General George Armstrong Custer has been crossing my path a lot lately.  I was channel-surfing one evening and I ran across and watched the American Experience documentary “Custer” on PBS, a very balanced reporting of the events leading up to the death of this man we made into an American hero.  Next I was pleased to attend an incredible performance of the play “Custer” by Robert Ingham, which delved into the relationship of the lead characters in the Battle of Little Bighorn.

George Armstrong Custer

I grew up in what was originally known as the Dakota Territory, and the Sioux Indians were a large part of that heritage.  In grade school we learned about the heroic feats of one George Armstrong Custer, and his defeat of the  Indian “savages.”  The textbooks relayed the story of the slaughter of 15 million buffalo as part of our great wartime tactics against the “hostiles,” since bison were the major source of sustenance to the Native Americans.  I listened to the teachers, and I read the books, yet even as a little girl I intuitively knew there must be something more to this story.  Yet as a child, I did not challenge what a teacher said or what was written.

And so another version of the history of my homeland was offered as I watched the play “Custer.” It was an outstanding performance by the St. Bonaventure High School Drama Department, under the care and direction of Patricia Strickland. The playbill described the play as “We explore the story of Custer to understand the history of the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn from the perspective of those who lived it, and to draw our own conclusions.  We invite you to join us.”

And so as the cast went on an exploration, the audience joined in.  The sets and the lighting were impeccably executed.  Each member of the production gave a heartfelt and credible performance.  It was clear that these actors had studied in-depth the characters and the history of the material.  Nick Perry gave us a particularity insightful look into the dark, brooding and alcoholic Major Marcus Reno, and Tayler Drew embodied Libby, Custer’s wife and most adoring fan.

Custer was depicted in this production in a very different light from how we typically see him in the action movies.  Arrogant, cunning and narcissistic are a few characteristics that came to my mind.  The dialogue available to Custer in the play was significantly less than that of his rival Benteen, so Charlie Strickland undertook the job of painting a picture of Custer by displaying his physicality, mannerisms and gestures. He succeeded, for when he was center stage, Strickland was not just playing Custer, he was inhabiting him.

Paul Defresne gave what I can only describe as one of the most commanding performances by a high school student that I have ever witnessed, through his intimate and honest portrayal of Captain Fred Benteen.  I was unaware of the nature of the relationship of Custer and Benteen until I saw this play, and I was mesmerized to watch it unfold. I became intrigued by the Benteen character, and was subsequently drawn to read his biography. I have no way of knowing if Defresne’s interpretation of this character is absolutely true to form or not, yet if I were Benteen, I think I would be pleased with his portrayal.

If you ever get a chance to see a performance of this play, please do so, as it is both thought-provoking and relevant.  Patricia Strickland sums us the production beautifully in her director’s note:

“There are contemporary parallels to be drawn from CUSTER, both culturally and personally.  We still follow leaders into “battle.” Leaders who have foible and who are all too human.  There is a shared philosophy of ‘We will stay the course no matter what reality is placed before us, both culturally and individually.’  Often we have an inability to step back and see from another perspective.  And like the Little Bighorn, our resulting actions can have resonating consequences.”

In the mid-1990s I had the honor to meet Billy Mills, the second Native American to ever win an Olympic Gold medal and the subject of the 1984 film Running Brave.  This United States Marine told of us his struggle to achieve his goals, and the types of prejudice he encountered along the way.  His story affected me so much that I choose to honor him in a way that others thought was a radical decision. Actually, it did not seem at all outrageous to me – it made perfect sense.

Billy Mills

One of the projects Billy Mills was involved in was the removal of offensive Native American mascots from the athletic departments of universities in the United States. His plea deeply touched me. The mascot of the university where I graduated was a caricature of a member of an Indian tribe, including a politically insensitive tag-line. Many Native Americans found this offensive, and they had waged battles against the school to have the mascot retired. They always lost.

When I returned to my office after Billy’s presentation, I wrote to the President of the school I graduated from and asked to have my name taken off of any school records. I advised him that I would reinstate my name after the mascot was changed.

