I live in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba and I drive to the Sagkeeng Anishinaabe Reserve daily. It's not too far, one and half hour drive from city to Rez. When I get into the Reserve border, I drive by Catfish Creek and many a morning there is this Eagle on a tree all by His lonesome. I guess it is a male as it is on the smaller side of the Eagle size, and Women Eagles are huge. Females have the size and dominance, so I hear. Anyways, the Eagle is by his-self in the mornings, sitting in a tree, looking away from the Lake Winnipeg and towards the highway. I wonder what this Eagle is thinking as it sits by his lonesome, looking around? He is just looking out for food? Or is he wondering, why can't I have a Woman (or partner)? Why do I have to be alone? What is the sake of siting here and not being able to share a little meal with someone?
Society (arseholes) used to think, and some still do, that animals did not have consciousness. Better human beings know this has had to be pure bull-shit. It gives arseholes the "clean-slate" to treat animals with no regard. Thereby giving them the clear conscience to be cruel to them - dog fighting, animal testing, locking them up in cages and every other monstrous act they feel free to do. I was just watching a Spanish Bull Fight and saw the Bull being killed with a sword by the Matador. I felt bad for a brief moment and then the feeling and thought went away. It is just like anything else where it's "out of site, out of mind." I wonder what the Bull was thinking, was feeling? Maybe it's a mindless beast?
You know there are Indigenous folks out there who know, they really know, that the Whole (everything) is related. So how can we think of our relatives as dimwitted creatures? People like to say "oh, they live on instinct." As if that is an excuse to not think of them as Thinking Beings. The pure arrogance of human beings. If there were not Human Beings where would the world be? I really love the analogy that we are the invasive species. Just like those Zebra Mussels. Mucking up everything they come in contact with.
We are in the world of round, of the circle. People like to demonstrate with the Circle; like a Medicine Wheel model, drawing to show connectiveness. For me, the whole Medicine Wheel thing is a Teaching Tool. It reminds us that everything is connected: seasons, directions, elements, ages, and beings. That is all there is to it. Of course there are much more Teachings to the different Circles but in the end, we are all Relatives. So stop taking down to your relatives, like they are (R-word) and beneath you. Afterall you don't know what they are thinking.
