A Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving

This is a Thanksgiving prayer from my neighbors and friends, the Haudenosaunee people of Upstate New York. All photos are mine except those with which I credit others - and most of the photos are taken of the land that once belonged solely to the nations of the Haudenosaunee. When I walk the trails and forest paths, I can feel their spirits all around me. They were caretakers of the land, and we need to honor the ancient spirits by doing the same.

Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World



The People

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.


art by Unknown

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.



The Waters

We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms-waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one.



The Fish

We turn our minds to the all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.



The Plants

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.



The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.

Now our minds are one.



The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.



The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are honored by them when they give up their lives so we may use their bodies as food for our people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

Now our minds are one.



The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.



The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-from the smallest to the largest-we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.



The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help us to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.



The Thunderers

Now we turn to the west where our grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We are thankful that they keep those evil things made by Okwiseres underground. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one.



The Sun

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.



Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of woman all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

Now our minds are one.

photo credit:Joanne Hailey
The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

__

The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers.

Now our minds are one.



The Creator

Now we turn our thoughts to the creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.



Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.


The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address/Prayer was reproduced courtesy of Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. [http://medicinecrow.net/ThanksGiving.html]

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
~ Jude

Obama Announces His Economic Team Leaders

Geithner, Summers among key economic team members announced today [Change.gov]

The Team:
Timothy Geithner
Lawrence Summers
Christina Romer
Melody Barnes ... Inside the Transition: Meet Melody Barnes [change.gov]

Others who've worked on the Obama transition Economic team: [Change.gov]

TEAM MEMBERS
Economics and International Trade Team
CFTC, Mark Johnson; Department of the Treasury, Stephen Abrecht; Department of the Treasury, Erika Brown; Department of the Treasury, Alastair Fitzpayne; Department of the Treasury, Mary Goodman; Department of the Treasury, James Greene; Department of the Treasury, Robert Kahn; Department of the Treasury, Edward Knight; Department of the Treasury, Rebecca Levin; Department of the Treasury, Marne Levine; Department of the Treasury, Robert Litan; Department of the Treasury, Donald Lubick; Department of the Treasury, James Millstein; Department of the Treasury, Cantwell Muckenfuss III [yes, that's really his name]; Department of the Treasury, Emanuel Pleitez; Department of the Treasury, Rosa Rios; Department of the Treasury, David Vandivier; Department of the Treasury, William Wechsler; Department of the Treasury, James Wetzler; Department of the Treasury, Jacqueline Wong; Department of the Treasury, Jide Zeitlin; [see link for more]

They Tried to Warn Us!

By Tom Tomorrow, Salon.com

Patriotism and Bailouts

I was reading an article by Rev. Jim Wallis [Sojourners] about his prayers for the workers in his hometown of Detroit and the question came to mind: "What does patriotism mean when it comes to economics?"

I recall a day, three decades ago, when a worker from Chrysler that I personally know refused to speak to my ex-husband because he'd bought a Subaru. Some younger people might say "How odd." But back then it was true - if you bought a foreign car in the '70s you were looked at with resentment by American auto workers. I'd witnessed a long friendship hanging in the balance over one friend's challenging another about his consumer-choices. I think that it's only now that I've come to a full realization regarding the fears of that Chrysler worker back in 1977.

The economic survival today of so many American auto workers who are innocently caught up in the great leveling of the global playing field is dependent upon our government seeing the pitfalls and fault-lines of pure Capitalism and government's acknowledging that they have failed in their hesitation, for politics' sake, to stem the tide of the ever-rapidly and inevitable outsourcing of American business. In the early years of globalization, responsible regulation by government would not have had to have been legislated in the spirit of cutting off free markets, but to show responsibility and goodwill intent to protect the American worker - and the Middle Class from which he or she was a part - from undue hardship. To be patriotic today wouldn't be to leave millions of workers at risk in a culture of inevitable greed that came with the global markets opening up and too little regulations and laws to protect the Middle Class.

When it comes to the current debate about bailing out the big auto companies and securing millions of jobs, the problem our elected US legislators face is the inability to reconcile their past failures of realistic leadership with what appears to be a move - this bailout proposal - that defies their hard stands on respective economic philosophies.

