Jack’s Winning Words 10/11/21

“This land is your land and this land is my land….This land was made for you and me.” (Woody Guthrie)  The 2^nd Monday in October, Columbus Day since 1937, is now celebrated by some as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, paying tribute to Native Americans and their influence upon our life…potatoes, peanuts, chocolate, medicines…etc.  I especially like the words of Chief Joseph: “The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”  I first heard of the “Indians” in Kindergarten.  I hope that I-P Day spreads and will give us more opportunity to learn about the history and culture of the “real” Americans.  Do you have memories of Columbus Day?  ;-)  Jack

FROM HOMELESS:  “The years teach much which the days never knew.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)===JACK:  Interestingly, I have this quote in my "TO USE" file, but it fits for today..

FROM SR IN SJ:  Surely, I remember being happy to have a free day! But I love the change to Indigenous day! How I wish and pray that we could live by some of the healthiest, protective, spiritually based values the indigenous manifest in their lives and value system!  Thanks for your WW.  😀===JACK:  In a way I appreciate what has been done to educate the Native American children, but to do it at the expense of trying eradicate their culture was too great a price to pay.  Is it possible to put Humpty-Dumpty together again?===SR:  I pray it is possible and a teachable moment, for sure, for the future!===JACK:  Every day is a teachable moment for me (I hope).

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  imma stay outta this one...===JACK:  I'm always interested in learning something new.  Today, it was learning more of the story of Chief Joseph.  In studying the Bible I never felt "comfortable" with the Israelites coming into a land and telling the inhabitants to "get out", because that land had be "promised" to them by God.  I see it as similar to what the "white settlers" told the Native Americans.  At times, life doesn't seem fair.===LIZ:  agree! my german (legal) immigrant maternal grandfather stressed the plight of the indians (as they call themselves), donated to reservations.  i prefer "indigenous" to "native american," which wrongly infers  "consent."  we cannot change or judge the past, only learn from it. slaves were acceptable in the bible, as well. our interpretation of god grows and evolves...   i'd like to see the 11th celebrated as indigenous peoples' day and the 12th, columbus day.===JACK:  Slavery was not condoned in the Bible, even though it may have existed in some form at that time.  From what I've read, Columbus has "too much baggage" to merit a holiday.  BTW, God is immutable.  We are the ones who change...sometimes for the better and sometimes NOT.  Lutherans and Episcopalians agree...We are not saved by the good things that we do, but by the grace of God.===LIZ:  "baggage"? he was a product of his time... the indians fought among themselves. is that baggage?  correct me if i am wrong, but they had slaves in  biblical times. did jesus preach against "servants"? or did he allow himself to be "served"?  yes, we interpret god's word. god's word doesn't change.===JACK:  If you think that Jesus ever condoned slavery, you must have fallen asleep during confirmation class.===LIZ:  would help to assuage your white guilt, deed your yard back to the indigenous people, as you are the recipient of their stolen property... and pay them to lease it back.===JACK:  Don't try to feed me that CRT garbage.  I'm simply saying that being educated means learning as much as you can about past events.===LIZ:  show me where he says to free slaves...===JACK:  I wrote nothing about freeing slaves.===LIZ:  ahhh... CRT "garbage." indeed!===JACK:  I should have written CRT GARBAGE in bold print.===LIZ:  Did Jesus talk about slavery in his time?===JACK:  Not that I know of...Of course, we have no actual record of all that he said...and what is written is simply what others recalled what he said.

FROM CAROL:  When our kids were growing up, Columbus Day weekend was our last camping outing of the year.  We often went to Devil’s Lake State Park – camping at the south end, which is now closed to camping.  We’d climb the bluffs to look out over the lake, collect different colored falls leaves to bring back to decorate our table for meals, talk about the Indians and settlers living there years before we us. We met many wonderful other campers along the way sharing memories and making memories. ===JACK:  I can see I-P Day remaining a holiday, only with the opportunity to lear more about "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Unfortunately, there are many who adamantly oppose the teaching of critical race theory.   I don't know all the details, but it seems to me the upcoming generations need to know some of the gory details about racism, how we treated indiginous people and other parts of  our history that we should, as Americans, be ashamed of.   This doesn't mean today's generation needs to feel bad about themselves, but not teaching the truth of history raises the chances it will repeat itself in some way.===JACK:  CRT, or whatever is taught to enable us to better understand ourselves and our heritage cannot be bad.  Just like with all of teaching, we can listen, but we do not have to accept.  To be a discerning person is part of being educated.