Quotation for Sunday 19th April 2020

Good morning everyone,

The sun's back out again here this morning, and its turned my mind back to nature and the glories of Spring and nature.

In looking, I found someone else I didn't know of, a really interesting character called John (Fire) Lame Deer, a native American (1903-1976), of the Mineconju-Lakota Sioux. He seems to have had a rough and colourful sort of life, and by his own admission he 'drank, gambled, womanised'.

But he was proud of who he was, and his heritage, and he campaigned for native American rights and never lost his deep Sioux spirituality and understanding and appreciation of nature.

This is what he said:

'Listen to the air. You can hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it. Woniya wakan—the holy air—which renews all by its breath. Woniya, woniya wakan—spirit, life, breath, renewal—it means all that. Woniya—we sit together, don’t touch, but something is there; we feel it between us, as a presence. A good way to start thinking about nature, talk about it. Rather talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.'

I think that's a rather lovely idea.

Have a great day everyone.