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Post by Bret Walker on Sept 27, 2002 10:32:26 GMT -5
"In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and other Indian tribes around Washington's Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000."
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Post by Bret Walker on Sept 27, 2002 10:32:52 GMT -5
Chief Seattle's Thoughts :
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.
If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.
The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man --- all belong to the same family.
So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children.
So, we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father's grave, and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
I do not know. Our ways are different than your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insect's wings. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine.
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Post by Bret Walker on Sept 27, 2002 10:33:06 GMT -5
The air is precious to the red man for all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.
So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition - the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.
I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover; our God is the same God.
You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.
That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
-- Chief Seattle
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Post by irishlace on Feb 27, 2003 1:07:20 GMT -5
Beautiful words..... unfortunately not heeded in history....   Don't see many open spaces or wildlife amid the pictures of Seattle.... nor many places where one can hear the winds or silence.... and with the worlds pollution levels what he said is coming to pass.... we have contaminated our bed and continue to do so... It is sad.... |
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Post by Bret Walker on Feb 27, 2003 10:49:19 GMT -5
Yes but you've never been to Washington State and seen all the beauty there is. The corridor of cities from Seattle to Tacoma and down to Olympia is urban, yes, but not nearly as urban as the majority of New Jersey. And once you get east of that corridor, Washington's natural beauty is absolutely breathtaking. I hope you can go out there with us sometime ;D
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Post by jelly belly girl on Feb 27, 2003 10:53:40 GMT -5
and drive five miles outside of seattle, tacoma, or olympia, and you are in such lush, beautiful forests it's absolutely breathtaking. photos of seattle are usually ONLY of the downtown area. it's hard for people to understand the true beauty of the pacific northwest without experiencing it themselves.
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Post by irishlace on Feb 27, 2003 11:03:07 GMT -5
 I'm admittedly ignorant when it comes to having actually gone to the Pacific Northwest, al I have to go by are pictures on the net.... so many apologies if I sounded ignorant.... I'd love to see WA, as well as meet the infamous other Aunt Cindy I've heard so much about.... ;D
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Post by Bret Walker on Feb 27, 2003 11:07:50 GMT -5
However, your statement about worldwide pollution is a valid one, and I agree that Chief Seattle, if he were alive today, would be greatly saddened by it all.
Have you ever seen that anti-litter commercial with the native american riding around on a horse, and he sees all the trash and the cars on the highway, and he looks at the camera and just a single tear rolls down his cheek? God, that commercial used to give me chills.
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Post by jelly belly girl on Feb 27, 2003 11:08:15 GMT -5
haven't you seen pictures i've taken?
and btw she lives in indiana now, not in WA lol
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Post by irishlace on Feb 27, 2003 11:33:03 GMT -5
haven't you seen pictures i've taken? and btw she lives in indiana now, not in WA lol Well I've seen LOTS of pictures of people in WA... and I saw one picture of you and Bret at Mount Ranier (spelling?) however that picture was of you 2 at a tourist rest stop..... on top of the mountain without much landscape  definitely not a taken by Erin pic..... Damn it... then I have to visit WA when she is visitting... or visit WA and Indiana.. Come on I've heard too much about the woman not to meet her No I have to say I'm glad I missed that one.... that would choke me up WAY too much... |
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