge..........
I am always grateful for my life, and for our lives, and for every opportunity that may enrich your and my life, collectively, if it can happen......
Getting back......I had spoken to my dear parents just minutes before, and had described the scene to them and where I was........at the base of the fort.......on the flat, where the confluence of the Minnesota meets the Mississippi,... with the weight of the past events heavy in the air, I thought mostly of the good and positive effect our anscestors' suffering and sacrifice has demonstrated to those that live now and can possibly, understand, what you and me and the rest, are trying to achieve.
At or near the same time that I was standing at that sacred site, my mother and I agreed that we would join in a prayer to help us all with each of our needs and our loves. I am glad that I was there at the scene of our peoples' suffering, to try to turn the energy into something good if we can.
we know that the deep magic created by the souls who have passed and traveled over the area, that this is a special place and one that we all need to keep in our hearts and minds.
I stood at the confluence of the Minnesota, and at the indescribale feeling of being there....
and all I could do, is to touch and thank the old trees for their undying comfort and guidance over all the years, and that I wanted to exchange skins with the oldest and most weathered tree at the point. I kissed him before I took a piece of his bark....and I gavehim a lock of my hair to compensate, for he had stood guard at that confluence for all of those so many years, and had seen so much of which I could only feel in the warmth that flowed through my palms as I touched him.
By the way........my brother and our vigilant family researcher, found some longlost formal documentation that links us formally to the family and loved ones that we always knew were our birthrite..........we rejoice, in another miracle, that we live to find and recogize our loving anscestors, and specifically, our great, great, great grandmother, and the recognition and celebration of her life.
I wanted to share that with you and the group, because I think the matter is so fitting, that none of us give up in our endeavors to seek the truth........but to not lose hope of where we come from.....
Prayers and hopeful thoughts, bear no outward sign or face........for if we truly believe the Great Spirit, then we need not consider ourselves with how we view our brother in the eye, but how we feel him in the heart........those that feel blessed, need to share what joy they can while they can, spoken or unspoken, to the extent of modesty, but still with proud enunciation that what is felt, is told.......
The messengers help us, and the messengers are more numerous these days......
take care, and be aware......
your friend
Jazzdog