Tag Archives: Cherokee

Mother’s Day 2015 & The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

Many thoughts are rambling around my head on this Mother’s Day 2015, so I came here to unpack  a few of them.  Allow me to wish you & yours a Happy One, as I attempt to sort some things out.

aaa-motherearth2It’s been said that “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”, and indeed mothers – and the way in which they raise their children – most definitely mold and form society and the world in which we live.

Rightly or wrongly (and yes, there are bad mothers), through motherhood women leave their indelible mark on the planet.  Some seek to leave their footprints in the sands of time … while others leave but skid marks at the intersection.

Did you know that America’s first people, the Tribes – from the Sioux to the Cherokee – had quite a different view when talk of the planet and mothers was involved?

e5871399b6d1a59cbec107dc5635ba43To them, four simple words summed-up all of existence – “Mother Earth, Father Sky”.

ALL food, all sustenance – indeed all life – grew from the Earth! Berries, fruit, maize, corn, wheat ALL came from the dirt beneath their feet.  Mother Earth.

And all this nourishment, the very essence of life, would not be possible without the rains and the sun to make it grow.  Father Sky.

Pretty simple, huh?  And pretty true, too.

Well, if you’ve run with me this far on this Mother’s Day, let’s run just a bit further.   I’m haunted as of late by a line from Paul Simon’s tune “Questions For the Angels”, wherein he poses this question…

“If every human on the planet and all the buildings on it should disappear…  would a zebra grazing on the African savanna care enough to shed one zebra tear?”

Wow! Ponder that one a moment.  Let that one sink-in a bit.

fb112df7fe4157dff7836f18d9dd8297And I realize that it’s more than a tad on the dark side (for Mother’s Day 2015), but couple that thought with this troubling nightmare that persists… in my New Orleans nights.

The whole planet Earth – all 7-billion+and counting – all humanity … the very planet we call home – gone! Disappeared.  And the epitaph on the tombstone says rather succinctly – “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” ~ the Father.

No. Despite all human ‘advancements’ and technology and progress and religion and culture … in the eyes of the Creator Spirit that is All — we just didn’t cut it.

1401389338528328800And the kicker?  In the Big Picture?  In the eyes of the vast universe… the disappearance of this one little planet in the backwaters of the Milky Way, here in what we call the 21st Century … didn’t even make the front page in the Sunday Universal Times.

Yet, from the palaces of Kim Jong Un to Vlad Putin, the games persist. And from the streets of Ferguson, MO to Baltimore, MD… peace, love & respect for human dignity increasingly get lost in our crazed, frantic and hyper-connected digital world.

And the beat goes on.  Until it doesn’t.

I only wish that I had a rosier picture to paint this morning, but we’ll save that ‘rose’ for the Mother’s Day bouquet sitting on kitchen tables all over the world at this moment.

*** Airlift Mike’s “This Is For the Mothers” ***

KatyAndSophieTuckerAndPumpkins

 

MichealZiantsNewOrleansVoiceOverTalentArtistRenderingAnd along with it, a Hope and a Prayer … for your Mother Earth and mine.

IncreaseThePeace …  with Love & Respect ~ Micheal Z

To communicate is the Beginning of Understanding.

Airlift Productions Communicates.

… from the new Jer-USA-lem

 

Pre-4th Holiday Weekend Native Irony

 

native american girl with dove

Reflective food for thought as yet more Americans prepare to lay down their lives on United States highways this week and weekend…

“It is sadly ironic that the wine that is the Christian’s most sacred substance, used in the Mass to represent the blood of their God, has caused such a tragic trail of devastation within Native populations.

Meanwhile,  the Native’s most sacred substance – tobacco – has caused so many major health problems for so many Christians.” 

— whiteshadow

 

native american spirituality