Always take into account what your mind has in it. What of the world have you taken in and stored in all the little crevices and avenues of your mind and thinking? Guard your mind, for out of it comes what you think is possible for you. If you have stored defeat and rejection, those are the only things you have to draw on. Our voices record everything we say within our minds and hearts. Blessing or swear words, sarcasm or snappy cynicism, all are there, and all have a part in ruling life. This is the hardest part to sweep out and control, but it can be done - and it is better than storing trash.
~ Neither anger nor fury shall be found lodging in their minds. ~
IROQUOIS - CIRCA 1570
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 20
"Money cannot buy affection."
--Mangas Coloradas, APACHE
In these modern times we put too much emphasis on material things and on money. We believe that money is power. If we have money, people will respect us. If we have money, people will admire us. If we have money, we can have anything we want. Maybe we can purchase anything in the material world, but we cannot purchase anything in the Unseen World. The Unseen World is not for sale. It can only be given away. Love, affection, admiration, trust, respect, commitment -- these must be earned or given away. If we use these things from the Unseen World, we are using real power.
My Creator, let me demonstrate Your power today. Let me be loving to all I meet.
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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
How much voice do we really have in our own affairs? How free are we to speak out on the things we know and believe and want to say? How much voice do we have in public affairs?
How much goes unsaid because it may be bad for business, or it might make us look foolish? How often we should speak up but think it is none of our business? How quiet we are when someone's unethical hand does wrong.
What is it that inhibits us? Our own fears. Fear of our own ignorance, fear of losing, fear of the bugaboos we know lurk somewhere, but just aren't sure where.
Who are the people who are free of fears? They are the individuals who govern themselves in such a manner as to have thought out their own ideas enough to be able to speak freely for themselves.
Ethics would seem to be something to ignore if you wish to be successful in business. Many people strive harder today than at any other time to divide their lives so that being seen in church is good taste, and being unethical in business proves they are shrewd. Being successful isn't nearly as important as proving that they've gotten that way by the clever undoing of their opposition.
There was a time when building a better mouse trap by the most efficient methods gave us satisfaction, but too often these days we are impressed because someone is smart. Not smart with intelligence, but smart with the cunning that goes along with the jungle code of getting before someone gets you.
The person who tries to get ahead by ethical methods, and by wanting only to provide something better than is already in existence, must also be equipped to withstand ridicule.
Frankly, the race of the tortoise and the hare is still on, and while the hare is tearing around showing off its ability to be a fast runner, the tortoise is making progress, and never losing its way.
Socrates, being asked the way to honest fame, said, "Study to be what you wish to seem." Success takes time and moral discipline, but our successes will be as human beings first, and then the crown of success in business will sit easily and firmly.
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Never say to yourself, "This may not work." Give support to whatever you try. You see, it hears you. It accepts your decision even before you begin. Always tell your work that it is good and that it will serve a purpose long after it is finished. To tell it anything else is calling it by unseemly names, names that oppose its good success. Call life by its beautiful names. Tell it how strong and honorable and good it is. It is your life and your voice, and you have the right to use them together for every good purpose.
~ There was never a question as to the supremacy of an evil power over and above the power of good. ~
STANDING BEAR - SIOUX
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 21
"In the absence of the sacred, nothing is sacred -- everything is for sale."
--Oren Lyons, ONONDAGA
The Elders often say that when something is sacred it has spiritual value. You'll hear, on the Earth there are sacred spots. You'll hear, our ceremonies are sacred, our children are sacred, marriage is sacred. When something is sacred it means it's so holy you can't attach a value to it. Therefore, it's not for sale. It's an insult to suggest buying something sacred. On the other hand, if we look at it differently, as there is no sacred land, ceremonies are not sacred, our children are not sacred, etc., then everything is for sale. Sacredness creates spiritual space. Sacredness makes things holy. Sacredness shows respect for God.
Great Spirit, let me honor things that are sacred.
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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Prisoners never love their jails. And the same holds true for all kinds of prisoners, whether they be dogs on leashes or human beings tied to responsibilities. If they are there of their own free will and because they have a sense of belonging, the connecting link is made of love.
Responsible people with an assignment, and the feeling that it is theirs alone, will do it to the best of their ability and see it through. But if they must be watched and directed in every step, then it is a jail and the first thought is how to get out.
Freedom to be an individual with the right to make even small decisions is a precious possession. Freedom to come and go can build faith and trust within people, to make them stick closer than brothers. The rigid rules and constant prodding of a free spirit will force them to find that freedom.
We simply cannot keep another in bondage without being in bondage ourselves. To hold humanity by invisible force is to keep constant watch. And even beneath that watchful eye there will be a continual search for escape.
Anyone completely dependent upon others must always bear their will-O-the-wisp attitudes and the rising and lowering of the emotional tides. However, it is presumptuous of anyone to believe they can possibly be completely independent of others. Without other people, we cannot exist.
