RantWoman below presents offerings from a guest blogger, an always articulate person with a disability. Guest Blogger asks that RantWoman keep Guest Blogger's identity anonymous. Guest Blogger notes that the text is rougher than one might prefer. RantWoman though wants to hold the commentary and collect some of the resources mentioned.
Do not cast over your shoulder behind you the warnings of your nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is right and just. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people, and have always in view not only the present, but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground—the unborn of the future Nation.
November is called the Month of Remembrance. It starts with All Hallows Day when we remember those that went before us and it follows All Hallows Eve (Halloween).
This week contains Veterans’ Day (Thursday) when, for the 100th year anniversary, anybody (not just the President) can lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In 1921 they were trying to heal after a horrific world war fought by horrific means and had just survived a pandemic that killed over 6 million worldwide. Today, the US is ending or longest war with over 5 million worldwide killed in a pandemic. Lest we forget.
At the end of the month is a national holiday proclaimed by a President to try to heal a nation after a horrific war that pitted family member against family member with calls of succession and demolishing the Republic. Today, aggravated by technology, we are pitted family member against family member with calls for dividing (succession) some states and a call for demolishing the Republic. (on the dark side, the first Thanksgiving in the 1600's was to celebrate the massacre of Native men, women and children that had assembled for celebration and ceremony.)
And all of November is National American Indian Heritage Month https://www.
Humans still bow to peer pressure listening to the loudest or most numerous voices. Neither veteran's or First Nations fall in that category.
Military personnel are called service men and service women because warriors are not about war (War and the Soul, Dr. Edward Tick) but about service. They contend with the physical and mental injuries acquired in service to your freedom to pursue your career path and life. On Bainbridge Island lives the Principal Investigator of Strong Angel. A US military operation in the late 1990's to expand its vison to humanitarian aid / disaster response (HA/DR). Ask those in Sierra Leone about the US military contribution to ending the Ebola epidemic. There is usually a technology field experimentation at least once a year focused on HA/DR. First Nations have the highest enrollment in the military per capita for cultural, not economic, reasons. Again, a devotion to service. What will you be doing on Thursday, November the 11th?
One aspect of equity, in my opinion, is recognizing the talent and intellect of others who may not be following the dominant culture's definition of talent and intellect. One myth I hear around Thanksgiving is that the US is the first democracy or republic on this land. That is not so. From Benjamin Franklin to the "founders" writing the first documents of this government, all consulted with the statesmen of the League of Five Nations about their Great Law of Peace. (U.S. Congress Concurrent Resolution 331, October 21, 1988) The Great Law dictates how governance, separation of powers, reaching decisions on case, question or proposition, that the women select the Chiefs that sit in Council, and if those Chiefs do not live up to the moral code, remove said Chiefs from "office". Immigration, emigration, how to deal with other Nations, how a member of another Nation may sit and speak in Council, how Council is conducted (open every session with The Words Before All Else - or Thanksgiving Address), Rights of the People, and War. The Great Law provided for expansion of the Law and economic gain to other territories by way of the war club. Ask the Hurons and the Mohicans.
When commenting on the founding documents of the US, the League pointed out errors that would cause the very problems the US government and its citizens have faced - in the civil war, in the Great War and the now. The Great Law had been created from the work of the Peacemaker, who had brought people together after decades of horrific wars. For expediency's sake, the US document writers ignored the advice. The Great Law and the League existed for between 800 and 1000 years. We face rancor and dissolution after only 250.
In late July, 1787, twenty years after the Stamp Act Congress, John Rutledge found himself chairing the Committee of Detail at the Constitutional Convention … Rutledge's biographer states that he opened the meeting with some passages from the Great Law of the Iroquois. The main passages relate to the sovereignty of the people, peace and unity. Rutledge had asserted earlier that a great empire was being created so it must be firmly rooted in American soil.
The below is from:
Kaianerekowa Hotinonsionne - The Great Law of Peace of the Longhouse People
translation by Akwesasne Notes
©1970, 1994 by Akwesasne Notes, Mohawk Nation.
This material may be reproduced for educational use only.
Roots have spread out from the Tree of Great Peace, one to the north, one to the east, one to the south, and one to the west. These are the Great White Roots, and their nature is Peace and Strength.
If any man or any Nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace (Kaianarekowa), and shall make this known to the statesmen of the League, they may trace back the roots to the Tree. If their minds are clean, and if they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the Council of the League, they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves.
We place at the top of the Tree of Great Peace an Eagle, who is able to see afar. If he sees in the distance any danger threatening, he will at once warn the people of the League. …
The Chiefs of the League of Five Nations shall be mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of their skin shall be seven spans (tsiataniioronkarake), which is to say that they shall be proof against anger, offensive action, and criticism. Their hearts shall be full of peace and good will, and their minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the League. With endless patience, they shall carry out their duty. Their firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in their minds, and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation.
After he pledges to the Chiefs of the League that he will live according to the Great Law of Peace and exercise justice in all affairs, his pledge is received by saying:
We now do crown you with the sacred emblem of the deer's antlers, the emblem of your chieftainship. You shall now become a mentor of the people of the Five Nations. The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans, which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions, and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will. Your mind shall be filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the League. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in your mind. All your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all your deliberations in the Council of the League, in your efforts at law-making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast away. Do not cast over your shoulder behind you the warnings of your nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is right and just. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people, and have always in view not only the present, but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground—the unborn of the future Nation.
(The other myth I've heard is that Turtle Island was sparsely occupied so the land was for the taking. In reality, Turtle Island population was greater than all Europe at the time. All immigrants, both willing and unwilling, took part in reducing First Nation population to less than 1/10th of its original numbers.)
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