I saw Billy again that week, and I told him what I had done.  I still cherish the autographed copy of ”Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding“ that he gave me that day, and I will never forget the tears that welled up in his eyes as he signed his book.

I got a nice letter back from my university, stating that they were sorry I felt the way I did, but that the name was steeped in tradition and it was going to be retained. I am under no false illusions that my actions had any impact on my school’s position.  On the other hand, it was important for me to take a stance about an issue of which I felt strongly.

I would hope that each of us would do that at least once in our life.

To Makata Taka Hela – one of my heroes!

Like many others, I was conflicted about the murder of Osama Bin Laden.  Certainly he brought this level of human justice down upon himself through his own actions.  Perhaps the world is a safer place without him.  Well, perhaps.  On the other hand, the sight of people reveling at the death of another, even someone as vilified as him, does give one pause for thought.

These musings crossed my mind:

-  I believe that most of us, if we live long enough on this planet, will garner a few enemies here and there.  I know I have.  I tried to picture what my family might feel like if one of these folks showed up at my memorial service, chanting their excitement that I was dead.  And I tried to think about what their intention in doing so might be.

-  I wonder what it is in our human nature that we can so easily garner so much hatred so quickly.  I do not believe we were born with that type of anger and fear in our hearts, so I suggest that we must have learned it somewhere along the line.

-  Does the reason we hate and vilify another person have any relationship to how we feel about ourselves?

-  Given the propensity for humans to follow the lead of others, how easily could crowd jubilation turn into mob action?

I have given thought to these questions, and I still await the answers for myself.  My pondering actually left me needing to explore my own behavior and reaction to this event.

When I observed that Osama Bin Laden’s death was being exploited in the news media and beyond, I considered it another obsession that society has with violence and, quite frankly, media ratings.   After watching the reaction of people around the world, I think it was necessary for that exposure to happen, as it became an important world-wide “teachable moment” available to each of us.

When we put our own emotions of this event aside, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves questions about ourselves, and ponder the answers we receive.

To your teachable moment,
Marion

I remember my father telling me, with some embarrassment, that he had completed only eight years of elementary school. In the Midwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was actually the exception for students to go on to high school after completing elementary school, as teenagers needed to be available to work full time on the family farm.  Completing elementary school was therefore the culmination of the formal education for many students.  Recently, I ran across some fascinating information, and it totally changed my perception of what may have been included in an eighth grade education over one hundred years ago.

This is the eighth grade final examination from 1895 in Salina, Kansas.  It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

EXAMINATION GRADUATION QUESTIONS OF SALINE COUNTY, KANSAS
April 13, 1895
J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent.
Examinations at Salina, New Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria, and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.)

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e’. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of N.A.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

Health (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Where are the saliva, gastric juice, and bile secreted? What is the use of each in digestion?
2. How does nutrition reach the circulation?
3. What is the function of the liver? Of the kidneys?
4. How would you stop the flow of blood from an artery in the case of laceration?
5. Give some general directions that you think would be beneficial to preserve the human body in a state of health.

A researcher has posted the answers to the examination, if you are interested.  Answers to 1895 examination.

There are “myth-busters” who believe the exam questions were much too difficult for an eighth grader, and that it must have been written for older students.   In spite of this, the existence of the examination has been proven, and the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library of Salina stands behind the records in its files.

Whatever the exact details are of this matter, I offer this posting as something for us all to ponder, as we think about what students were expected to comprehend about their world so long ago, and what we expect of them today.

In the interest of full disclosure – I would have failed this exam miserably!

Marion

Perhaps it is human nature to try to find someone to blame for the tragedy in Tucson.  It seems to be a lot easier to look for faults in someone else, rather than being willing to look at our own stuff.  While I abhor the tone of the politic rhetoric in this country, I do not believe that the politicians, radio hosts, media outlets or any one political party are the root cause of the tragedy.

On the other hand, I respectively disagree with those who say this is an isolated incident, carried out by a deranged individual, and there is no other cause.  To me, that represents a justification for us to avoid looking at ourselves and our relationship to this event.