But to believe we are doing our best for anyone except ourselves is to build on sand. Of course other inspire us. They give us reasons to be better. They give us the benefit of their experience, but we seldom learn from that. We demand experience of our own. So consequently, we err and make it right. We mar and erase. And sometimes we try and fail, but always it is up to us to decide whether we do better or worse.
We can despair easily if allowed to become completely and utterly dependent upon others. They are human and they make mistakes. But we must know some measure of forgiveness the same as we must know some independence, if only in the spirit. And if the spirit is free, then all else shall be too.
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To many Native Americans, myself included, Thanksgiving is a "Day of Mourning" that marks the genocide of thousands of Native Americans, the theft of our lands and the assault on our culture. Native Americans have endured centuries of cultural, political, religious, and economic repression, forced relocations, forced assimiliation, confinement to barren land reservations, countless massacres of our people, and hundreds of broken treaties. What are Native Americans suppose to be thankful for? The Indigenous people were here long before any European ever stepped foot on this land. These invaders oppressed us, assimilated us, slaughtered us and stole our land. Are we to be thankful for being forced onto barren land reservations? Are we to be thankful for the countless slaughters of our men, women and children? Are we to be thankful for the attempted genocide of our race? Are we to be thankful because our way of life, culture, language and basic human rights being stripped from us? What are Native Americans suppose to be thankful for? Why should Native Americans celebrate the prelude to the attempted genocide of our race?
November 28th is Native American Heritage Day 2009
A Message from Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman
National Indian Gaming Association
Sagoli Swakweku - Greetings from Washington, D.C.! Today, America is officially celebrating Native American Heritage Day 2009. From Indian Country, we thank President Obama, the Senate and the House for establishing this important national commemorative day.
People from all walks of life, native and non-native alike, are beginning to recognize Native American Heritage Day in many different ways. Schools have planned special curricula for children and traditional gatherings are being held throughout the country. Local and national museums, like the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indians, are hosting special events, exhibits and films. These efforts are designed to emphasize the cultural and historical contributions of Native Americans to the United States. More importantly, Native American Heritage Day as a national holiday is an opportunity to educate the public about the true history and the rich culture, traditions and heritage of the First Americans.
As chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, and a proud citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, I greatly appreciate the efforts made today to better educate the general public on the heritage of tribes and their communities. More importantly, I am profoundly grateful for the generations of dedicated tribal leaders who fought to maintain, strengthen and, in some cases, rebuild the way of life that was constantly threatened throughout the so-called assimilation process. These brave men and women leaders, representing all of our sovereign governments, along with the perseverance of Indian people throughout their communities, are responsible for keeping our heritage alive and passing it down to each successive generation despite the tremendous challenges and obstacles put before them.
Now that the day is here and being celebrated, what are we observing? We are observing the fact that upon the arrival of the European visitors, Native Americans were already harvesting the crops that today comprise two-thirds of the crops under cultivation worldwide as they greeted the Europeans with good faith, extending aid, peaceable accord and good will that set the table for the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate every year.
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Too much looking back robs us of our natural ability to change things. We are too good at finding reasons for failing, too well trained in using logic to work out knotty decisions. Every thinking, praying human being has access to supernatural answers to his problems, but he cannot use only human reason. And more than anything he must not give excuses or blame others for his own mistakes. Not can we say that if we sit still long enough a miracle will happen. We have to use our minds and our hearts and our spirits - but we must also obey the rules.
~ Some of us seem to have a peculiar intuition. ~
OHIYESA - SANTEE DAKOTA
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 29
"Life, the circle, a measurement with no beginning and no end."
--Phillip Deere, MUSKOGEE-CREEK
The circle teaches us how the Creator made things and how to live. It teaches us how we should look at creation. Life travels in a circle. In the East is the baby, to the South is the youth, in the West is the adult and in the North is the Elder. Then we return to the Earth Mother to start the cycle again. We observe what is `around us' from the center of the circle. This develops our point of view. We must be careful not to become self-centered.
Great Spirit, let me observe life from the circle's point of view.
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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
We all develop our own ways of centering our lives on something. In our minds we each have a design of what we think we are capable of being. If we want to be what we think we are capable of being, then we must hold our design firmly in our minds until it is secured as the focal point.
Each life must have that focal point, the center of interest where all phases of life come together. A focal point gives strength and meaning to the smallest details of everyday living.
Dimension and depth belong to the life that is centered. Though it may take many forms we must always have a "home" to return to, knowing that here are the roots, the things that really matter.
There must be a blending of our lives with others. But to be happy with one's self, that focal point must be steady and true before we can feel contented that "all's right with the world."
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President Obama recently signed a proclamation making November Native American Heritage Month. Addressing more than 500 leaders from federally recognized Native American tribes, he committed the United States to fulfilling its trust responsibilities and called for a new beginning to address issues that confront Native Americans.
