A Native American's Message for America

Old Ways and New Ways “The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them.” Ecclesiastes 1:11 Even with the encroachment of everyday American life, there remained something about our community reminiscent of the ancient way of life. Parked along the beach just below modern businesses were traditional hand-carved cedar dugout canoes, relics from a distant era. Some were 40 feet in length. During the 1950’s, when the Makah Tribe was just beginning to experience rapid change, 40-foot hand carved cedar dugout canoes that had been employed for thousands of years to hunt whales or to fish for salmon and halibut, were still being utilized. Some of these lined the beaches. And although whaling was no longer allowed, you might find an old harpoon, or the remains of a seal skin float bag stored under someone’s house. And some of the older men continued their canoe building craft by acquiring large cedar trees from Vancouver Island, the place where the largest trees could be found, and then with adze and axe, shaping what had once been a proud evergreen into a 40-foot 8-man canoe. The process was more involved than what I have described but my point is simply to illustrate how the ancient traditions were still being practiced. My father started his fishing career in one of these hand carved canoes. He would typically paddle his canoe far out to sea using the outgoing currents to help hurry his canoe along to his preferred fishing areas. In the tradition of the ancients, he was able to determine where to fish, often using a landmark on the far shore or a distant rock formation arising out of the sea to align his canoe with the proper location. Once on site, and with a traditional handline and halibut hook called a “chibu’ud”, baited with herring or octopus, my father could “pull” a thousand pounds of halibut in a day. Then, he would return with the in-rushing current back to our village where he would sell his catch for 5 cents per pound. The fifty dollars he received in return was not bad for a day’s work in those times. Born in the latter part of the 19th century, many of the elders in the 1940’s and 1950’s still spoke the Makah language. They seemed to me to be of a quiet demeanor, never too forward but always willing to listen and answer any questions. As a child in those earlier days, I regret not taking more time to listen to their wisdom. I recall them to be great story tellers and experts on certain plants and natural herbs that served as cures for a variety of illnesses. For that reason, preserving their knowledge was considered a priority and a vitally important contribution to the overall wellbeing of the tribe. Unfortunately, with the passing of these valued members born of a distant world along with the government-imposed efforts to discourage native traditions, much of the ancient wisdom of the elders has been lost. Sadly, one of the ironies I see unfolding in America today is something very similar to what Native peoples have had to endure. The wisdom of this nation’s elders, and by that, I mean the founders of the American republic and contributors to the U.S constitution are increasingly coming under attack and their valuable perspective on such important matters as freedom of speech and religion and other aspects of our individual rights are being undermined. I suspect some of the native elders I knew as a child, if they were alive today would recognize how similar the efforts to discredit the legacy of America’s founders, resemble the government-imposed policies designed to discourage Native Americans from speaking their language or practicing their cultural traditions. These efforts along with the creation of the reservation system and the introduction of government controls, greatly impacted our way of life. Many tribes still haven’t recovered. Social scientists have long recognized the challenges Native Americans have faced due to government policies that forced rapid change. They described it as, “culture shock,” meaning that too radical of change that overwhelms the individual’s ability to adapt, inevitably obliterates everything they once knew and this leads to nihilism, a condition where there are no longer values to guide one’s life. I will discuss more fully how the nihilism that results invites Satanic influence. What I have described is no longer descriptive of Indian tribes alone. Our entire country has begun to lose its way as it goes through rapid change. Part of this is the result of the same forces for change that affected my people and some orchestrated by the Marxists who hijacked our educational institutions to further their Godless philosophies. They are at the core anti-Christian and opposed to the basic presumptions of the Christian faith. But more importantly than their diabolical efforts to undermine our nation is our willingness to forsake traditional values and turn away from our Creator. This is suicidal on a national level and the result has been that we have lost the grace God gives His people to discern right from wrong or retain sanity in an insane world. America, if it continues its trend away from God and its socialist path toward big government, will see our country become one big reservation. Having experienced socialism, I can say with conviction, America, you don’t want this. For now, I will relate how my worldview especially as concerns America, began to be shaped out of the obscure world where I grew up and the changes that affected me, my family, and my tribe. I continue my message for America with an unusual childhood adventure, finding treasure in my family’s backyard.