Bear's Den: "Darkness Comes... by Way of Our Politicians"

Umm, the Wilted Moon – the changed time. Late tak-wah-ah-ki (autumn) is here. The days are filled with faded color and the nights come quicker; darkness begins to last longer. This is the settling time before the long sleep of papoonwi (winter). And it is right because it is The Great Good Spirit´s natural order of things. I pondered this the other day and thought that the parallels between this ´changed time´ and those of our country are quite alike. Yet, the Creator designed this time of year and those that are ´transforming´ our nation – in spite of how they think of themselves – are not God. And, the coming darkness that they usher in is not the natural order.

It does seem strange that our elected leaders – red and blue alike – are of the notion that the citizen´s wishes are meaningless. Yep, it appears that the president, his handlers, and most in Congress think that their own personal greed and selfishness are the number one priority – not serving the two-leggeds´ they represent. To me, they are like coyote in this way. Uh-huh, and there is an old White Mountain Apache story that explains what I mean. I´ll summarize it a bit, but it goes like this.

One day, Coyote was traveling along when he met Badger, who always carried a bag on his back. Coyote said, "My cross-cousin, what´s in the bag you carry?" He was hungry and he thought Badger had food in his sack.

Badger said, "It is nothing."

Because he thought there was food in the bag, Coyote wanted to stay around where Badger was and maybe get something to eat. So he decided to travel with Badger. After awhile, Coyote was thinking he would offer to carry the load and let Badger rest and then he would get what he wanted. Coyote said, "My cross-cousin, you look tired. You have a heavy load there. Why don't you let me carry it and you can rest?"

"No, I am fine. I´m not tired. I always travel this way." Badger replied.

But Coyote was greedy and he wanted what he wanted. After a while Coyote said again, "My cross-cousin, I think you are tired. Please, please elect me to carry the load for you… just a little way and you rest for a while."

Badger thought that maybe it was possible that Coyote really wanted to help him, so he decided to trust him. "All right," he said, "you carry this, my bed, if you want. I know you are thinking it´s something to eat, but it´s not. I carry this always. I'll let you have it, but do not open it."

Coyote nodded with deceitful joy and said, "I´m just saying this because I want to carry it for you, and because you are giving out. I will carry it only a little way," Coyote answered.

So Badger took his pack off and gave it to Coyote, and they started on again. After a while Coyote said to Badger, "I need to stop to go behind this bush. You keep on going ahead and don't bother to wait for me." And so, Badger went on ahead.

As soon as Coyote got behind the bush he started to untie the pack; that was all he wanted to do in the first place. When he untied the pack, it started to get dark. Darkness continued coming out of the bag, and Coyote could not stop it. Coyote got scared and hollered after Badger, "Wa-´ah! My cross-cousin, I'm having a bad time here! It must be that you are packing bad things with you. I can hardly see at all."

Badger came back and said, "I told you not to open my pack. Now you have done it and started this. I already told you that there was no food in it. You have done something bad." Then Badger spread his arms and gathered in all the darkness and shoved it back into the sack, tying the mouth tight.

Coyote felt angry on account of being fooled and said, "You just carry badness – you are bad!"

Badgers told Coyote, "No, I carry shade, which is a good thing. It is only greed and selfishness that turn something good into something bad – into blackness." So, the two parted because Badger would no longer travel with Coyote.

Now I´m Shawnee and not Apache, but I can see the moral of this story. Badgers have always slept in shady burrows, and this country has always been based on capitalism. This has worked well for the two parties in question, eh. But Coyote transformed a good thing into bad, and I feel something similar transpiring within our country via our elected representatives. Yes´sir, and I´m thinking that this tale is akin to what we have in Washington, now. Ya´all will have to make you own figure on that. But me… I´m thinking that the whole kit and caboodle of them there in the District of Columbia are more like Coyote than they are like Badger, eh. So, yes´um, while the Creator designed this changed time of year, those that are ´transforming´ our nation – in spite of how they think of themselves – are not God. And the coming darkness that they usher in, is neither good nor… of the natural order.

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David Walks-As-Bear is an Inter-Tribal Elder and Kispoko Shawnee Indian. He works as a private game warden and detective and is a novelist and syndicated newspaper columnist living in Northwest Michigan. Contact him at The White Lake Beacon: 231-894-5356 or visit his website at: www.Walks-As-Bear.com