It was a crispy cold late afternoon, not
that biting cold of the wind from the Antarctica but the caressing kind of the
Plains. I had walked around the tracks at this village for a while before
preparing myself to go home.
I was slowly walking up the sloping road
when a van pulled up next to me. I recognized the familiar face of a friend of
mine, and greeted him.
He is 55 years old, was diagnosed with
Uncontrolled Diabetes 7 years old and with a change of mind, determined to be
in control of his health, turned around his lifestyle activities.
Currently he is on no medications, has
disciplined himself.
I occasionally take Indian medicine such as
these to calm my stomach down; he offered me a jar from which I chew a root
with a distinct anise taste. I go around and collect them myself.
We lamented how the Indians have lost their
traditional knowledge and that I was happy to hear that he is learning from
other knowledgeable ones about the powers of herbs and rituals and prayers.
If you think that just taking the medicine
alone regularly would help you with Diabetes, you would be disappointed I told
him, you need the other two factors: the fact that you are Indian and the
Spiritual Connection with Wakonda.
He seemed to agree, I pray to Wakonda and
wait for it to take effort. I reminded him what Black Elk had said: Pray and
leave it there, let the Great Mystery decide what to do with that.
His wife had gone to see a specialist in
another town and when she told the doctor about the lifestyle control of good
health of her husband, the uninformed doctor said: Please ask him to be
careful, his blood sugar might go down too low if he eats well and exercises
too much! What a reverse logic. I had to explain to my friend Brother Wolf, it
is very difficult for your blood sugar to go down low if you are not taking any
medications and even if you starve and you exercise, your blood sugar would be
protected. I gave him the example of Indians going on Vision Quests or Sun
Dance when they don't eat but dance for four days in the latter, but fast for
four days and nights in the former.
Indian metabolism has evolved over
centuries to accommodate their culture and their actions. And most doctors are
not culturally sensitive to understand this, even if they live surrounded by
Indians.
When are you leaving? he asked
I am on my way. I am going home.
So Wakonda sent you to see me, he smiled.
I was happy to have met him on the road.
Sitting Bull on the Europeans who took his land:
Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them.
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull
