It has been said that there are three things that give our lives meaning and purpose: adventure, dignity and fulfillment. Whether we find adventure through a microscope, telescope or some other medium, the travels of our minds, bodies and spirits as we explore science and cosmology and the gifts of creation enrich our lives as human beings.
The dignity of our beautiful minds and the cultures we create and renew is nourished by the challenges we meet and the struggles we join and protect and devote our lives to. As an expression of love, resistance is beautiful.
In order for us to fulfill ourselves and make space for the adventure and dignity of our descendants, however, hard choices sometimes have to be made. As has often been noted, dependency limits strategies.
As the indigenous liberation movement and the human rights movement that encompasses it evolve and mature, it will be in our commitment to love and beauty where we find the inspiration that motivates our desire for adventure, dignity and fulfillment.
Some of us will be overwhelmed by adversity or succumb to despair. Not everyone will be strong enough to live an independent way of life. Such is the nature of human struggle.
Yet, even in those who fall by the wayside in the many battles fought for indigenous liberation, there is dignity in their spirit. Whether they died fighting Manifest Destiny, Apartheid or the Dominion of empire, they are all worthy of the title noble champion.
Custer wore arrow shirts.