Valentines for Unsung Heroes and Sheroes!

[bobbolink]

Two posts today brought this to mind... how many times we have been inspired by those who are not famous, or receive hearts, or get awards.

Maybe Valentine's Day is a good time to remember those who have brought gifts of inspiration and courage to our own lives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x188393

And a story about Roxanne, that I hope shows up on this thread later.

I'd like to tell you about Shannon. She is an incredible young woman who is Hopi and Navajo. Besides working full time and raising a family, she does all she can to support the efforts of her people.

I met her through a Four Directions March which she annually pours herself into. What so impressed me is how she always made sure the elders and disabled folks had what they needed in order to participate, and to be comfortable.

However, what is an inspiration to me is how she was constantly striving to include all people in her efforts. For so many years, it seems like all the various "liberation" efforts have been more exclusive... and yes, that makes sense that groups must first pull together and define their own identity.

But Shannon has reached out to so many different people, and the events that she directs truly are a rainbow! She has a very magnetic way of bringing us all together, stressing our commonalities, and yet celebrating the power of our diversities.

Would that I could find ways of supporting and encouraging such a weaving together of the best in all of us as Shannon does!

Here's to you, Shannon! :loveya: :hug: :loveya:

[Redstone]

1. She's a true Indian.

Wish I could meet her some day. Yata hey, Shannon.

Redstone

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2. Thank you! Yes, she is--her inclusion of so many is a testimony

to the loving hearts of the First Americans!

Thank you, Redstone! :loveya:

Do you have any stories of those who have been an inspiration to you?

[Redstone]

4. Unfortunately, no, except maybe my Welsh many-times-great-Grandfather, who in his seventies,

went from being an Indian fighter during pre-Colonial days (and being a Regicide in England as well), to "going native" and founding the Indian branch of the family that bears our name, with a Pennacook woman.

To this day, you'll find no mention of the Indian branch of the family in the history books; you'll read only of the white branch in the histories of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

But we're here nonetheless. We may be a bit darker than the others, but we're here.

Redstone

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12. thanks for your input--sounds like another "hero" story with your

greatx4 grandfather!

Yanno, it has occured to me that Indians could do a great thing for this country by supporting the "creatiionists" move to have the creation story told in schools.

(OK, I heard that! hehehe) Hear me out.... then, using the power of the Constitution (yes, what's left of it), demand that *their* creation stories be told in schools. I don't know how many different creation stories that would be, but it would certainly be a lot.

Then, the Polynesian creation stories, then the African creation stories, then the Japanese creation stories......

By that time, the Xian creationists would run screaming. *IF* it actually went through and was practiced (rather than just shutting up the creationists), think of the rich knowledge our kids would come away with!

Really, I'd *love* to see Indians do something like this.

:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

3. In honor of Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, my teacher and my hero

One of my friends used to go back and forth to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua during our illegal war on the Nicaraguan people. She worked with the Miskitu people there -- she was working on land rights for indigenous peoples.

What Ronald Reagan did to those people was clearly an atrocity. He disrupted their whole way of life -- sent a large number fleeing into Guatemala to starve in camps. They were conscripted to fight in the "Contra" army because their families were hostages in armed camps. We don't even know how many were killed for resisting.

Whole villages were told to evacuate because the Sandinistas were coming to kill them. And, people were told their relatives had been shot. Roxanne used to carry photographs into the refugee camps to show the families that their loved ones were alive and fine. It had all been a lie.

Roxanne has written about all the horrendous human rights violations she found in the situation. And she was roundly smeared for making them public. I have so much respect for her because she risked her life to get that information out on more than one occasion. It nearly destroyed her, that whole process, but she never gave up. Tough cookie. :)

I met her when her translator went awol. I listened to and translated the tapes she brought out of the Atlantic coast that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Sandinista government was engaged in serious talks with the Miskitu people.

Roxanne is not a perfect person, she is something so much better than that. She is real and she never let a fascist get in her way. I am honored to have worked with her even in the small way I did.

Here's a link to the book that talks about Nicaragua, fwiw.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Border-Memoir-Contra-War/dp/0896087417/sr=8-15/qid=1171336152/ref=sr_1_15/102-7090041-9607357?ie=UTF8&s=books

[Redstone]

5. The Miskitus suffered well out of proportion. I know that story.

And a disgraceful story, it is. As bad as that of the Hmongs.

Redstone

[EFerrari]

6. We mined the few roads there were.

Casey didn't get the wish to mine the harbors but we mined the roads up to the north coast.

Once, a cab driver told Roxanne, "It's okay, I'm ready to die for the cause." And she said, "Better go around because I'm NOT READY to die."

lol

:hi:

[Redstone]

7. Don't get me started on those kinds of memories. Not tonight. Please.

Redstone

[EFerrari]

8. Okay. Sorry, Redstone. Don't go there.

:hug:

[Redstone]

9. Thank you, m'dear. I know you understand.

Redstone

[brer cat]

10. Recommended!

Your link was to the Ruby Bridges story. I'm an antiques and children's book dealer in a very small town in a very red part of GA. I try to always have the Ruby Bridges book in stock. It's a very powerful story that needs to be heard far and wide.

Thank you very much for sharing the story of Shannon.


:grouphug:

[Sapphire Blue]

11. Mine goes to my mother, the most beautiful woman there ever was.

My mother exemplified love, goodness, compassion, strength, sacrifice, courage, determination.

After my father died, she raised my siblings & me as a single mother. I look back & wonder how she did it… she always made sure that we had what we needed, and the door was always open to a neighbor in need. She also looked after my uncle, her brother (brain damaged after being beat in the head w/clubs by the police), until the day that he died.