We lend our individual energy to our country’s political climate, and therein lies our PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  The recent events are a chance for each of us to look at what we have done to contribute to the unprecedented level of negative behavior and actions rampant in our country’s political environment.  I prepared the following list of questions I needed to ask myself:

1.  Have I ever made demeaning or disrespectful comments about a political leader, either publicly or privately.

2.  Have I spent my time allowing my brain to be filled with the vitriolic rhetoric spewed out on the talk radio shows, instead of doing my own research on an issue and coming to my own conclusions.

3.  Have I let my racial or religious bigotry enter into my dialogue and views of our political leaders.

4.  Have I ever agreed with the idea that violence or the use of a weapon is a solution to a political disagreement.

5.  And perhaps most importantly, have I become so polarized on an issue or aligned with a political party, that I am no longer fair and objective.

And so this tradegy is one of those teachable-moment opportunities, when we each get to take our own moral inventory, and assess what part we may have played, either consciously or unconsciously, in the state of affairs in this country.   I have gone through the list above, and I know I need to do better in the future.

The First Amendment provision of free speech gives us the right to say what we believe, in a very unfettered way.  On the other hand, that does not mean that we SHOULD say what ever we want.  Yes, we have the right to erroneously yell “fire” in a crowed room, a school or a hospital.  Alternatively, having the right doesn’t make it right.

I believe in the goodness of people, and 99% of people would never pick up a gun and commit the crime that Jared Loughner did.  We can, though, when we are unaware of the repercussions of our actions, contribute to a political world that is already out of balance due to our thinking and our actions.

As Maya Angelou says – when we know better, we do better.  Here’s to all of us doing better.

 – Layer the following ingredients:

- A large dose of fear
- Anger fueled by misunderstanding
- Vitriolic dialogue spewed by the cable news networks
- A huge helping of bigotry
- Several pinches of prejudice
- A healthy portion of ignorance
- More anger and more fear, to taste

– Toss the above ingredients

– Sprinkle more fear on top layer

– Place the above mixture on a fire built from righteous indignation

– Allow politicians to fuel the flames with inflammatory rhetoric

– Wait for explosion to happen

– Be shocked when it occurs!

Only known antidote to this poisonous concoction – equal portions of LOVE, COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING

The great masters who walked this planet often delivered their messages well before the world was ready to receive them.  I think one of them was Buckminster Fuller, also known as Bucky.

Thank you, Mr. Fuller, for the advice you gave us, which remains so relevant today.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” — Buckminster Fuller

“There are three kinds of people in the world — those who are asleep, those who are stirring, and those who are awake. If you try to wake up the sleeping person, he will just mumble and go back to sleep. If you wake up the stirring person, he will wake up just long enough to curse you and then go back to sleep. Instead of trying to wake them up, if you come across someone who is asleep or stirring, what you should do is fluff their pillow, tuck them in, and kiss them on the forehead. The important joy for those who are awake is to seek each other out, connect with others who are awake, talk, sing and celebrate together. This will create a groundswell of awareness. As this groundswell increases and spreads out, it will awaken the stirring and will begin to stir those who are still sleeping” — Buckminster Fuller

The Raven is a special creature in the Native America culture, as it represents The Messenger.  It is the one who delivers information from the past and the future.

My recent trip to Arizona and New Mexico provided a great spiritual retreat, and an opportunity to connect with the ancestral energy that permeates this area.   What came through very strongly to me is that the dynamics in the world are out of balance, and for too long the darker forces have been winning the battle with the lighter energies. 

Human life, like other forms of life on this planet, relies on energy as the basis of its existence.  In addition, human nature encompasses the concept of duality, the existence of both light and dark forces within each of us.  Energy and duality are part of our very nature, the essence of our being. Consequently, the type of energy we engage in individually directly effects the quality of the energy in the world.

We seem to have forgotten (or maybe we do not realize) that in spite of the duality of our human nature, we do live in a free-will environment.  That means that we have the freedom to exercise any number of choices at any given moment.   We can choose to live in the darkness, or to live in the light.  For myself, I know I have contributed to the darkness in the world, on more occasions that I want to admit.  And many of those choices were made unconsciously.

