If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace...
Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all the same chance
to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief.
They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people
should have equal rights upon it:
Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work,
free to trade where I find my own teachers,
free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk
and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.
Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Leader
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
Chief Seattle 1854
May the stars carry your sadness away.
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty.
May hope forever wipe away your tears.
And above all, may silence make you strong.
Chief Dan George
Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if I'm gone away from you.
A Pueblo Indian Prayer
Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,
we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents.
Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.
We had no locks nor keys, therefore among us there were no thieves.
When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.
We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being
was not determined by his wealth.
We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians,
therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.
We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know
how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things.
That (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.
John (Fire) Lame Deer
Sioux Lakota 1903-1976
What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across
the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830-1890
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun.
Lakota Prayer
According to the Native People, the Sacred Space
is the space between exhalation and inhalation.
To Walk in Balance, is to have Heaven (spiritually)
and Earth (physically) in Harmony.
O' GREAT SPIRIT
help me always
to speak the truth quietly,
to listen with an open mind
when others speak,
and to remember the peace
that may be found in silence.
Cherokee Prayer
Peace and happiness are available in every moment.
Peace is every step. We shall walk hand in hand.
There are no political solutions to spiritual problems.
Remember: If the Creator put it there, it is in the right place.
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
Tell your people that, since we were promised we should never be moved,
we have been moved five times.
An Indian Chief, 1876
Merle Baird-Kerr
June 5, 2011
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