Black Elk

Centuries ago a Native Indian leader told his people of his vision: that a threat so huge was going to come from the outside and that the only way they were going to keep from being overtaken was to unite against it. His people laughed, for they had enjoyed dominion over the land for a very long time. What could possibly come now, and where would it come from?
The Europeans did come not long after this vision, but the Natives had paid no heed to the warning and had not united. Everywhere there were warring tribes. They were a divided group, and as such were the more easily conquered. For sure there were people who saw this threat and worked together to keep it at bay, but there were also people who saw opportunity in aligning themselves with these newcomers, and this alliance did not bode well for the Native American population. The rest, as they say, is history.
I believe that we are now perched on the promontory of a similar situation, one in which we are only going to succeed in overcoming if we become one united force in every sense of the term. I alone am not going to single-handedly change the path humanity is currently on, nor are you, but that shouldn’t stop us from acting in alignment with our integrity for one moment. The human race stands at a precipice where it must put forth a Herculean effort to get itself out of a mess that it has become deeply entrenched in. It is also at a time of incredible opportunity, for how better to learn a lesson than out of the sheer necessity to survive. The outcome of our future is not guaranteed, and there is much work to be done on each individual’s part. But it is far from impossible for us to learn the lesson from the Native American elder whose vision need not go unheeded.

Questions to ponder:

Are you open to hearing what you need to hear, as opposed to what you want to hear?
What are you doing to strengthen your community, as opposed to separating yourself from it?
If the global, or even national economies, totally collapse, which they very well could, what contribution can you make to your community for remuneration? If you don’t have any skills to contribute, when will you begin work on learning or acquiring these?