March 23 Daily Feast, Elder's Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

March 23 - Daily Feast

The winner carries with him the quiet knowledge that though he has heard every argument, faced every opponent, felt every criticism, there is no turning back and no accepting defeat. An outraged Crow warrior spoke to those who were withholding foods and goods that belonged to his people, "I am not a chief, but I am a warrior. I see that my chiefs all hang their heads down awaiting some reply from their father (the commanding officer), as they do not know what to do nor say. But I know what to do! Hold up your head when you speak to chiefs and warriors, look them in the eye! Goods were promised here and they will go no further!" And the goods went no further. Even a loss would simply be a delay to this Crow. It is a matter of how deeply we believe in what we are doing. Telling a winner that something won't work - just won't work.

~ Hold up your head when you speak to chiefs and warriors! ~

CROW WARRIOR

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 23

"We must relearn how to cry. A strong man cries; it is the weak man who holds back his tears."

Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Indian men and other men should really meditate on this Elder's saying. So many men have been taught it is unmanly to cry, to show emotions or to feel. When people cry, the Elders say there are two types of tears - one type will taste salty; the other type will taste sweet. One is caused by pain, and the other is caused by the release from the pain, or joy tears. A strong man knows himself and knows his relationship with the Great Spirit. The release of tears is a spiritual act. Our bodies are designed to cry. We should honor our bodies and use them as the Creator intended.

Great Spirit, Grandfather, today, teach me to cry.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

All of us have at sometime questioned our normalcy as human beings. We wonder why we did this or that, why we reacted to something so violently, or why we failed to react at all. An American author, Katherine Fullerton Gerould, has written, "The only glory most of us have to hope for is the glory of being normal." And for all our questionable actions sometimes, normal people must be those who have felt not only the high points but the low points of their emotions.

It is not the fact that people run the gamut of their emotions that make them normal, but that they have had the ability to right themselves before they could impose upon the rights of others.

The persons who never lose their tempers, nor shed tears, nor refuse to respond to other people, but stay day after day in light, shallow experience, have never known what it is to come into the center of the calm so richly appreciated.

All of us have made mistakes in behavior, some in ignorance, but more in bad taste. Perfection belongs to a higher Source. It is ours to strive for, and our mistakes are to use in the growing-up process.