CHIEF SEATTLE'S LETTER
TO ALL THE PEOPLE
Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians wrote to the
American Government in the 1800's - In his letter he gave the most
profound understanding of God in all Things. Here is his letter,
which should be instilled in the hearts and minds of every parent
and child in all the Nations of the World:
CHIEF SEATTLE'S LETTER
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But
how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do
not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy
them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle,
every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every
humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that
courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The
perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these
are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of
the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but
the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it
is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events
and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my
father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes
and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would
give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air
shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our
grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our
children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and
sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the
meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth
is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All
things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the
web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to
himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and
to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all
slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret
corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the
ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where
will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then
hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is
only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and
forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you
our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold
in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the
land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious
to us. It is also precious to you.
One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red
man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."
There has been some dispute over the actual words in Chief Seattle's letter.
However, the message is powerful and clear in any version.
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