"An example closer to the spirit of the Lakota idea of
relatedness is the Christian notion of the brotherhood of
all men under the spiritual fatherhood of God and the
biological fatherhood of Adam … The christian ideal that men
who truly believe in the brotherhood of all men would
gradually develop brotherly feelings which, in turn, would
generate ‘brotherly’ actions in their dealing with their
fellow men is closer to the Lakota ideal of relatedness …
the only difference might be that the Lakota would extend
this relatedness to the whole universe. When an Indian
woman, for example, takes seeds from the barrow of a field
mouse to flavor soup, she does not take all the mouse’s
seed; she ‘pays’ for the seeds by leaving some tidbit for
the mouse, a bit [of] wasná (pemmican), for instance. Even a
mouse must live; it cannot be deprived of its means of life
without payment in kind" … "From …[the] notion of the
relatedness of all that is, stems an ethic that expounds
adjustment to nature both human and non-human which
underpins Native American ethical thought and axiology.
Adjustment to nature, both kinds, is seen as a value and
goal to be attained" (Bunge 94).
"We were left a legacy, one our ancestors worked hard at
and suffered to leave to us, so we can't default in teaching
our children, especially language. Cultural values are built
in, and there are Blackfoot terms that have no English
equivalencies," Russell stressed. Many descriptives in
Blackfoot assume the tribe is one family and, "That's why
old people still speak in kinship terms, addressing young (Meili
53) people as 'my daughter' or 'my son.'" Russell insists
that cultural values can be re-introduced and applied to
modem life. He would like to see children taught in a
wholistic way in school and to be as cherished by the tribe
as they once were.
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