Make Village Great Again
On my mind this week has been false nostalgia of the infamous phrase "Make America Great Again." Here is my take on Making America Great Again...
...Imagine the pilgrims disembarked from their ships, entered smaller boats and rowed to shore, their faces filled with awe. Upon arrival on land, they removed their shoes remembering what Moses was told by G-d when encountering the sacred. They brought ashore gifts from their lands, sacred foods, waters and beautifully made ritual objects.
They set up a modest camp with a fire, unprotected, and waited. They caught fish, just enough that no belly growled, and waited. They let themselves be watched, they embraced vulnerability. After several days they ventured just out of eye sight of their camp to leave their gifts and return quickly to camp.
We do not know if the gifts were received. We do not know if the pilgrims stayed, famished or returned. All we know is what was found written on parchment that was left with the gifts.
Dear the People of this land,
We are a People of another land, across this vast ocean. We have left that land in search of help. Our people have been brutalizing each other for centuries. We don’t remember what it was like to not live in terror and fear. Our bodies are filled with generations of unprocessed trauma. The people who best knew how to heal trauma were killed first. We are at a loss. Our people may not continue on, this may be our end.
We do not remember how to be people, so we have gone in search of people who remember how to be people and may consider helping us. We know this is a large request, we know that the sickness of trauma is contagious and that deciding to help us may come with a cost to your people. We also know we carry diseases that your people are susceptible to. We understand if you do not want to meet or help us. If we do not hear from you by the next full moon, we will get back in our ships and sail home.
If you do choose to help us, we will practice physical distancing and meeting in small pods of less than 12 people to decrease disease transmission. And, we want to say that firstly, we understand that consent is an on-going process and you may rescind your help at any time and ask us to leave. Second, we would want to reciprocate your generosity in ways that feel good to you and your people, we can offer labor, goods, stories, songs and are open to learning new ways/skills if they are the best way to reciprocate. Thirdly, we want to acknowledge this is your homeland and your creator gave you specific instructions on how to tend this land...we both want to follow those instructions when it's appropriate and be in a process of re-learning the instructions our creator gave us both so we can return home and so that we don’t begin to pretend you are our ancestors (that would be weird and disrespectful). And fourthly, if these “protocols” are rubbish and not meeting you in the languages you speak we’re very happy to throw them out the window and just listen.
In gratitude for life,
People of another land
