This is the brand new up-to-date website for Standing Rock Camp 
http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org/  with how to donate and what actions to take. 

• It is beautiful and descriptive website.  
  
• Take the time to learn more about the camp.
• It is especially important to look under "GET INVOLVED" where you will see how you can support the Water Protectors by making phone calls in support of stopping the DAPL.

THANK YOU for caring and acting to insure that we have a thriving and just world for all.

​We were invited to come to the Standing Rock Sioux encampment during the week of Yom Kippur -- the Jewish Day of Atonement.  As Jews we atone for our sins each year and we do so in the plural, holding ourselves responsible for the sins of all.  “We have sinned by…..”
 
Camping in South Dakota in early October is a challenge.  First night it was 28 degrees, the second had gusting winds that threatened to lift the rain tarp off our tent – and this is called “Indian Summer” in South Dakota.  It will be winter soon, with temperatures well below 0 degrees and while a sensible person might flee the oncoming winter, here is a camp of Native and white people preparing to spend the winter on the banks of the Cannonball River.
 
I came to the Standing Rock Sioux encampment to lend my support to the Native people who have been camped here since last April – their last ditch attempt to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, the DAPL.  We were welcomed by everyone we encountered and thanked for coming to this peaceful camp, where ceremony and prayer are an integral part of daily life – including the non-violent actions that many are engaged in to stop or slow down the building of the pipeline.
 
Why did I not simply go to synagogue for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as I have done for every year of my life?
 
As a citizen of the United States I share the responsibility for the actions of my government.  I share responsibility for how we have destroyed Native lands and culture, and for our industrialized way of life that contributes to the demands for more fossil fuels, the extraction of more natural resources, and more pollution and degradation of our Earth.

​Two nights camping in South Dakota in early October is a challenge.  First night it was 28 degrees, the second had gusting winds that threatened to lift the rain tarp off our tent – and this is called “Indian Summer” in South Dakota.  It will be winter soon, with temperatures well below 0 degrees.  You would think that folks would be leaving but the reverse is true and they are winterizing this camp on the banks of the Cannonball River.
 
This gathering of Native people began with a small group that challenged the building Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River adjacent to their reservation.  They know, and we all know, that pipelines don’t last forever and there are too many leaks in the existing pipelines that crisscross our nation. 
 
The Standing Rock Sioux encampment is on the front line with people uprooting their daily lives, making this camp their home and risking their lives for what they know to be true – Water is Life. We can’t live without water and we can’t take the risk of poisoning our water.

This past January the last of our five children moved out of the house.  I had been parenting for 35 years, and as much as I love my children I was quite excited about my new life as an empty nester.

It’s been fun!  I love not having to be home or cook dinner.  I buy and eat the food I like, and the refrigerator has lots of empty space.  I go to meetings and movies at night, leave the sink with dirty dishes and don’t feel guilty about setting a bad example. I hardly ever do laundry, clean only half the house, and have much more discretionary money.

But the greatest benefit is that I am appreciating my strengths and I am not as frequently reminded of my shortcomings.  I am again asking “who am I” and what are my passions and my work in the world?  As I find myself teaching more about “becoming elders in the public square” I am also discovering that I am doing that myself – at 66 years of age, I am becoming an elder in the public square.

This is not just about me.  I am meeting other folks who are also “coming out of the closet” as elders, wanting to create a collective legacy of a sustainable world – and together we are creating ripples.

​As an example, just two weeks ago I was at the National Gathering of the Conscious Elders Network – a group of smart, caring folks, who want to create a better world for their grandkids, for all children.  We were discussing issues of social justice when one person suggested that we write a Resolution in support of the Standing Rock Sioux – who are protecting their water from the threat presented by the Dakota Access Pipeline.  We agreed and within a day it written, affirmed – and 75 elders went back to their communities with the awareness that our Native neighbors are courageously standing on the front lines, protecting our water for future generations -- their children and our children.