The Power of Sharing.....

In 2002, the Native American/environmental publication AHSKWA had the 4th in a series of interviews with Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman. Paul sat on the Onondaga Council of Chiefs, and the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy's Grand Council of Chiefs. This "question & answer" came to mind when reading some of the discussions on DU. It is not intended to suggest that it is somehow wrong to stock up on supplies; indeed, Chief Waterman's ancestors did just that every fall. It is, rather, a commentary on extremes.

Q: What do you think about people stocking up on food and water, in case of a catastrophe?

A: It's the opposite of sharing. Remember the Y2K scare? Some people asked me if we were 'prepared' at Onondaga, if we had stored up food and water?

I said, 'Listen, if the Creator wants to bring dinosaurs back, they'll be on your front lawn tomorrow. And if he wants to end the world, he will.'

On that day, do you want to tell the Creator that you prepared to meet him by storing food, or by sharing it?

See, people suffer every day, from floods and hurricanes. If we want to do the work of the Creator, we share with them. That's doing the Creator's will.

People who think they are as good as the Creator think they can move mountains. They can't. Do the Creator's will, and the mountains will move.

Be a good neighbor. If my garden is ready before yours, we should share mine now, and yours later. Too many people do not understand the power of sharing. You have to remember that all of the earth is the Creator's garden, and he shares it with us. That is why I say that sharing is divine intervention."

(This was from the last interview Chief Waterman gave before he died. I am completing a book about my work with him.)

Q: This hasn't been the usual interview for AHSKWA. Do you have any closding messages for our readers?

A: Live. Don't be afraid to live. We can live through this time.

I did reburials at the Penn Site. Germ warfare killed them. At the Bloody Hill Site, it was small pox. Some burials were of parents and their children. They were holding hands. This seems to happen when germ warfare kills families.

But we are here today. It's our turn to live now. If you are reading this, it's your turn as well. Make the most of it. Enjoy your family.

willingly, hopefully gracefully. And I will share, where and when I can. The earth is in turmoil right now, here in the US and other places. such as Sierra Leone. We have to be mindful of others. But to me this means more than the sharing of food and water, for after the essentials for life are taken care of we must move to the area of the mind.

There are those who won't share, who don't care, they are those "who think they are as good as the Creator think they can move mountains." The ones willing to take SS and medical care away from people, who will charge $6. per gallon of gas in times of crisis, the real looters in this world. A president who saunters off AF1, looking like he doesn't have a care in the world, whose policies who are destroying people's lives and perhaps the earth. We must share in a material sense when there is need and we must continue to share ideas, for until everyone on this planet has a decent life and the planet itself is revered, and until we stop killing each other in brutal unnecessary wars, there will always be a need.

"I set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, so that you and your children may live."
-- Deuteronomy 30:19

We might wish it were otherwise, but we are indeed at a fork in the road, and there are but two choices.

,...is a divine example of Love.

You should love your neighbor as yourself. There are no commandments greater than these." -- Jesus

It's a Universal Law, plain and simple.