Wow! Thank you, Rezified for your bittersweet thoughts.

I sincerely believe that people’s feelings about the past are represented by that mountain. It’s about all those good things that previous generations have taught us. When our own people are corrupted by modern influences, we must discipline ourselves to hold on to what will surely help humanity survive THAT GREAT HARDSHIP that our elders believe is still coming. There is hope, not to go back to as it was, but to go on to the next era with our values and disciplines intact.

You know, people cringe at the thought of sharing cultural characteristics, like the rituals. If you really think about it though, those rituals helped us to remember how to be, how to discipline ourselves to be wacintanka and to waableza and to waas’inye shni ye and much more. Maybe we have this high level of discomfort when others want to participate in these rituals because they are not a functional part of our communities and therefore, cannot practice what the rituals represent. Maybe we see them come from and go to who-knows-where, fragmented pieces of humanity and maybe that is why we agitate.

When we go to the Meade County commissioners meetings regarding the liquor licensing near Bear Butte, I can’t help being in awe of the chasm between people who are giving heart-wrenching testimonies and those country commissioners sitting there like deer in headlights. What a difference between the message being sent and the message being received! I get the impression that they don’t know how to process and factor in the opinions that are coming at them, so they just do what they know how to do.

I have been doing too much talking and not enough listening. What are your opinions about protecting the sanctity of Bear Butte?