Bear Butte after the big fire
"The four cardinal virtues so valued by the Lakota: bravery, generosity,
fortitude (in regard to both dignity and the ability to endure physical
hardship) and wisdom. ... the fourth was more difficult to acquire,
springing in part from a combination of the first three but also from
additional attributes -- experience, intelligence, spirituality, and
superior judgment in all matters."
From 'A Terrible Glory' by James Donovan
I love these values also and only wish we looked for the same in our leaders... Too often we settle instead for rhetoric and image-- for someone who says what we wish to hear.
The United States did not defeat the Lakota and Cheyenne because we were a superior people but because we had superiority in power and numbers. I am not one who believes the Native American way of life was always superior to the European, but there are some values that I feel we are losing track of even from my childhood years. Is it too late to change our values to something more positive in our own lives and even more in what we expect from those we vote for as leaders?
it is said that Crazy Horse spoke to the People from here
prayer tree along path and from top of Bear Butte
a Native American encampment at the base of the mountain
Three times I have been on Bear Butte where I always have gone with a feeling of sacredness. I will write more about those times-- when things quiet down a bit here.
Bear Butte was and is still sacred to the Plains peoples. The story goes that Crazy Horse, a rather mythic leader, though never a chief (he was a 'shirt wearer' which had spiritual significance until he made a decision in his personal life that lost him that designation), was born at its base and is secretly buried on its side.
To find my own photos, I had to send my husband to the attic to retrieve full boxes; so I could scan them. I wanted them on my computer. I want to return and perhaps will when we visit where my husband's people came west from-- Iowa and Missouri, and my birth family's ancestral grounds-- the Black Hills. Ironic isn't it...
When I have been to Bear Butte, I just couldn't bring myself to go to the Black Hills, Pahá Sápa, but now I want to see the graveyard there of my family. It was so important to them that some died in Oregon and had their bodies returned to the Black Hills for burial.
Whenever I go, I will try to not think about the unfairness involved with its acquisition, the commercialism, and appreciate the beauty that I have been told is in this very special place.
Whenever I go, I will try to not think about the unfairness involved with its acquisition, the commercialism, and appreciate the beauty that I have been told is in this very special place.
