opnet [OpNet] Being the people. Thinking like them.

[Wakinyan]

So as you may or may not know I am Native American. Beneath all the fur and feather my skin I think is still very red.

Since I erupted there has been a big deal made of that fact. Strong Medicine and so on. It's nice do not get me wrong. I accept that I am what I am and what I do.

However something else has creeped into my thoughts lately. I can't be a normal american teenager without some thinking that I am belittling myself. Do I need to divorce myself so totally from the normal that I am only Wakinyan the proud spirit of a people and not Wakinyan the teenager that likes to go to the movies and scarf down five buckets of popcorn or Wakinyan who would like to play football with others or just go out on a date? (With TW.. Come on people work with me here)

I know there are expectations of me but am I allowed to be sides of myself that are not directly related to the 'great destiny' at least just a little?

[kestrel404]

There are times for thinking great thoughts, and there are times to sit down and surf the OpNet. Don't think that just because you've got cosmic powers it means you can't relax - I made that mistake, and it was making me more than a bit nutty for a while. As Lemmy might say, 'be chill'. (OK, so my slang is terribly dated. What did you expect?)

[Lou Anne Burgess]

I have two questions that I think you need to answer for yourself. What have you accepted about yourself, and what expectations do you have of yourself?

That's only the first question. You seem to expect others to frequently assume the worst of your intentions (your asking people to work with you on wanting to go on a date). You've also apparently accepted being Strong Medicine for your people and the embodiment of a Mythical creature. Have you accepted that you're a teenager though? These urges to go out & be a 'normal' teenager are perfectly natural if you're being subjected to responsibilities that you're not comfortable with [all the time].

The second question is, what have your people accepted, and what are their expectations? Do you realistically know the answer to that question? I don't know you personally and I'm far removed from your people, but if they have accepted you to this point considering some of your more notorious exploits, then they may expect you to behave your age sometimes, so long as you return to your responsibilities.

If you don't know what they accept and expect then perhaps Thoughtwave does know already, or can find out more subtly than you can. Remember though that as a Leader, you have a right and responsibility to ask questions of other leaders or elders.

Logically though, why would they want to prevent you from spending time away with your wife? Why would they mind you enjoying yourself a little? If you're a symbol of your people, then you have a responsibility to them and to yourself to show them an example that is not only the hot blooded young man (brave?), but also the cool headed young (shaman?) A society after all cannot remain balanced if they are all hot blooded or all cool headed.

[Wakinyan]

It isn't just the responsibilities that get to me. I mean overall many people are very forgiving of my rambunctious behavior. Maybe more so than I deserve. It is more a matter of which way am I allowed to act? Is it wrong of me to want to go to the movies?

Wait, before I go further I should quit dodging the issue and get to the point.

Thoughtwave has wrapped herself in the ways and customs of old. They are to her her life entirely now. I have these ways and customs around me but I have not went to the extent she has with them. I mean there is a simplicity, honor and elegance to them that I respect and love. But I mean I don't mind doing modern things either.

I guess I feel a pang of guilt because I haven't grasped my heritage so tightly that I refuse all else. I don't really want to either.

[Ptesan-Wi]

While it is true that my full acceptance of the Old Ways was both somewhat late and rather complete, they should not prevent you from living your life or from me living mine, Wakinyan.

Yes, we are Lakota, and yes, we are Strong Medicine for the People. But we are also People ourselves. We feel joy, sorrow, pleasure, pain and needs just as surely as anyone else. If you want to eat popcorn, or drink Kool-Aid, or toss a football around, you should do so (though you should be careful with that football; they pierce easily). Doing so does not make you any less the Wakinyan, nor me any less Thoughtwave.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

That's a very different question from the original, and in all fairness, I'll have to ponder it before I address it fully.

As a quick answer, are you sure that the old ways are the entirety of her life, or simply the part that is expressed most often? In other words, as an everyday event, if she could go to the movies or go to a fireside storytelling would she always choose against the movies?

Tradition is something that shows who someone was and shapes who they are and who/what they will be. But to adhere only to tradition and not to grow with the world is to create a form of stagnation. If I understand what few reports I've seen about your people, they are now starting to exit a long time of stagnation and regain their sense of self and pride, in no small part due to your influence. If part of that rebirth is from a reawakening of your old traditions, then perhaps you're wise to take care with deviating from them. But look also at the time when your people were stagnant, look at what caused that. Was it too much of the 'modern world', was it too much dwelling on past glory? There are many different things that could have caused it.

One of the things that I've come to associate with Native American culture though, and it may only be a more modern perspective looking back through rose-tinted propaganda financed glasses, was that balance was important. Either living in harmony with the land or with the herds or what have you.

Even if dwelling too much in the modern world was a problem that you [collectively] are now correcting, to turn about and forsake as much of the modern world as possible could create just as bad an imbalance as was before, perhaps worse since people tend to overcompensate for past problems. I think that unless you mean to cut off all contact with the Modern world, you need to be able, and your people need to be able to appreciate what is there that is good.

Does that mean that the local radio station should play traditional music 18 hours a day and Novox music 4 hours a day? Does it mean you should maybe setup a large Drive-in Movie Theater and have Movie Night one night a month during good weather so that everyone can enjoy ... whatever? Those are rhetorical questions, no need to answer them, just think about them.

And I'll think about your question more over night & check back tomorrow if I think of something else, or think differently.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

Thoughtwave, you raise a good point. Put another way Wakinyan... The President of the United States (or select a Leader you prefer) might be on duty 24 hours a day and scrutinized constantly, but even they need time to be themselves and have a bit of a vacation.

They can't lead effectively otherwise. The stress would just build up and up and up and then...