Monday, June 1, 2009

For Your Consideration...


I wanted to offer this for your consideration this morning. Some wrongs can never be made right.

In my opinion, we should learn from our past, or be doomed to repeat it. Let's hope that somewhere in the course of everyday living, we maintain a fair amount of honor and dignity...and allow others to do the same.

Chief Seattle's reply to a Government offer to purchase the remaining Salish lands:



Now, my friend, let's get some coffee and sit on the patio for a bit...

18 comments:

Rae said...

Jim,
Very poignant and moving video.
Such wonderful potential -destroyed!

Will we ever learn that we don't own this great planet - we are merely here to be caretakers.
Thank you for reminding me. RAE

Dori said...

Haunting and beautiful...thank you so much for sharing this, Jim!

I believe one of the most important responsibilities I have as a mother is to teach my children how to be gracious and grateful. In all things.

JoJo said...

Beautiful post Jim,
And the white man called them savage. They understood the earth and all things natural. Yes to bad we didn't learn better from them instead of harming them and this beautifull land.
JoJo

Kyddryn said...

Beautiful...moving...and so very sad.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K (who is teaching the Evil Genius to love his Mother)

HermitJim said...

Hey Rae...
Good to see you this morning. Glad you enjoyed the video and the message it contained.

Thanks somuch for coming by today!


Hey Dori...
I do believe that this is a case where we have an obligation to teach our offspring to do better than we did.

We could do a lot worse than to follow the example of the Indian in his beliefs of stewardship of the Earth.

Thanks for the visit!


Hey JoJo...
When greed gets in the way of good old common sense, we start having problems.

It seems we always want to own, instead of sharing when it comes to the resources.

Thanks, my special friend, for dropping by...and you have a good day!


Hey K...
thanks for voicing what I feel...teach the Evil Genius well, as he may end up being a partt of the salvation of our future!

I appreciate the visit, my friend!

Catman said...

Somehow, even to reply seems profane.

Mo said...

Our lifestyle and culture of convenience disconnects us from the earth. We have lost the reverence for the natural beauty in nature and the bounty it provides. Eating a fresh from the garden reminds us of the connection but the hint is too soon forgotten. A vista may touch our soul but we drive away searching for something else without fully savoring the moment. We may have a greater variety of experiences but I doubt many of us relish in the simple things that go un-noticed every day.

Thought provoking video, thanks for posting.

HermitJim said...

Hey Catman...
I often feel that what the great chiefs had to say sounded so eloquent just because of the fact that most of them spoke from the heart! I could be wrong about this, but to me that's how it sounds.

Thanks for the visit, my man!

HermitJim said...

Hey Mo...
how very true, and how very sad at the same time. I think that this the reason so many of us shearch for a place that is pleasing to the soul and calming to the heart. We are always looking for the beautiy that has always been there for us to enjoy.

We need to slow our pace, open our minds, and be appreciative of what is offered to us daily!

Thanks for the visit, Mo

CoyotePrime said...

Wonderful, HermitJim. Thanks for posting this.

HermitJim said...

Hey Coyote...
Isn't it amazing how clearly we can see the harm caused by our forefathers in the name of "progress"?

Sometimes I just want to cry! Inside and out!

Hey, thanks for the visit, buddy!

TEAM HALL said...

That was beautiful Jim!! And I agree 100% with Mo - we are so very disconnected from our earth!! It's soooo sad! When I get to stand in our garden, close my eyes and just listen to the birds and the wind in the trees, it's easy to reconnect and I swear I can hear God much clearer too! There's a lesson in there...
Cath

HermitJim said...

Hey Cath...
Very true, my friend. There is a lot of wisdom in the old sayings like "Take time to smell the roses"

I firmly believe that the majority of us want to reconnect in some fashion. The closest I can ever remember to really being attentive to nature, was sitting on a creek bank in a secluded fishing spot. To sit quietly and just allow yourself to listen and to really hear the wind, the water, and your own heart talking to you...wow!

That's why I am getting out of the city...Thanks for coming by this morning, my friend!

Carol Ayers said...

SGI (thank you)...beautiful.

HermitJim said...

Hey Carol...
Thank you...I thought it was nice, also.

Thanks for dropping in today!

RG said...

I'm speechless, bro. If only more people understood the tragedy that's around them everyday. The difference between what could have been and what is, is absolutely astounding.

HermitJim said...

Hey Nomad...
How true that is...all one has to do is look at the so called "progress" all around us. We are slowly killing everything given to us by nature to care for.

This is a lesson that we are just now starting to learn, and it just may be too late!

Thanks for the visit and the comments, my friend!

Ol' Remus said...

Wonderful sentiment Hermit. So I looked it up to get more of the history. Drat. Wouldn't you know, here's what I found:

Chief Seattle - “How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? … The end of living and the beginning of survival.” (Those are the opening and closing lines of a speech attributed to him.) Who really said it: ... a screenwriter named Ted Perry wrote the entire speech in 1971 for a 1972 ecological movie called “Home”—about 115 years after Seattle died. Nevertheless, the bogus speech has been treated as authentic by various authors, environmentalists and Al Gore."

STL Mo, ListVerse