Something to think about!

I watched a documentary today. It was on the Nez Perce Indians. Apparently at one time they had an outstanding breed of horses and they were known for their horsemanship. It seems that after a battle with the United States Calvary, as part of their punishment the government took away all of their horses. In this documentary they were showing how the Nez Perce people are building back their herd of horses, reviving a part of their history. One of the men who is helping them to register and build back the herd is of Navajo heritage.  Apparently, this man’s love of horses drew him from Arizona to the northern part of the United States. I thought it was interesting because some of the Indian people were very against allowing him to help with their breeding program. They claimed he was a Navajo; all he knew about was raising sheep. Who knew that there are raciest everywhere? Now the reason for me telling you this story is that there was a young man in the tribe and he made a comment that I found very informative. “My people need to get over it! It was some turning against our own race that divided the Indians and that was how we lost our land to the government.” Does this young man make you stop and think?

We are burning flags, tearing down statues, all the while trying to erase our history. Something in the back of my mind has always told me this was wrong. Our history is part of who we are. I think that young Indian man had a point. His history had a lesson to share. We can erase all outward signs of our own history, but is that wise? Does that mean that we repeat the same stupid mistakes from our past? Maybe what we need to do is embrace our history, the good and the bad. We should learn not to repeat the bad, because it didn’t work out for us in the past. Today it was a story about the American Indians. Last week it was asking people to stand up against violence against the elderly, in the Asian community. The week before that it was marches for Black Lives Matter. Wake up everyone! The United States is a melting pot and that was a lesson from my history teachers. One of these days we’re going to look at each other and not be able to tell which nationality we came from, is it going to be harder to decide who to hate then? Be kind to your elderly neighbors, whether they are black, white, or brown. All lives matter! There are only two kinds of people, good and bad! History has a lot to teach us if we are willing to learn . It is not our enemy!