Lessons+of+the+Lakota

Lessons of the Lakota
United States by [|bethechange12] Spring 2009 A group of volunteers dedicated their spring break to helping the Lakota people, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

We are here in Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Our group has traveled to stay at the lodge of a wonderful nonprofit organization called Re-Member and work with the Lakota people during our spring break. We don’t know what to expect. We don’t know if we will be the same after this trip. Soon, we learn that expectations are useless and that we will never be the same again. Here, we learn. Every day we learn something startling and heartbreaking, something inspiring and beautiful. We learn about the atrocities of the Massacre of Wounded Knee during our solemn visit to the gravesite. We learn that the Lakota leave whatever they can as tribute to their deceased, even if it is only an empty soda can. We learn about the proliferate drug and alcohol abuse on the Rez from an inspiring woman who has overcome it. We learn about Ghost Dances, medicine circles and the sacred smell of sage during a smudge. We learn how to build trailer skirts, how many coats of paint it takes to cover the burned walls of a trailer and how to stand strong when we are faced with the most heart-breaking living conditions we have ever seen. We learn the stories of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Big Foot, and of Lakota whose names are less well known, though their stories are no less awe-inspiring. We learn about Turtle Island, Maca Ina and the broken circle. We learn that the unemployment rate on the Rez is around 85%, that 97% of the people live below the Federal poverty line, that the average amount of people living in a house on Pine Ridge is 17 and that 60% of those homes need to be burned to the ground because of infestation of deadly Black Mold. We learn that at night, there are so many stars in Lakota sky that it looks broken. We learn that Indian tacos are the most delicious things you will ever eat and to be grateful every night that we have something to eat. We learn the Lakota creation story and the sacred rituals they follow. We learn the legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman, the importance of balance and harmony and the immense respect the Lakota hold for children, their elders and the world around them. We learned that though the Rez is the size of Connecticut, it only has one grocery store, one public library and no banks. Big sky country. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the size of Connecticut, but has only one grocery store, one library and no banks. Photo courtesy of member We learn about Wakan Tanka, the power of sacredness that is in all things, the Great Mystery. We learn about how the little Lakota children were once forced to live away from their tribes at Catholic boarding schools where they could not speak their sacred language or follow the sacred traditions of their ancestors. We learn to hear the whispers of Unci Maka, Grandmother Earth, as we walk across grassy plains. We learn that living in a trailer with holes in the floor and no running water is not uncommon here. We learn that here, in the United States, is the region with the second worst living conditions in the Western Hemisphere. We learn of broken treaties, broken promises and broken hearts. We learn of the deep and abiding love that the Lakota people have for the world and all its inhabitants. We learn of Mitakuye Oyasin, that everyone is related; in our hearts, we are all brothers and sisters of the earth. We learn that the smile of a Lakota child is the most beautiful thing in the world. We learn to love the Pine Ridge Reservation as we have never loved a place before; we learn that it holds a place in our hearts that no broken treaty can ever take away. We learn that there is no word in the Lakota language for goodbye, and that the only things that keep us going as we leave are the strong words of a Lakota elder: “I will see you again.” The Lakota idea of Mitakuye Oyasin—that everyone is related, all brothers and sisters of the earth—is pervasive in the reservation, appearing here above a doorway. Photo courtesy of member Now we have returned to a place far away from Pine Ridge, physically and spiritually. We spend our first few days crying because of many things: looking down on the pollution and industry of Philadelphia as we touch down from the return flight, the pure mass of the huge houses we live in, the things we own that are never broken, rusty or burned. Looking at the world is like focusing and unfocusing our eyes. Just glancing at the world, unfocused, everything appears the same. But when we focus our eyes a little, remembering everything we learned, the glaring disparity between Pine Ridge and our “normal” lives is apparent. How can we be the same? We can feel that we have changed. Every day we wake up in our old homes, only to miss the new home we found out on the Rez. Though we know truly that we are not Lakota, we still feel the pang of homesickness for KILY Radio, South Dakota plains, Indian tacos, the smell of smoldering sage and that big, big sky. How can we be the same? We lived our lives as ourselves for a long time because we had never known anything different. We saw our own problems, our own society, our own way of living. But once we travel to a place like Pine Ridge, those people, their society, their way of living, floods our hearts. It stays there, crashing and rolling forever like the ocean, and we’re no longer just ourselves. We are ourselves and all our brothers and sisters in one, all inside one heart because now we know something different. We know Mitakuye Oyasin. How can we be the same? We can feel the desire to tell the world of what we have learned, all those lessons of the Lakota. Sometimes people do not want to hear, sometimes people do not understand, but sometimes people are touched by what we have to say, the lessons we try to impart, the Wakan in our words. And that is why we speak.