Worldviews

They don't live in Tipis anymore (though some wish they could... I wish I could). They now drive cars on the highways (though deep inside they know they could follow the big rivers to important places). They vote in elections (though they remember leaders of the past who served their people with humility). They speak English (though their heart is moved when Lakota is spoken).

While driving along, I often imagine stripping the current landscape and laying down how it was 200 years ago. A peace comes over me. Many did not yet know the frightening confusion of the white man and his oppressive culture. A culture, a worldview, that was convinced of Manifest Destiny. A worldview that insisted that 2 + 2 = 6, and if you choose to not believe that I have a very big gun that will help me prove it to you.

After enjoying the 200 years ago landscape before me, I then strip that away and lay down how it might be 200 years from now... It's even better than the 200-year-old version. I'm no longer experiencing peace only. I'm now feeling warmth and gratitude.

Look again at the beautiful paradise scene in the Creator tract/brochure. We ask people in the Lakota field to place themselves in the picture. Some choose to sit beneath the Elder telling stories to the children. Some choose the meadow beyond. One young man chose the point where the bear is... his name was Matȟó.

I choose to climb the mountain in back, so I can sit at the top and look out over the landscape... a landscape I no longer wish to mentally strip away. Earth is restored to what it was supposed to be all along.