As I said to First Nations’ elders in 1980, the times are now at hand for the great changes and everyone should be awake.
Allow me to share words of wisdom from an elder from the past.
Oh Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds,
Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me …
I come to you as one of your many children,
I am small and weak,
I need your strength and your wisdom,
May I walk in beauty,
Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made,
And my ears sharp to your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children,
The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock.
Make me strong,
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy —
Myself …
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes
So that when life fades as the fading sunset
My spirit can come to you without shame.
– Chief Yellow Lark of the Sioux Nation, 1887