We didn't have much in the way of material things... we never had a color TV, didn't have a car... but love was so bountiful that it made life feel like a rainbow. For Christmas, we had an artificial Christmas tree, probably about five feet tall... some lights, some icicles, some bulbs, and under that tree, we sometimes wrapped up things we already had & gave them to each other as 'presents'. And Christmas morning, we would open up those 'presents' in awe & wonder, as happy as can be... as if those 'presents' came from the very best department store on earth. Then we would go to Church... singing Away in a manger, no crib for His bed... and The Little Drummer Boy... and I had no gifts to bring, pa rum pum pum pum, I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum.

And I still play my drum today.

Mom, I love you. Thank you for showing me the way.

[bobbolink]

13. What a beautiful story! Now we know how Sapphire Blue became

such a compassionate and caring fighter for those without!

:loveya: for Sapphire's MOther!!

[calimary]

14. The spirit of this thread makes me think of this man named Guillermo.

He was/is an artist, musician, husband, father, teacher. I met him when he taught a series of art classes that did WAY more than teach us how to make a native American or Central American drum. He started every class with a smudging ceremony, explaining every step, telling us the story and belief system behind it, the lore and the tradition and the mysticism. We learned to give thanks to the many kingdoms of the earth that gave us the materials to work with - the animals and their skins, the trees and their wood, the plants and their dyes and fibers, the soil and its minerals, the reptiles and their shells and scales. We burned sacred sage, crumbs of copal amber and tobacco and prayed and gave thanks while the smoke rose into the air, scenting our surroundings with incense. It gave you pause, made you humble, lent you a sense of being a link in a very long, large chain. The finished drums were sent out into the world with us - with more prayers and incense smudging, and blessings said over the collective and the partnership and the work. It was so striking and illuminating, and centering at the same time. There was this powerful sense of tranquility and propriety - of being and of harmonizing, not set apart or set aside or isolated one from another, or humans isolated from the other elements and inhabitants of this world. It was healing and refreshing and renewing, expanding and so profound. A sacred experience, full of reverence. Just a REALLY nice way to BE, all afternoon, creating with each other and in harmony with the other kingdoms of this existence. Just remarkable.

For one of these, I took my son who was then four years old. He soaked it all up like a little sponge. Usually he'd flap and flop and make noise and chatter and get into things. But here, he was focused and centered and quiet, contemplative and productive. It was really marvelous to watch. Guillermo helped him make a little drum - perfect for his size - out of a coffee can (with little elves on it). We still have it and treasure it. It was a really lovely way to spend a Saturday, and I know my little boy was truly moved by it, and gained so much. It deepened him, somehow. He began to develop a rather broad-based spirituality from that point, that serves him to this day. He's in a Catholic high school, and the "religion guy" he had last semester let him talk at length about his views of things (as he encouraged all the kids in the class to do), and later told my son he was a mystic.

The last time I saw Guillermo, he was performing with his group at a huge gourd festival. He and his bandmates had made all their drums and other percussion instruments from gourds and other natural materials. It was Just Great!

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15. Thank you for that word picture of a wonderful man, and the planet we are a part of!

I envy you that experience. As you know, I've gained much from attending dances of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. However, they aren't into sharing their culture in the way that you describe. (And I fully understand why.)

However, many years ago, I *did* begin a new practice when I went camping, and it is somewhat like what you did with the drums. When I found the spot I wanted for a camp, I would sit and face as closely east as I could, and name all the plants, animals, trees and even rocks in the area, and ask their permission for me to be there. At first I felt rather silly for doing so. I thought, "Just what do you expect for an answer?" But, afterward, when I opened my eyes, I felt the deepest sense of peace I've ever experienced. *That* was my answer.

It's become now a camping ritual, and one I should expand to other areas, just like with your drums.

Thank you so much for reminding me of this!

We're so fortunate to have been able to meet such wonderful people!

[calimary]

20. That's actually an awfully nice ritual for any camping trip.

I often think back on my kid's Cub Scout experiences, and - wouldn't it be nice if they added a little touch of that to the camping weekends. They were rather vigilant, though, on the philosophy of leaving the campground better than you found it, which I always found quite admirable.

But it's REALLY magnificent to ask permission of the many spirits and beings and creatures already present - who are masters of that turf every bit as much as we are, and have as much right to be there as we do, and whose spirits were there first. Certainly keeps things in their proper perspective, and highly spiritual and reverent. It's an excellent way to keep a sense of reverence about the world and our place in it - NOT as the kings and queens who can own and run amok however we feel like, but as fellow travelers and life forms who share this lovely planet. We are partners and participants and guardians. We ARE at the top of the food chain. But with privilege comes responsibility. As we say around our house: "much blessed, much obligated."

[Solly Mack]

16. Shannon sounds like someone I would like to know

The kind of person that makes you a better person for the knowing....that makes you want to be a better person.

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17. That's IT--exactly! Thanks for wording it that way.

What a great slant on today... striving to be someone who helps others to be the better person they are.

Thanks!

And, here's a piece from my favorite book, that I'd like to share with you on this day:

The Audacity of Humility

I walked up to an old, old monk and asked him, "What is the audacity of humility?"

This man had never met me before but do you know what his answer was?

"To be the first to say 'I love you'".

from: Tales of a Magic Monastery, by Theophane

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18. A bump up for Shannon, Roxanne, many-times-great-grandfather, Sapphire's mother,

and Guillermo!! :loveya:

I'm sure there are many others who have inspired us!

I still hope to hear their stories!

[Sapphire Blue]

19. ..