An excerpt from the writings of Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD, from 2004…
My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times.
….I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times.

Especially do not lose hope.…The fact is that we were made for these times.   For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.
I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one…there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.
..In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that.  There is a tendency to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. 

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.

​We are gentle people-- heartbroken people
Caught in the midst of a seemingly endless violence.
 
Snipers – provocateurs creating violence, fan the flames of fear.
 
This cannot be the way into our future.
I want to take to the streets
Not only to protest fear or to protest violence…
 
But to speak up for peace, compassion, deep listening – and sanity.
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation? (The Hopi Elder)
 
​We are all caught in this senseless web of violence –
that does not reflect our deepest values.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

​Have you ever wondered why “developing” nations are still mired in great poverty although they have received enormous amounts of aid for infrastructure? Or why the United States is engaged in an endless stream of small wars and conflicts? And, after we bomb and destroy any country our next budget item is reconstruction? 
Meet John Perkins:  a former “Economic Hit Man” whose job was to help U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.  That system has spread to now become the dominant means of business and government within the U.S. as well.
John’s book, New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, puts the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can understand “corporatocracy” -- how businesses serve the wealthy and continue to impoverish the poor through systemic blackmail, assassinations and more.
Defense spending facts:  Military spending is projected to account for 54% of all federal discretionary spending; and, the U.S. spends more on defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France and Japan – COMBINED!

There is a beautiful story of an old guy observed planting a fig tree. When his neighbor asked if he really expected to live long enough to consume the fruits of his labor, he replied: "I was born into a world flourishing with ready pleasures. My ancestors planted for me, and I now I plant for my children.”
 
Most of us do not plant trees for the benefit of our children, but we are still rightfully concerned with what will be our legacy – for that is the work of an elder.  Many of us also feel great sadness or despair as we look at our collective legacy -- the state of our world -- as there is much that needs fixing, and we are each just one amongst many. 
 
I want to share a vision of ELDERS STANDING – people who serve as elders for our communities, speaking for future generations, for the unborn ones, in the ways that as elders have always spoken for the “seventh generation.” 
 
To take a stand means to publically take a position, to speak for an idea or issue.   It is a position of power -- not power over -- but “power with” those that are calling to us from the future to speak for them now, in this moment in time.   We do this by speaking in the public square and leaving a legacy of a just and thriving world.
 
This network of individuals and organizations holds as our highest priority the concerns of our descendents and all life on our precious planet.

African-American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males and 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic males.
 
If current trends continue, one of every three black American males born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as can one of every six Latino males compared to one of every seventeen white males.    (www.gatewaysecondchance.org)
 
This is not the definition of a just society! 

Many Americans are beginning to understand how unjust our society is – and two of them, Donna and Clarence Carter, are doing something about it.

The Carters have formed GATEWAY SECOND CHANCE Foundation and GateWay Boarding Academy, which invest in the lives of at-risk youth, breaking their cycle of failure and empowering them to become productive community members.
 
Gateway Second Chance is a powerful declaration and commitment to young people, particularly young men, to provide a second chance through education, skills training, mentoring and supportive services that insure that these young men can turn their lives around and become not only “productive” but fulfilled members of their community.

The Carters are enlisting their friends and community to help them in this endeavor – so this past March, more than 200 folks gathered to share breakfast, community, and inspiring stories of courage and perseverance. 
 
Those attending were inspired by the youth and adults who shared their life experiences, and what is possible with the caring commitment of others -- literally breathed new life into those who were present. These individuals modeled what is created in a human being's life when they receive our attention and support.
 
Gateway Second Chance is determined to provide the needed services so that the vicious cycle of the “school to prison pipeline” STOPS!

“What was successful about ELDERS STANDING FOR DEMOCRACY SPRING”
We actualized “Elder-Activists” – with older folks coming together as both ELDERS and as ACTIVISTS!

We raised up the values that we hold:

• Caring for future generations
• Standing in the public square
• Protecting "our investment" -- the future of the children that we raised
  
• Given voice to our wisdom and years of life experience
• Being seen as elders – rather than just someone growing older
• Creating a legacy that we can be proud of.

We organized, meeting weekly for several months; got to know each other, as we marched and stood together; and,  inspired one another with our actions, commitment and ideas.

We are continuing to meet – discerning what our next steps might be; and how we can best work together.  Why?  Because as Sally said, "I want to reiterate how important it is to be included... and, there is so much to learn from the wisdom of the other elders."

Our next meeting – of ELDERS STANDING FOR DEMOCRACY SPRING (ESDS) – will be Thursday, May 12th, 12 noon, E.T.  Call in number:  641.715.3298, 220031#.  Anybody is welcome to join us.