" 'Bout that time..."

Thanksgiving. Certainly a big holiday for non-native peoples here in the U.S. though we need to remember the reality of it, especially as it relates to our First Nations peoples. Most of us have this pin-neat glorified image of the first Thanksgiving that is pretty far removed from reality.

Be that as it may, this is a time of thanks-giving (as every day should be). For that matter, may we approach and live each day as if it's every holiday wrapped into one.

In a Yahoo!groups forum I subscribe to, Bear Livmere posted his annual Thanksgiving note...and with his permission I am reprinting his 2008 prayer that holds water for us all...words of wisdom, they are.

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Dearest Relations,

It has become something of a tradition for me to send out a Thanksgiving prayer. With all the negative things we hear in the news about the world, it can be a challenge to remember what we have to be thankful about.

We gather with our relations to celebrate the gifts we have received. We all have many things to be grateful for, even if sometimes we have to search for the reasons behind the gifts, or we feel overwhelmed by the pressures of this world. We are thankful to be alive; to have the ability to raise our voices in songs and prayers.

We honor our ancestors and elders. We are their legacy; we should try to make them proud. We honor our children; their children, and those yet to come. Let us teach them values that will keep them strong and honorable. Let us make the world they inherit one they can live in.

We are related to all things. The earth is our Mother. All two-legged, four-legged, creatures of the air and water, and the standing people are our brothers and sisters. We cannot continue to believe that we are separate from these other living things; that we are not responsible for what we do to them. What happens to them also happens to us.

Now is the time to set aside those things which divide us; politics, race, religion, whatever. Now is the time to stop focusing on our differences and start finding the things that bring us together. Now is time to be respectful and mindful each day, in every thing we do; to do good and not do harm to each other and to ourselves.

We must complete ourselves by taking responsibility for everything we do, both good and bad. We must try to fix the mistakes we've made, or heal the people and things we've harmed. We can make our part of the world better, and if we each fix our part, all the parts will add up and the world itself will start to heal.

So my prayer is simple...

I pray for peace;
I pray for a better world;
I pray for love;
And I pray for each of you;
Live in a good way.

Aho Mitaquye Oyasin - All my Relations
Love and blessings to all,

Bear Limvere
(Woodturner, Artist, Musician)
http://www.BearLimvere.com
http://www.Standing PeopleDesigns. com