We can choose to live in a state of fear, which is nothing more than the absence of love.  We can choose to be angry, judgmental, righteous, dishonest and deceitful, and exhibit any of the other behaviors that reflect the negative state in which we catch ourselves.

Alternatively, we can get up every day, and choose to be as kind, loving, compassionate, caring, generous, honest, truthful and supportive as we can be.  We can choose love and we can choose peace.

Numerous opportunities exist every day to make either dark or light choices, and each of us is responsible for what energy we lend to the world.   It is important to understand the impact of our words and actions, as this is a critical time for humanity to bring itself into balance.  And so this is the message of the Raven for 2011: 

– At those times when telling a lie is the easy choice, tell the truth instead.

– When the opportunity arises to be righteous, choose compassion as an alternative.

– And when you find yourself getting caught up in fear, love is the way out.

This message is being sent in the hope that all of us will begin to love ourselves and each other in a greater way, as we work to create a better future for the planet.   I have placed that on my intention list, and I ask others to make their own individual commitment.

For love is all there is, and love is all that matters!

As this year draws to a close, many of us are beginning to establish our goals for the upcoming year (what we want to accomplish) and starting to set our intentions for the future (who we want to become).  There are many good books available about the goal-setting process, although material about intention-setting is more difficult to find.

For sake of discussion, let’s assume that a person sets their intention for the upcoming year to live their life with a higher level of integrity.  There are many definitions of that particular quality, and these are some I pulled out of the literature:

Having sound moral principles

Living life in a state of honesty, including interactions with others

Exhibiting wholeness of character

Correlating our actions with our spoken words

I would imagine that each of us would add our own criteria, and I did this with my personal list.  I learned a lot about integrity and the lack thereof, because for years I did not live my life with integrity, although I so professed it to be one of my qualities.  I have come to believe that lack of integrity, and especially dishonesty, may be a natural by-product of addiction and abuse.  Now, many years later, because of what I learned as I examined my life, I can detect lack of integrity in myself, and oftentimes others, the same way I can detect bull-shit on a farm.

We can write our intentions down in our journal, tell them to a friend or a group of friends, post them as a status update on Facebook, or make them part of our mission statement.  These are some excellent first steps.

But none of those actions matter unless we are willing to walk the walk, for words have no power to carry out our intentions unless they are backed up with intentional actions.  What we say is worthless – how we act is priceless. 

No justifying.   No excuses.   No enabling.

Here’s to your personal intentions in 2011 and beyond, and to all of getting closer to becoming that total person, inside each of us, that is waiting to blossom.  The best of luck to all!

I have tremendous respect for the Dalai Lama, for he is the embodiment of LOVE, COMPASSION AND PEACE

His recent post on December 10th struck a particular chord in me.  He writes “Today, the values of democracy, open society, respect for human rights, and equality are becoming recognized all over the world as universal values. To my mind there is an intimate connection between democratic values, such as transparency, the rule of law and freedom of information, and the fundamental values of human goodness.”

I think it took great courage, actually a lot of guts, for the Dalai Lama to publicly make this subtle reference to the Wikileaks adventure.  I appreciate his perspective, for he provides a view of the world’s situation from a higher level of consciousness.  He is suggesting that it is our right as citizens of the world to be provided with whatever information serves the higher purpose of the planet and ALL people.

As the bright light of awareness is being focused into the dark corners of secrecy, those being exposed are currently whipping public opinion into a frenzy of righteous indignation as a way to distract us from the real story.  The release of this information may well confirm that we are being controlled by powerful forces manipulating the financial markets, depleting our planet’s nature resources and eliminating the middle class.

This planet is in the midst of a tremendous paradigm shift.  Whether is it next year, or a hundred years from now, love will triumph over these fear-based tactics. For the path of lies, illusions and manipulations that grip this planet will be counterbalanced and replaced with love, compassion and honesty.

And each of use has a choice as to which side of the equation we want to lend our energy.  Choose wisely, for love will prevail.