Indigenous People's Day

I made this photo while outside, walking, not gasping for breath. These are my favorite colors, and I faffed the photo a bit in Color Efex. Because I wasn't gasping for breath, I think I'm slowly and surely recovering. Sue is still waiting for her recovery. But I want to talk about something else.

Tomorrow in Oregon we will celebrate Indigenous People's Day. In my childhood it was a day to celebrate Christopher Columbus who, we were told in primary school, "discovered America." The public perception of colonization has changed since then, and in seventeen States (and Washington, D.C.) we celebrate indigenous people instead of colonizers. 

One of the indigenous people in this photograph from 2019 is my friend on Facebook, and she wrote and published this offering a few days ago. I pray it with her and offer it for you, should you wish to receive it:

prayers for those whose life is their sundance 
prayers for those who often go without food or water
prayers for those who sleep outside at all times of the year
prayers for those who have no one supporting them
prayers for those who are struggling with illness, whether it be addiction, psychosis or cancer 
prayers for those who are behind bars
prayers for those who may not make it
prayers for those we’ve lost
we’re all just fragile beings

That first line moves me very deeply because some people's lives are very difficult, and are a kind of sacrifice. A Sundance is a sacred sacrificial offering of self to community. There is a 22-minute documentary on the Sundance, created by indigenous people in Canada, if you'd like to hear about it directly from people who have practiced it.