Balance

I have been reading Black Elk Speaks, which was dictated by Black Elk and written down by John Neihardt.  Black Elk lived during the settling movement of European immigrants to this country toward the end of the eighteen hundreds and the early part of the nineteen hundreds.  It is now clear that the white European settlers behaved like what we now call “invasive weeds” during their movement to this country.  The settlers were motivated largely by capitalism and had little love or respect for other living entities or the earth that supports us.  The resident Native people had that love and respect, complicated by some brutality and enslavement of members of other tribes, a balance which seems to reflects the human condition.