Bird Droppings July 8, 2022
Just a morning observation

“I do not write from mythology when I reflect upon Native American spirituality in this book. In my own opinion, mythology leads to superstition; and superstition has proved fatally destruction to many millions down through time. It is ironic, then, that Dominant Society accuses Native practices of being based on myth.” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man

My wanderings are the expanse of several days of traveling, thinking, and observing humanity. A few nights ago, my son and I walked out to a choir of coyotes just a few yards away, deep in the pines. It was an opera of coyote’s howls and yells. At the same time, for only a few minutes, the sounds were an eerie reminder that even in a civilized world, nature was only a few feet away in its wildest. I was thinking this morning about my quiet spot near my home in Between Georgia, where I would sit and ponder until a developer put houses up for nearly fifteen years, and it is not quite the same. A trampoline sits on a spot I consider sacred.

A few years back, in a small town in the northeast quadrant of Georgia, sitting on a porch of an old mill house, the quiet was overpowering along with the gentle breeze and sunshine. Around me, birds would occasionally fly into and out of the trees but most of the time without a sound. I was essentially alone sitting listening while everyone else was inside. Only a few hours earlier, I had a wonderful experience watching by my house as the sun rose and started this book, Nature’s Way.

Ed McGaa is a Lakota Sioux and an attorney by education. He chooses his words wisely and does not simply offer a book to fill a spot on a shelf. He points to observations as a basis for our spiritual views rather than heresy or simply taking the word of another. This past week or so, as we drove home from a quick trip to one of our favorite spots along the coast, we noticed nearly fifty red-tailed hawks sitting on the wires watching as we drove by. If you have ever seen a hawk, hunting observation is critical. Every detail is seen as they look for a food item crawling or scurrying along the ground.

“Clearly, we are meant to think, analyze, and deliberate. And yet humans seem to have some sort of fear (or is it plain ignorance?) of exercising the simple freedom to think. Why are we so prone to let others do our thinking for us – to lead astray and control us?” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man

We went through one of the most biased and perhaps most sheep-lead-to-slaughter presidential periods I have ever experienced with the past president. The negative ads and rhetoric are the vast majority and from either side. Issues were simply something that would be dealt with another time, which was questionable. Here in Atlanta, several mega-churches are going through serious upheavals with pastors who, after years of preaching and blasting various human characteristics and issues, are coming out themselves and, in turn, being who they preached against for twenty years and built empires against. In New York City, a billionaire has been arrested for charges he thought he could escape through political connections. One of the blatant themes I have seen in politics and religion in the past year is “letting others do our thinking for us.”

I received a copy of a book in the mail from a friend in New York several years back after it was published. I had known the title for months prior, but after seeing it and beginning my initial reading, the title hit me. “Hustlers and the idiot swarm” how appropriate is that to our society today. Opening up Reverend Manny’s book and turning to the very first page, there is a quote and thought that permeates our society, if even unknowingly.

“For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all experts liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, Ch. X

Within a day or two of first setting foot in Washington, a newly elected Congressman who ran on a ticket of repealing the legislated Health Care bill was upset that his government health care insurance did not start immediately. He had to wait twenty-eight days and made a scene in his first official meeting. Fortunately, my district did not send him back for a second term; he lost in the primary again for a second time. During the past presidential term, lies about the health care bill made headlines more than important points to many families. I grew up in a family with a severely disabled brother who would never have been insurable under most standard insurance due to preexisting conditions. Even more significant for me was my son, who was over twenty-five, was covered under the health care law while in nursing school. If not for that not sure where we would be after his accident in May of 2014 with over three hundred fifty thousand in medical bills that were covered.

I did not want to get into politics since reality is not an issue there, sadly. Over the past few days, I started thinking about how we find our center and understand the world around us.

“The Sioux believe that lies, deceit, greed, and harm to innocent others will never be erased, and neither will good deeds of generosity and caring. Dominant society, on the other hand, leans towards “forgiveness” theory which claims that bad deeds can be purged.” Ed McGaa, Eagle Man, Nature’s Way

As I started getting into this idea of each of us formulating and ratifying our understandings of all that is about us, it became clear this would be more than a quick note. I walked out of the house earlier and had R. Carlos Nakai on my earphones, and rather loud. The CD is one of Nakai, a seven-note cedar flute master playing with a symphony his various melodies, and it was almost haunting as the visage of a clear sky and quiet surrounding the trees. I had to stop listening to the music and see this quiet, still, image before me. The two interplayed as I got ready to leave the house.

To close this quick dropping and get on with the day, I remind everyone to please keep all in harm’s way on their minds and hearts and always give thanks namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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