If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

Chief Seattle

We do not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

Chief Si’ahl Seattle Suquamish Leader

Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench.

Chief Seattle (Sealth), Suquamish Chief

When the green hills are covered with talking wires and the wolves no longer sing, what good will the money you paid for our land be then

Chief Seattle

There is no death. Only a change of worlds.

Chief Seattle (Sealth), Suquamish Chief

And when the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among white men shall have become a myth, these shores shall swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children shall think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway or in the silence of the woods they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night, when the streets of your cities and villages shall be silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.

Chief Seattle

These words are recorded as having been spoken by Chief Seattle. They can be found in many places, those above were found here.: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/331799.Chief_Seattle

My ancestry is red and white (much more the latter). There was much agony & evil acts on both sides as people of very different histories were inhabiting the same grand land.

But, It wasn’t all bad. There were friendships between them. They bartered, traded, enjoyed meals together, probably smoked em’ peace pipe together, and learned from one another. It saddens me to think of all the suffering, right down to the Indians witnessing the slaughtering & near extinction of the Great Plains buffalo.

When there are so very many peoples together, in any scenario, including, but not limited to slavery (within possibly all civilizations of past), something will happen between two individuals somewhere, and again somewhere else.

Two by two by two it occurs. Statistically, given the vast numbers of people, it is bound to happen. What that is, begins with a spark of compassion. A seed of empathy takes root. From there, out blooms something more – a civility, a friendship, a love.

People considered good or bad or in between, may be found in every group of people, every one of them. They are all everywhere.

They walk among us.

Perhaps all that is is another aspect of Yin/Yang manifested in its endless ways.

Every land has histories its people wish hadn’t happened. There are many beautiful souls in every beautiful land. I have been fortunate to know a good number of them, & I have encountered some expressing their thoughts, hearts, and writing skills online.

https://kuow.org/stories/what-s-namesake-enigma-chief-si-ahl/ The Suquamish tribe has a version of the speech on its website. In it, Seattle recalled another era:

There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame.

Chief si’ahl

*That tattoo is a tribute to his departed grandma. Within it is written “Grandmother” of the language she said was her grandfather’s tribe.

Love our lizards. Love our raccoons. Love the butterflies & lightning bugs. Love the water & the plants. Love one another. Love who you want. Love the jerks as well, if you choose. Love what you want. Love is free. You can access a lot of it & share as much as you want.

It sounds easy, doesn’t it? I have so much love for some that it is nearly crippling & I am inspired by so many people, animals, & nature. I am also cynical, judgmental, have anger for some, and I have wishes and thoughts that I shouldn’t, that shouldn’t weigh on my heart, I guess they’re there for various reasons. We can all try to better ourselves, how we treat Earth, our only material home, and how we treat her creatures, our beautiful companions here. Best wishes.

“Give me Lizardry or give me Death!” -Dawn Renée