November 19, 2011

Last summer, I was sent to a BIE conference in Reno.  The opening exercises began  with a presentation of the colors  I watched as men and women from all the branches of the armed forces  and several different Native Nations carried the flags down the central aisle and onto the stage.  A drum circle group accompanied them.  As wrong headed, evil and downright tragic as the policies directed at their ancestors were, these men and women are proud Americans,  willing to raise the flag, present it and back it up with their lives if necessary.

This past Veterans' Day, again, I watched a parade in which service men and women, of all ages,  veterans of wars going back to World II,  followed the United States flag down a road, eyes front, heads high., back straight.  Again,  I felt humbled and grateful.

On Thursday, our students made Thanksgiving dinner for their guests. Prior to eating, one of the kids'  grandmother offered an opening prayer in which she offered thanks for all her blessings (Since I couldn't understand one word, I'm assuming here, but her attitude appeared to be grateful) Once again, I was humbled.  As I've noted before, Thanksgiving didn't end well for the ancestors of today's Indigenous Peoples.  And yet, this woman was offering thanks, and my students stood, respectful and  quiet....for once.

It's no secret, to anyone who's been listening to my rantings, that I have deep , deep concerns about the direction in which this country is headed.  I'm not going to discuss politics here.  I simply want to make  note that I give thanks, myself, that I have friends, family members  and co-workers who are honorable, good people. I have been allowed to do work I love. I  have  insurance .....o---kay, we know it didn't pay for my recent bout with the you know what, but I am in a better position than,  unfortunately, a good many of my fellow citizens.

 For those who have been blessed with way more , materially speaking, than the majority of the rest of the world's population and yet, still want ever more and are increasingly unwilling to bear their share of responsibility for the well-being of our society, karma is a you know what.  People with way  less are way more grateful, their sons and daughters are the ones who fight and die so that you may continue to behave so shamefully.  But, that's all I'm going to say along that line.  Just for today and the rest of this week, I'm going to attempt to maintain a grateful presence.

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.