Hidden in Plain Sight...

Ours or Mine?

All of these things are a gift provided by the Creator for our needs. That everything we need has been provided here, but we have to treat it in a manner that is respectful, so we don't use it all up in our lifetime. Because there are faces that are young, or just born -- those who are coming. And they’re going to need what we have enjoyed here. So our job is to take care of it while we’re here. Not to destroy it, but to hand it on to the next generations. We’re only stewards of it while we’re all alive. Whereas the other view is "I’m going to get everything that I need now for my family and my needs. So I’ll become better than I was, have more than I’ve ever had. I’ll become rich basically." Money is driving this thinking. And then it asks: "What is the obstacle to my efforts to become this way?" The answer: "It’s these people [the Haudenosaunee/Seneca] that are living here."

G. Peter Jemison
Seneca Artist & Spokesman
Ganondagan, 2003