The president stated that history must be acknowledged for the country to move forward. Recognition of history is vital to make progress against forces impeding Native Americans throughout our state and nation. Obama might start that process by issuing an apology for actions taken by governments that devastated native peoples throughout our nation - including Michigan.
The arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 ushered in centuries of terror for indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere. Estimates range from 8.4 million to 112.5 million native people killed by white people - at least 15 million in the United States alone. The Native American population has been reduced by 97 percent!
When Native Americans were not killed by direct military or citizenry action, they were decimated by other means, including European diseases unknown to Native Americans. British generals in the Ohio Valley sought to eliminate the indigenous population completely by giving the Native Americans "gifts" of blankets infected with smallpox.
145 years ago today, November 29, 1864, Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre took the lives of 160 Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribal members when the 1st and 3rd Colorado Calvary attacked. Under the leadership of Col. John Chivington, they opened fire on a peaceful camp of Native Americans in Southeastern Colorado and left only a handful of survivors.
About 40 tribal members and Native American supporters gathered in Denver to join in the 11th Annual Spiritual Healing Run/Walk which started at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in Eads.
Antoinette Red Woman, a descendent of those who were massacred, is quoted in the Denver Post as saying, 'This is Colorado and U.S.History.' She said, 'Everyone should know this happened.'
The March to the Capitol on Saturday allowed Native Americans the opportunity to grieve and forgive.What lessons can be learned from this raw history 101? 'They are our ancestors, our blood.' Red Woman went on to tell the Post. 'There has been so much intergenerational trauma over the years, that today is about healing and bringing peace.' she said of the March on Saturday.
It should be noted that among the marchers was a descendent of Capt. Silas Soule, a captain in the U.S. Army who ordered his troops not to fire on the Native Americans that day at Sand Creek and helped the few survivors. 'We are all here to connect with history' says Otto Braided Hair of Montana who came to join in the march.
NEW YORK — Members of one of America's oldest Protestant churches officially apologized Friday — for the first time — for massacring and displacing Native Americans 400 years ago.
"We consumed your resources, dehumanized your people and disregarded your culture, along with your dreams, hopes and great love for this land," the Rev. Robert Chase told descendants from both sides. "With pain, we the Collegiate Church, remember our part in these events."
The minister spoke on Native American Heritage Day at a reconciliation ceremony of the Lenape tribe with the Collegiate Church, started in 1628 in then-New Amsterdam as the Reformed Dutch Church.
The rite was held in front of the Museum of the American Indian in lower Manhattan, where Dutch colonizers had built their fort near an Indian trail now called Broadway, just steps away from Wall Street.
The Collegiate Church was considered the "conscience" of the new colony, whose merchants quickly developed commerce with the world in fur and grains — till then the turf of the natives.
Lack of wisdom makes us believe we are destined to go through certain experiences. You can hear it in voices when we say, "It runs in the family." The thing that runs most in the family is the mouth - the need to warn and show fear and tell everyone we have bad blood. There is no bad blood that Spirit cannot fix. There is no ailment that is above His name. There is only hardheadedness on people's part to learn about it. If someone in your family had a magic recipe, you'd be conniving to get it. Think of all you could do, think what miracles you could perform. Yet, you have a spiritual gift that is idle - when it could be your greatest miracle.
~ They brought their accursed firewater to our village, making wolves of our warriors.....and when we protested and destroyed their bad spirits, they came in multitudes on horse back.... ~
BLACK HAWK - SAC, 1700s
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 30
"Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four footed. I see no seat for eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation."
--Oren Lyons, ONONDAGA
Whenever we make decisions, we need to look around and see who would be affected by them. If we change the course of a river, who, what will be affected? If we put poison on the gardens, who, what will be affected? If wee cut the trees and too many are cut, who, what will be affected? We need to become aware of the consequences of our actions. We need to pay attention to our thoughts. We are accountable to our children to leave the Earth in good shape.
My Creator, help me make right decisions.
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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
There are two words in every life that mean more toward perfecting that life than any other thing. Those two words are the basis for every action. They are "personal responsibility."
Daniel Webster once wrote that the more important thought he ever had was that of his individual responsibility to God. It was his personal responsibility.
No matter how understanding other may be, how kind, and tolerant, there comes a time when we cannot ask, not expect to receive, help in our struggle. There are simply times when other people cannot cover for our poor performance. It soon becomes time for us to stand on our own feet, express our own feelings, and search out our own beliefs.
Others can run interference for us, make excuses for us, and guess at our feelings. But we don't begin to live until we've accepted our personal responsibilities. We must learn to express truth in everything from showing our love to voting in an election.
Life is one personal responsibility after another. Shifting it to another's shoulders loses some of the most important steps. Failure to recognize it is folly; ignoring it is stupidity; and accepting it is to find more truth and more strength than was ever imagined or expected.
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