============================================================ Should You Check Your Credit Report? Of course! We all check our credit card statements for inaccuracies and we should do the same for our credit history. Click here now to check yours FOR FREE at ConsumerInfo.Com! http://click.topica.com/caaadbub1ddNBb2HgmNa/ConsumerInfo ============================================================ Stormy Night - Antietam and Black Creek Remembered (story by ShyHawk) The seasons are in a struggle now -- summer is dying and fall is coming alive. I walk the land of my ancestors this day of struggle. Today is cool and clear with a northwest wind. Red Bud trees are tinged in scarlet. Vision seems unlimited in the crisp air. Crows call across the valley,and memories of Miye and Kola return to me. Overnight the Thunder Beings came to remind us of their strength and protectiveness. The day was hot and humid. The air was so thick you could barely see through it. A typical summers day. An energy of expectation was in the air -- a change was coming. A tension is across this land for here too change is coming. September 12th is a day I worry over. Black Creek will be saved or lost on the vote of a state legislature. Here, Antietam also maybe lost on the lack of action by a city council. The votes are not based on what is right but on greed -- sadly. My heart is heavy as the air today. A blackness begins to come over my spirit as I think on these things. My mind travels to friends in MN and the great loss suffered there. Struggles that can only be appreciated by those involved. My heart still goes out to those there. A loss of the sacred circle, the huge Oak marker trees and old Oak Grove, and the disrespect for the Old Ones. There is still a sadness in my own heart for these losses. Now at Black Creek and Antietam I may see it all over again. The sky darkens in late evening and gentle air begins to stir the trees across the small clearing from where I sit and think. Thunder begins to roll in the distance. Rain is now on the wind. In the silent pauses nothing is heard -- the crickets loud serenades have ceased. The birds have sought shelter. The trees begin to sway and the under sides of their leaves add a dull green pattern against the deep black sky. Huge clouds of off white streak by at a hurried pace contrasted against the black. Creator again reminds me of our place here. I stand up and the wind blows through my hair. Huge drops begin to fall on a parched earth. So many smells are invigorated with this gift. INA s (Mother Earth) tears wet my face and my own now mix with hers. Lightning burns bright white into the ridge before me and the light is blinding. A buzz is heard and then a loud crack. Yellow bolts dance from cloud to cloud between earth bound bolts. Now the air has stilled -- an erie quiet covers the land. The sky a murky yellow has turned. My mind wonders to the beauty of Black Creek and Antietam. The peace and belonging of these places -- the energy. Most of all, the whispers of the Old Ones to remember not only them -- but their teachings and the land. How it once was. I remember my walks on some of these lands with my father. I remember the stories from my father of the land, the rocks, the trees, and the stories of his father. I know they held this place special -- as now in my older years I hold close. Lessons that only can be seen in my autumn years. A love for these people and these lands. This is Unami Land nothing can change this! Yet where is the respect for these people and the land of the Old Ones. The dominant culture has laws to protect the people they cherish in cemeteries. If a marker stone is damaged or overturned a great out cry goes out across the land. Yet this same culture has no respect for the people s sacred places, for ceremony, or the resting places of the Old Ones. Here everything maybe stripped from the land including the bones of our ancestors. Why? For progress? Green progress-money! On my walks sometimes an arrowhead or spear point is found. A stone ax head or a scrapper. I will touch these things with great respect for they now belong to this land and those who have gone before. I hold a scrapper with finger notches worn from years of use. The notches are smooth and my fingers drop into them. For a moment in time my hand reaches across time. Our spirits connect. This is not history -- this is life! A soft voice will speak to my heart to remember. These places are not old Lenape names on a map. They are alive and teachers. Places to go for prayer and ceremony. This way is not profitable to the dominant culture -- so these places are not considered important. Sadly the values of the two cultures differ so greatly. True spirituality, respect, and honor are values that seem to have been lost from the governments controlling this land. People who still fight for these things are looked at as odd and cannot be understood in a dominant society based on material wealth and control. A loud crack awakens my minds wondering. A bolt has grounded out before me. For a moment I am blinded by the bright light. As my vision returns I see a man of blue standing at the tree line across the clearing from me. I try to clear my eyes and he is gone. The sadness lifts from my heart. I am reminded Creator has a plan. Time is long compared to the shortness of this human life. I remember the beauty of this land for thousands of years before the colonialists came. I must believe that in the future the beauty will again return. Till then, I must hold each day precious -- each tree and forest, lake and river, and mountain and hill. For if these struggles are lost in the beautiful and powerful places of Black Creek and Antietam, they will live on! They will join our ancestors in our hearts! These places can never be destroyed -- the way we look at and live life can never be destroyed! On Unami land it has been tried for over 400 years. If ones heart is open -- places can still be found. We are the land! The mountain is my teacher. For as long as I can go back my feet will mingle with my INA s skin. We walk as one -- she has given us our shells we call our bodies. She clothes and feeds us. If we listen she teaches us. I hold tight to the old stories. The lessons are valid today still. As the storm moves off the clouds glow red with distant bolts and low rumbles of thunder rattle the land. My prayers are sent to the Thunder Beings to protect our sacred places. Thanks is given for INA s tears that again nourish a dry land and my spirit. I pray this time things will be done by a moral law of respect. Black Creek and Antitam will be left for the people. The Old Ones will continue in peace. Mitakuye Oyasin Tunkasila, onsimalaye written by ShyHawk(FM) Late summer 2001 Dedicated to those who do not give up - Cold Springs,Black Creek,Antietam, and many more across Turtle Island. Wopila. ============================================================ Good, Better, BEST! What's better than a year's subscription to Ladies' Home Journal? Only a FREE year's subscription! Check out this great offer now! http://click.topica.com/caaac1Db1ddNBb2HgmNf/TopOffers ============================================================ Visit and show your support for the Grass Roots Oyate http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate Clemency for Leonard Peltier. 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