It's understandable to question the fairness of the bailout in the current global market. But is it fair to the American worker who was never realistically led by her government to responsibly be able to track her realistic economic path and its pitfalls on her personal map? After all, as an average citizen, she wasn't required to be an intellectual, a sociologist, an attorney, or an economist. Is it fair to the Middle Class in America to suffer undue hardship, by simply allowing milllions of jobs to be sucked under with the tide of poor past political leadership? What about more citizens who will lose related jobs while investors lose more confidence and citizens lose more faith in their leaders?

When it comes to patriotism and our American communities great and small, either we citizens are in this together or we shouldn't be in it at all. Now's not the time for harsh judgments about the auto companies' failures. Instead, it's the time for vision and for the greatest leadership possibly ever seen in US history -- the kind of leadership that will inspire us to see that America is strongest when we, especially our leaders, humbly admit past mistakes and invite us all to work together to correct them without unduly punishing ourselves. Most important, the time for politicians and pundits holding on to extreme economic philosophy is over in a country where the Middle Class is economically imploding and the world watches for America to lead.
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Note: Warren Buffett says, [..] any automaker bailout package should include a business solution, and be negotiated by the president, not Congress.[..]

When You Come Home by Nora Eisenberg [Review]

"When You Come Home"
by Nora Eisenberg
Curbstone Press

I clearly remember the night Operation Desert Storm was begun by the United States because I still have the journal I'd been keeping for my son, who was then a newborn in a borrowed handcrafted wooden swinging cradle. My baby boy slept in the cradle while Bernard Shaw and John Holliman hunkered down in their Baghdad hotel room reporting the details for then cutting-edge CNN and it looked like fireworks over the besieged city of babies and old men and women already sick and starving from years of fruitless sanctions. It was a war for which we were being told, after years of hippie vs. hawk Vietnam argument, that we could finally win - and, at long last decisively so. What is winning? As a new mother, I wrote the question -along with all the words that were in my heart. I questioned our country's growing involvement in the region although I understood that we were defending an ally. I wondered, even then, if our growing dependence on foreign oil was leading our nation down a path of perpetual war. I wondered if my baby, sleeping peacefully in his bed, would someday be called to be a warrior for our national addiction.

A member of my family went to the desert for the first Gulf War. I recall the days of sending him cans of Chef Boyardee and books about Elvis and pictures from home. I especially recall the night he came home to our family. There's a scene I keep in my mind of balloons and embraces at the airport and my sense of peace, joy, and relief in knowing that he'd survived. It didn't matter to me at that moment that he may not have been emotionally whole, I just knew he was back in our arms. I remember going with him to a Catholic elementary school where he offered to allow children to ask him questions about Desert Storm. He's the kind of good-humored, loving, intelligent fellow who'd never want to burden you with horror stories, but I know, even though he doesn't talk a lot about those months in the desert, that he came home changed. How could you not be changed after war? You're lifted to hero status by some who think you deserve it and by those in the shadows who have an interest in keeping soldiers heroes so war can be seen as the fastest route to honor. You may not feel like a hero. You're given a parade and a promise of education so you can keep up with the Joneses while the Joneses become a class of working poor in a nation with a canyon-sized gap between the minute percentage of the richest and the rest of us. You see horrors that no human being ever sets out to desire to see and you're expected to blend in again when you get back. You become acutely aware of your fellow countrymen's short attention span when, on a chilling day, you suddenly realize with a great sense of disappointment that you've been forgotten. A VA hospital closes. Veterans' benefits are cut. A new war is begun. The VFW is often the only place for that certain connection - a refuge where you're still understood for who you are by those who've shared the experience of war.

