This place is called 'where the fire starts'
specifically because people consider fire trouble. The fire also was a
place in our longhouses where people gathered and talked about different
ideas. Now days talking consists of 37 people at a band meeting, run by
a heirarchy of dictators who listen to no one.
The old ways of sitting around a fire and talking
until things got worked out can still exist. People can still discuss things,
work them out slowly and properly in order to preserve things seven generations
to come.
I do not need to be silenced by a bunch of elected
bureaucratic fools who give the word Chief a bad reputation. Nor do I need
to worry about keeping my ideas inside Kahnawake. Only to realize that
in doing so offers no support from other who may share similar opinions.
So to the people whom try to keep our people
in the same compliant place, guess what. I scared people once with my ideas,
I can do it again. The power of the mind is endless and powerfull.
And might I remind people not all things in here
are meant to disturb. Some things are meant to just provoke some thoughts,
ideas and reactions. I'll try to balance things out a bit when I add material
in this section.
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Ending this little feast of words, I give
respect to my people who struggle to keep our culture alive.
I give my thanks to the language carriers
because it is you who keep an aspect of Mohawk culture to important to
our people.
I give my thanks to the carriers of the
ceremonies because regardless what modern science says I believe we
Haudenosaunee people desperately need to take a long look at their purpose.
I give my thanks to our elders, the ones who
carry knowledge, not just age. It's the elders who speak of truth, honesty
and with respect that need to teach us more.
I give my thanks to our young people who
have chosen a true Haudenosaunee path and seek out their culture, not some
religion a'la carte. It will be you who they run to in the future when
the governments try to kill us with our own words.
I give my thanks to Mother Earth because
she need more respect right now than anything. We all talk but no one changes
a thing to help she who keeps us alive, and I'm not talking about the local
grocery store.
I give my thanks to Haudenosaunee Women because
you all deserve respect for bringing us into this world, you have the gift
of life, you bear us children, and you see us in and out of this world.
Lastly I give thanks to everything else,
since I could write this for days.
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