pafret Loc: Northeast

Tecumseh, "Live Your Life..."


"Live Your Life..."

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting
or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes
wise ones turn to fools and robs their spirit of its vision.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
When your time comes to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

- Tecumseh, Shawnee

DaWg44

Thank you. I have that somewhere in my 50 years of notes. I am 70 now, still working 50-60 hours/week, driving 214 miles/day. I was blessed to have grandparents & parents who can trace our lineage to The Cherokee. It never has mattered to us. I reckon we just always figured we were, are Americans. I am sick of anyone claiming any kind of heritage. I absolutely will not accept African American, Hispanic American in my vocabulary. I have friends, employees, I never identify by race, age, any other denominator.

I have preached for years, “Respect & Responsibility” in one’s existence.
Thanks again

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

DaWg44

Thank you. I reckon no one else belongs to our family. I pray God will keep you & your extended family safe. I ask you for the favor to do the same for me & mine.

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

I recall reading that back in the 40's but it didn't really have the impact on me as it did this time. Thank you for posting it.

DaWg44

Looks like we are very few. No posts, no arguments. I reckon we are the few who understand how lucky we are to remember a more sane time, when we were expected to respect and be responsibly. We are blessed to have experienced a better time than our grandchildren will ever know.

NanaMother1

Our grandchildren will likely know this if we make the effort to teach it to them. We are doing our best to instill this in them and are fortunate that all of our children are doing the same. Unfortunately, I was recently diagnosed with a life threatening illness. My prayer to live longer is based on the desire to help teach these grandchildren and to be a proper role model. The youngest of the dozen are twins who just turned 2 this past week. They, their mother and 2 siblings live with us. The love, respect and responsibility demonstrated each day as the entire family does their best to enhance the lives of one another is amazing.
Our children have often commented how thankful they are for having been brought up as though they were born in an earlier generation and are trying to give their children the same benefit. We can't change the entire world but we can change our own small world.
Your prayers requested.

Big dog

WOW I've been talking about Tecumseh for the past three days.

Larry the Legend Loc: Not hiding in Milton

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

pafret Loc: Northeast

Posts and arguments are a rarity when I post one of these Native American prayers or philosophical positions. The contrast between these words and the prevailing image of the "savage redskin" points out the essential falsity of much of our history.

Larry the Legend Loc: Not hiding in Milton

Here's a good question. There were millions of buffalo roaming the plains when the white-eyes showed up. Millions of buffalo hides were 'harvested' in the effort to starve the indigenous Indian natives off the plains and onto the reservations. Those hides were hauled to the frontier forts and sold for a premium. Where did they go from there? Considering the number of hides, we should be awash in buffalo skins but I have never actually seen one in real life. Were they simply destroyed?

Big dog

I personally have done PLENTY of reading/research regarding the politics and social lives of the indigenous people of North America prior to the incursion of Europeans .
What WE call civilized by today's standards would make the ancients of this continent look like gods.
We are the most barbaric batch of advanced hominids that are EVER likely to inhabit the earth.
Scary thought, eh ?

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

Yup.

goofball Loc: timbucktoo

That's why I was born! Thank you.

goofball Loc: timbucktoo

My prayers go out to you, May God keep you strong, in the name of Jesus?!