Veteran's Day 2008 was a fitting time to have been reading "When You Come Home" by Nora Eisenberg. In her writing I see the uncanny ability to pull the everyday experience of the veteran and his/her family together with the inner strife in the inner-lives of the people who've been to war and back. Marine reservist Tony Bravo has come back from the Gulf War with the raw memory of it still fresh in his mind. He has a longing to teach a history of war although he's still confused as to how to approach the subject as each passing day brings up new remembrances of experiences in the war, many of them haunting. Tony, who's lost his own father in the Vietnam war, has fallen in love and wishes to start a new life with his childhood frend Lily, a sweet and creative girl who was orphaned by the ghosts of Vietnam and was raised by Tony's mother. Because Tony's mother Mimi, a midwife by profession, is also a Vietnam war widow, she has been an especially nurturing and empahetic force in Lily's life. The story wraps itself around the main characters and their best friends Homer, a Marine who's come back from Iraq with symptoms of what would eventually be known as Gulf War syndrome and Nancy - Homer's wife - who learns she's expecting their first child shortly after his return from the war. Lily's engagement to Tony and the coming of Nancy and Homer's baby remain in focus throughout the story as the mysterious symptoms related to Guf War syndrome begin to manifest themselves in Homer. The fear and confusion set in as Tony, Lily, and Nancy watch Homer's condition deteriorate and come to understand in a most disheartening way that, whether or not those who worked in Veteran and government afairs were aware of the causes of the mysterious disease, that there was an unwillingness on their part to listen and to claim responsibility, and too often seeming to willfully deny reponsibility for all consequences involving their putting the soldiers in the place where there was the potential for dangerous exposure to poisons, whether it was from oil fires, chemicals like DEET; or from germs, gases, depleted uranium from U.S. weapons, required vaccines that weren't FDA-approved, or broken masks and suits that didn't protect as they were meant to protect.

Homer's symptoms worsen. Nancy's child is born with unexpected health problems that can reasonably be tied to Homer's mysterious illnesses. The tension increases between Tony, who's increasingly worried that he'll soon come down with his fellow soldiers' common symptoms and discouraged because his History course cirriculum, based upon his own experience and knowledge of war, has been rejected by those who don't want that knowledge to be spread too far... and Lily, always the hopeful, committed, and determined champion of the man Tony has become. Their love story isn't an easy or idyllic one. Fairy tales and most romance stories don't involve spending 24 hours of your day watching over a loved one who's been spewing vomit, sweating, and mumbling irrationally while you have no clue what's wrong with them and while no one in your own government seems to want to support you or your loved one with a system of healthcare that has its philosophic basis in the core practice of listening - really listening - to the concerns of the veteran. Nora Eisenberg has made her story all too real, piercing your heart with an image of life for people who return from war different...broken..whether by physical illness, emotional illness, or both.

Lily refuses to let her dreams die - as much of a flight of child-like fancy as they seem sometimes. Although she's never had the opportunity for a first-class education, she's got an uncanny natural ability to see things for exactly what they are. For instance, she thinks of the implications of the Vietnam-era term "MIA" while reflecting upon her own childhood and her father who returned from Vietnam lost and haunted by many memories. He was eventually taken from a very young Lily by the ghosts of war that led to his own physical deterioration. The term that Lily assigns to her father is "MAA" - missing AFTER action; much like her friend Homer and, in many ways, even her fiance Tony...and so many other veterans of the war.

An old friend from the Gulf War enters the story near the end and, to Tony's surprise, is wheelchair-bound and extremely sick from Gulf War syndrome. His friend, angry and confused about his own fate and the death of a mutual brother-in-arms who has succumbed from the same disease, says, "Operation Desert Posion. that's what we should call the whole fucking war."

Ms. Eisenberg's book speaks about a war that the United States supposedly won, hands-down, in no time. I'd always felt that it was supposed to erase the memory of the U.S. in Vietnam from our nation's collective mind. It was as if to say, "Look at us. We're war-winners once again." Yet, here we are today, bogged down in a war and an occupation in Iraq. We keep hearing about victory while no one has been able to produce a credible vision of victory in their ever-changing rhetoric about a one-day glorious exit strategy from Iraq that never materializes. The book causes me to ask if the current war in Iraq is really a new war and whether or not, as we look back on the history of the first Gulf War, we'd won anything at all? For all the veterans who suffered and continue to suffer from Gulf War Syndrome, I'd imagine you'd be hard-pressed to find one who believes their country treated them like the winners they were framed to be. It's too hard to worry about the winning when your life and your family's life is torn apart.

If everyone reflected as realistically as Nora Eisenberg upon war and the men and women who fight those wars, we would all look at war differently. I urge you to read this book. The story's as relevant to all of us, to our veterans who deserve our best care, and to our politics today as it was in the 1960s and the 1990s.

Blogging: The First Rough Draft of History

"Journalism is supposed to be the first rough draft of history, but now it’s the second draft — blogging is the first."

~ Nicholas Kristof, NY Times

It Feels Like a Whole New World

It feels like we're in a
whole new world this morning,
doesn't it?
Anything is possible now.