Today is Thanksgiving Day, in the United States, a time when family and friends get together to give thanks to the Creator for the Blessings bestowed upon them and to ask for Guidance, during the coming year.
At least that is what it is supposed to be.
It is also supposed to be a commemoration of a time when the First “Americans” welcomed refugees from Europe and taught them how to survive in a harsh and unfamiliar climate, a time when Respect for our common Humanity was Paramount.
Sadly, the new refugees did not have these same values as those who welcomed them.
The “Pilgrim Fathers” of the United States were, in the eyes of their English and Dutch compatriots, religious fanatics who saw all others as unworthy of the Creator’s Blessings. Basing their claims on their own strange interpretation of the Bible, they saw themselves as a new “Chosen People” and North America as a new “Promised Land”, to be ruled by themselves and their allies – their “White” allies.
As more and more settlers came from Europe, to seek a better life for themselves, this world view became the dominant theme and the original basic Respect for our common Humanity was subjugated, along with the Native Peoples of the “Americas” who were deemed “unfit” for the “Promised Land” – the land, that had originally been given them by the Creator.
The new settlers saw the Beauty of North America as a wealth of “natural resources”, ripe for the harvest and, as their strength grew, they created a new country, by successfully exploiting these same natural resources. Their great achievements inspired others to emulate their actions, so that now, most nations view all Creation as merely a source of supply. What is not deemed “useful” is deemed as of little or no “value”.
Fortunately, many of the descendants of the Native Americans who first welcomed the strange ones are becoming more aware of our lost Heritage and are calling us all back to a time when Respect for our common Humanity was Paramount and Reverence for Creation was Foremost.
Let us all give Thanks, this Thanksgiving, for the Blessings of our Creator and ask for Guidance as to how to restore Creation !
"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, ONLY THEN will you find that money cannot be eaten." - Cree Prophecy
Paul V. Rafferty
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report
Please also see:
Teachers emphasize the Indians' side
Teacher Bill Morgan walks into his third-grade class wearing a black Pilgrim hat made of construction paper and begins snatching up pencils, backpacks and glue sticks from his pupils. He tells them the items now belong to him because he "discovered" them. (more)
http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=28032
Indigenous Democracy: The Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee
http://forvps.welcome2htn.net/fellowship/nov-dec06/LynnGottlieb.html
Thanksgiving: The National Day of Mourning;
Text of 1970 Speech by Wampsutta
An Aquinnah Wampanoag Elder
http://www.blackcommentator.com/207/207_day_of_mourning_wampsutta.html
International Indian Treaty Council and American Indian Contemporary Arts
Presents the 32nd Annual Alcatraz Island Sunrise Gathering
“American Indian Thanksgiving Day” November 23rd, 2006
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=2850&blz=1
Thanksgiving Day 2004
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=2024&blz=1
Happy Thanksgiving Day ! - plus Some Real History
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=1219&blz=1
AND
America's Second Harvest http://www.secondharvest.org
Also in our Links section.
At least that is what it is supposed to be.
It is also supposed to be a commemoration of a time when the First “Americans” welcomed refugees from Europe and taught them how to survive in a harsh and unfamiliar climate, a time when Respect for our common Humanity was Paramount.
Sadly, the new refugees did not have these same values as those who welcomed them.
The “Pilgrim Fathers” of the United States were, in the eyes of their English and Dutch compatriots, religious fanatics who saw all others as unworthy of the Creator’s Blessings. Basing their claims on their own strange interpretation of the Bible, they saw themselves as a new “Chosen People” and North America as a new “Promised Land”, to be ruled by themselves and their allies – their “White” allies.
As more and more settlers came from Europe, to seek a better life for themselves, this world view became the dominant theme and the original basic Respect for our common Humanity was subjugated, along with the Native Peoples of the “Americas” who were deemed “unfit” for the “Promised Land” – the land, that had originally been given them by the Creator.
The new settlers saw the Beauty of North America as a wealth of “natural resources”, ripe for the harvest and, as their strength grew, they created a new country, by successfully exploiting these same natural resources. Their great achievements inspired others to emulate their actions, so that now, most nations view all Creation as merely a source of supply. What is not deemed “useful” is deemed as of little or no “value”.
Fortunately, many of the descendants of the Native Americans who first welcomed the strange ones are becoming more aware of our lost Heritage and are calling us all back to a time when Respect for our common Humanity was Paramount and Reverence for Creation was Foremost.
Let us all give Thanks, this Thanksgiving, for the Blessings of our Creator and ask for Guidance as to how to restore Creation !
"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, ONLY THEN will you find that money cannot be eaten." - Cree Prophecy
Paul V. Rafferty
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report
Please also see:
Teachers emphasize the Indians' side
Teacher Bill Morgan walks into his third-grade class wearing a black Pilgrim hat made of construction paper and begins snatching up pencils, backpacks and glue sticks from his pupils. He tells them the items now belong to him because he "discovered" them. (more)
http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=28032
Indigenous Democracy: The Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee
http://forvps.welcome2htn.net/fellowship/nov-dec06/LynnGottlieb.html
Thanksgiving: The National Day of Mourning;
Text of 1970 Speech by Wampsutta
An Aquinnah Wampanoag Elder
http://www.blackcommentator.com/207/207_day_of_mourning_wampsutta.html
International Indian Treaty Council and American Indian Contemporary Arts
Presents the 32nd Annual Alcatraz Island Sunrise Gathering
“American Indian Thanksgiving Day” November 23rd, 2006
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=2850&blz=1
Thanksgiving Day 2004
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=2024&blz=1
Happy Thanksgiving Day ! - plus Some Real History
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=1219&blz=1
AND
America's Second Harvest http://www.secondharvest.org
Also in our Links section.