this land is their land!

     When some friends were visiting us this winter, and we were driving them around, showing them some of the sights,  a familiar song came on the radio:  "This land is your land, this land is our land, from California....."

You remember?  Of course, the words of this song are wrong.  This land is not rightfully our land, unless you believe that might makes right.  This land is Native American land.  It was taken forcefully and deceitfully from its original inhabitants by the United States government at the federal and state levels.  

     Ironically, Native Americans would say this isn't their land either.  Their noblest traditions say that the land belongs to all, and its owner is the Great Spirit.  How can mere mortals be said to "own"  land?  It was here before any humans ever got here, and will be here when there no humans around any more.  It is a Divine Gift, sacred earth,  to be shared by all who live on it, and it is meant to be tended, not exploited and ruined for future generations.

      One of the pictures above shows the pueblo ruins at Tuzigoot national monument not far from where we live.  It was once a city set on a hill.   But its light no longer shines.   Few of the descendants of the people who once lived in this area survive, and they were herded onto reservations by the white folk who came to the West just a little over a century ago.   In spite of this sad situation,  my experience has been that out here, the Native American presence is far stronger than back in Michigan.  For one thing, some of the largest reservations in the nation are here in Arizona. For another,  Native American traditions and wisdom have been embraced with a far higher level of interest and appreciation here than in most other areas of our nation.  One can feel the presence of those who once lived on this land and cared for it.

      I honor that presence with a little display (pictured above) in the hutch in the dining room.

The faces of a beautiful little Native American girl and her mother are framed above a large pueblo shaped candle.  Below this are many books on Native American legends, culture, history, and spirituality.  In a drawer below the books is a collection of CD's of beautiful Native American drum and flute music, some with, some without singing.   My soul has been profoundly enriched by all this, and the fascinating Native American art in Sedona galleries, as well as by my friendship with a local Native American shaman and our "Holy Play" in the Sacred Red Rock Temple of the Sedona area.  I am grateful!  Imagine what good would have come out of a peaceful and respectful meeting and integration of European and Native cultures

and people.  Is it too late for this to happen now, even in a much more limited way than might have been the case?

      The picture above taken from the inside of one of the now deserted dwellings of Tuzigoot is to me a symbol of the emptiness and sadness Native Americans must feel as they live with the loss of their sacred spaces in nature,  their homes, and their way of life, across which the shadow of the white man still falls, to their detriment.   To this day, they have to keep fighting vested interests for their land rights, their water rights, and their way of life.

      For those of us who want to be people of good will, devoted to peace on earth and the flourishing of all beings,  the challenge is to grow in our own understanding and honoring of the ancient peoples on whose land we live, and to share that knowledge and respect with others, so that the day may come when our government, representing us, apologizes officially for the terrible things done to the "First Nations,"  and offers more in the way of restitution, so that we can all live together in peace and build on a foundation of justice for ALL.