An Emotional Ride...Day 8

So it's 10:45pm and in the past 20 minutes I've lead a mini Yoga class, laughed my ass off and teared up from watching footage from the riders sharing their experiences at Dakota State University to a room full of white students. That's a full 20 minutes. You know there's a very popular expression that says "Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt,sing like no one is listening,and live like it's heaven on earth."...that analogy is pretty much running on a 20 minute cycle here on this ride.

From a screening and graduation at the Flandreau Indian School, to a beautiful ride and dinner at our first stop in Minnesota with the beautiful people of Pipestone, MN. Over the past few days I've found so many things that I've been inspired to write about but actually have found it difficult to put into words. And as I'm writing tonight I feel that this blog is actively evolving from a check in of the happenings of the day to really an attempt to capture stories. People's stories. People who look like me. People who don't look like me. People who have completely different beliefs. People with amazingly difficult upbringings, people who inspire me and people who are truly all alike. The stories may be different, the skin color may not be the same, but whether man or woman, elder or child, all of the stories I've heard have touched my heart and soul. As I'm writing this I'm watching footage of the DSU talks with Sarah, Pancho, Kevin and Sarah's son Mikey...We're watching footage of a young man named Craig. Craig makes me cry. Craig is honored to be on this ride and shared his heart, soul, and pain with a room of complete strangers. All of the riders did this that day and I've very rarely seen such transparency. To be honest it's a lot to handle. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of hurt. There's a lot of history that I didn't know about and when I hear it, does not paint the prettiest picture of what my country did to the Native American people and the struggles the community continues to have.

If you're non native and reading this blog and you're like me before I came on this ride, you know very little about the Native American community aside from what you've read. You've probably never spent time on a reservation except maybe on a school trip when you were younger or a family vacation at some point in your life. My thoughts of Native Americans before I can here were completely general. I knew from what I read that Native Americans received little attention from the main stream media and in textbooks, but realistically all I saw publicly of Native Americans was based upon something in the past, a stereotype. Wigwams, tepees, feathers, war bonnets, bows and arrows, almost something you would see in the Museum of Natural History. Those are all representations of the history of the Native American community, but the fact is that THAT is what passes for current views of Native Americans held by the majority of Americans today. That and possibly Casinos, Alcohol and drug abuse and some of the struggles facing the community at large. I'll be the first to tell you that I was wrong. That's a shallow attempt at the whole story and it's only in being here and living within the community that I can truly see individuals. See beyond a general community to being able to ask questions about people in their specific lives. Their struggles and joys as opposed to a history lesson and macroleve type questions. There's a time and a place for that but starting small and getting to know people is the first step. I'm so thankful to be on this ride and meeting new friends and from this point on, truly being welcomed into a new family.

Kevin is one of the riders. He's sleeping over tonight. I've given him my bed. It's great to have him here watching videos of himself. He's never seen himself on tape like this. Sharing himself emotionally with a room full of strangers. I remember him telling me that he's not much for speeches. In 5 minutes, he moved a room to tears with a simple and honest power that was both healing and refreshing. It made me cry and laugh at the joy and possibilities that I finally see for individuals. Thank you to Kevin and all of the riders for helping me to see past the large and connect with the small. It's something I've connected with before and had lost. Thank you for helping me connect again.

Tonight's blog is all over the place, but I'm pleased with how it's going. Kevin just asked me for a smoke. Pancho breathed deeply while downloading material. Sarah and Mikey just left and Silas has been asleep for an hour. I'm blogging. That's a community moving all at the same time still connecting. I love this.

Ok, a few juicy stories from the past few days. Let me start with today and then finish with something I'd like to say about storytelling and the youth. This morning the MEDIA came...dum dum dum...I say that half jokingly as the we the crew had a 2 hour discussion last night at Subway, (yes there's a Subway in Flandreau and I completely rocked a turkey breast footlong on wheat bread with every topping imaginable...thanks Jared) on the benefits and drawbacks to involving the media into this spiritual ride. I won't walk you through the transcript but will say that it was a very spirited discussion. Fast forward to this morning when the ABC affiliate from Sioux Falls, SD showed up at the Flandreau Indian School to capture footage of the horses the riders and to truly be a part of the ride themselves. I told them this on the phone and I don't think they truly knew what they were in for. Sean and Mike from
ABC show up get some footage of the horses and then begin their interview with Jim Miller. Jim immediately hugs them and says "I love you guys" upon meeting them. They were blown away. Essentially during the interview Jim relayed the importance of the ride and also said something very interesting about forgiveness. He mentioned taking responsibility for the Native American part of the Dakota conflict and basically was asking for forgiveness and truly looking for healing and reconciliation. Mike and Sean expressed after the interview for our camera that basically they had been to Native American ceremony's before and the tone they felt was one of anger. Not here, not today and not Jim. Jim was ALL LOVE. I'm on this ride and it is ALL LOVE. It's all healing and it's all inclusive. These reporters were part of the ride this morning and they felt that energy and that love. It blew them away.

A big thanks to both Sioux Falls, SD ABC and NBC affiliates who participated in the ride today and ran great pieces this evening on the 6pm news.

Second story from the past few days involves Sarah's son Mikey. He's 9 years old, very funny, smart, endearing and a bit of a ham. He loves to jump around, play games and is really a bright light amongst the team. So last night after dinner Pancho, Mikey and myself were left afterwards to clean up while Sarah and Silas captured some footage of a meeting with the leaders of the ride. After about an hour of cleaning, we turned off the lights and took a rest on a couple of couches. Mikey said to me, "Adam, tell me a ghost story"...I was tired, I said "Mikey, not now, you tell me one"...he smiled and launched into a legitimate 7 minute story of action, adventure and suspense with ME as the main character. I closed my eyes and felt great. It brought me back to times when my mother, father and grandfather would tell me stories with me as the main character. My grandfather specifically used to tell a story called the "Three Golden Pears" where I was a young Prince hunting a giant who was threating my kingdom. It had it all and I loved hearing him tell me that story. Strangely enough, last night was the first time I felt like that since my grandfather past away, and it was from a 9 year old. One of the big themes of this ride is that the ride is for the youth. To preserve their language, culture, ancient ways. Another big theme is respect your elders. Both of the previous statements I 100% agree with. I'd also like to add another one....

Listen to OUR YOUTH. They are the ones telling the stories that we're going to live into. They are the ones who are going to preserve and thrive within our culture whether native, non native. OUR YOUTH are storytellers like no other and their imagination runs as wild as the magical horses we ride on this journey. I felt that last night. Thanks Mikey for being yourself, being creative and sharing it with me.

Tomorrow morning we leave Pipestone, MN and travel to Russell, MN. The ride continues. It's quiet here. I like when you can hear just the ticking of the clock. You can really take in your day. And when you've had a day where you've laughed, cried, danced, sung, prayed, questioned, answered, listened and shared yourself with others, your head can hit that pillow and know you did everything you could that day to live now. As part of the Dakota prayer stated before the 38 men were hung on Dec 26, 1862 "It's a good day to die"...in other words, I've LIVED!!!

Live, Love, and do something today that scares you. much love from the Smooth Feather Team on the road...