Bird Droppings  September 21, 2025
Trust and how we have such a hard time with it

So many special events coming up, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and more “possible” rain to end this dry spell, and best of all, three more weeks till fall break. If I were to go out and cut down a tree, I wonder if anyone would notice. Do I get Halloween cards for family members and my wife? I am perplexed.  I did my morning pondering and rushed around like a chicken with its head cut off. I had a late start, my wife was walking, and I was still snuggling with my grandson, who was asleep. I am now ready to roll and do some writing.

“The song that I will sing is an old song, so old that one knows who made it. It has been handed down through generations and was taught to me when I was but a little lad. It is now my own song. It belongs to me. This is a holy song, and great is its power. The song tells how, as I sing, I go through the air to a holy place where Yusun will give me power to do wonderful things. I am surrounded by little clouds, and as I go through the air I change, becoming spirit only.” Geronimo, Goyathlay (“one who yawns”)

As I went out this morning, just a few minutes ago, to a silent world, the air was still, and the ambient temperature was chilly, keeping the local tree frogs in hibernation. I did my morning jaunt, my corner store to get my morning jump start and gas up my car. As I drove around this morning, I passed by several opossums that had been killed during the night along the road. My oldest son and I were talking about this a few days ago, as it seems the warm and cold weather is bringing animals out at odd times, and roads are busier.

Over the years, I have mentioned going to Fort Sill, which is now seemingly a lifetime ago, to see Geronimo’s grave, which is set back in a quiet bend in a small river with aspen trees all about. It is a very peaceful spot. The song mentioned above is a medicine song that he would sing at opportune times or simply as a prayer. As he grew older, Geronimo became a Christian, as he would say, just in case and to pacify the overlords at Fort Sill.

“I cannot think that we are useless, or God would not have created us. One God is looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.” Geronimo

An old man approached his new religion in that he felt this was a good example for living. Stories go that he never gave up his old ways, as well as singing his medicine songs, and was participating in tribal rituals till he died. He died at eighty years of age at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, many miles from his beloved Arizona and New Mexico mountains. I wonder as I think so often how we say one thing and live or do another. As I was reading again about Geronimo this morning, thinking about a comment in his biography dictated when he was older at Fort Sill. He spoke of how his people, the Apache, would vow to never harm each other of any kind, and this was a bond of trust.

I am catching up on emails and reading blogs, and I find the paradoxes interesting. On one hand, speaking of their religion and faith and how steadfast, and yet on the other hand, a near opposite, as you read from the same pen or computer, near slanderous remarks about others and life in general. Such a paradox we humans provide. As I thought this morning, even the soldiers knew if Geronimo gave his word, it was done and nothing would change, even though the US government changed what they said, his word was bond. He was one of the most feared warriors of all time in the American West, and yet his guards, the Fort Sill soldiers, knew they could trust him. There were no exceptions to him; if he said he was going peacefully, he was going peacefully.

Further west, the great Chief Joseph, as he surrendered, told his people he would fight no more, and he stopped, which became a bond that lasted till his death, even though treaties with the Nez Perce were broken numerous times. I guess where I am going is to live in such a paradox of saying one thing and living another, of claiming righteousness, and really wanting only to party, of saying we believe on a Sunday and taking a break Monday through Saturday. I recall news from Afghanistan of a young Christian convert who was condemned to death for converting by Islamic law. Our righteous nations intervened, and he was released as a mental patient who could not be tried. Clerics throughout the country wanted him stoned and or pulled apart, basically dead, and were fighting in that country for freedom. Who can be free with that type of law and beliefs, but from the other side of the coin, who are we to impose our beliefs on them?

All through history, Western civilizations have tried to impose their morals and civilization on primitives and anyone who disagrees. In Brazil, it is now against Brazilian federal law to interfere with primitives, and when tribes are found that are still in the wilds of the Amazon, that area around them becomes a sanctuary. We think of a jungle, and it is only a small patch of forest. The Amazon jungle is as big as the USA and holds many secrets we may never know. Sanctuary boundaries are made, and traffic is not permitted through that area. If you read jungle signs, the various broken branches, feathers, skulls, and such also indicate “You are not welcome.”

We are pressuring countries daily in our quest for world peace, using threats of war to garner peace. I laugh, thinking there has got to be logic there, and I say that very sarcastically.
However, one thing is lacking from the days of the Wild West, when a simple handshake with Geronimo, the most feared warrior/terrorist of his time, was his bond. There is no longer anyone whom one can trust. Not that there were many one hundred fifty years ago, and six thousand pages of peace agreements are all now broken, the second oil or minerals are found, and what was a peace agreement now has lists of exceptions, (even the ten commandments within a few days had six hundred eighty-five exceptions back in the day), and we leased the land from them.

Trust is a powerful word and one that has lost meaning in our society. We know our politicians are crooks, and we continue to re-elect them beneath new banners of I will not be a crook this time, I promise again. Let us use the NASCAR logic and put stickers on their coats for who they really work for.

I have watched American Idol over the years, and I am sorry it was my only reality show with some occasional Walking Dead for comedy. I do recall a line from last year, a profound statement from another broadcasting company’s comic relief.

“35,000,000 votes on American Idol were cast in two hours, which really shows us the power of democracy. I wonder how many would have texted or called if it were a vote on Medicare or immigration.” A news Broadcaster

We do have the power of the vote, and yet American Idol draws nearly thirty percent of the last major national vote, as a comparison to the last election. A TV show in two hours received thirty percent of the possible vote, talk about a paradox, and I did not even vote on American Idol last year, one time. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, and always give thanks, namaste.

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

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

docbird

PS An interesting thought Trust is synonymous with Faith.