Why We Wrote Cry For Mother Earth

When I Came Back From Vietnam In 1968 I Served The Last Three And A Half Months Of My Military Service At Fort Sill Oklahoma
One Saturday I Went To Oklahoma City For No Apparent Reason At All
I Was Looking For Something Different To Do
I Was Bored, Nothing That I Did Seem To Make Me Happy
I Was A Loner, Always Keeping To Myself
I Had No Friends And I Wasn't Looking For Any
I Was Just Biding My Time Until I Could Go Back To Ohio When My Army Obligations Were Over

I Was Just Driving Down The Highway Not Sure Of Where I Was Going
To The Right Of Me I Saw A Huge Crowd Gathering
I Pulled Over To See What Was Going On
Someone Was Having An Open To The Public Indian Pow-Wow
I Paid The Entrance Fee And Went In
I Don't Know Why I Attended This Event
Being White And From Ohio I Had Never Associated With An American Indian
My Memories Of Indians, Were From TV And Playing Cowboys And Indians As A Kid
I Didn't Know What I Was Looking For
I Didn't Know That I Was About To Find Peace Of Mind

When I Entered The Pow-Wow, It Was As If I Had Stepped Back In Time
I Felt So Out Of Place, A White Man Among So Many American Indians
I Felt Like A Stranger
This Was Something That I Had Never Seen Or Experienced Before
The Horses, The People, The Dances, The Chanting Was So Beautiful
The Feathers, The Head Dresses, The People Were So Amazing
So Much Beauty In Such A Small Space On Earth

Suddenly It Seemed So Quiet
Then The Drums Started Beating Again
Out Of Nowhere I Saw An Indian Chief In His Headdress, Dancing And Chanting, With His Arms Lifted To The Skies
The Dirt Around His Feet Appeared To Rise Up Into Smoke As He Danced
He Was Poetry In Motion, His Beauty I Couldn't Explain
I Had Never Seen Or Felt Anything Like This Before
I Could Feel His Rhythm, I Could Hear His Chant
I Could Have Swore That He Was Looking At Me As He Danced
I Wanted To Get Up And Dance With Him But What A Fool I Would Make
Instead I Sat And Swayed To And Fro To His Native Chant

When His Dance Was Over, He Came Over And Stood Next To Me
I Guess He Saw Something In Me That I Didn't See
He Said, "My Name Is Running Bear And Your Name Is?"
I Answered, "Rick"
He Wanted To Know What Was On My Mind
I Told Him That I Had A Lot Of Painful Memories
That I Had Nightmares That Wouldn't Go Away
Some How He Knew That I Was A VietNam Veteran Without My Telling Him

He Sensed That I Was Wanting To Learn
He Wanted To Know If There Was Something That I Wanted To Ask Him
For Some Reason A Flood Gate Opened Up In Me
For Some Reason I Wanted To Learn
I Started Asking Him Questions, Rapid Fire, One After Another
I Was Afraid That He Would Get Tired Of Me Asking
But He Kept Answering My Questions

I Was Amazed At Some Of The Stories That He Told Me
I Learned Things That I Never Understood Before
I Cried When He Told Me About The Taking Of His Land
I Cried When He Told Me About The Killing Of His People
I Cried When He Told Me About The Destruction Of His Buffalo
It Was Then That I Realized That I Wasn't The Only One With Painful Memories
It Was Then That I Realized That I Wasn't The Only One With Nightmares That Wouldn't Go Away
It Was Then That I Realized That I Wasn't Alone

When I Asked This Man Who He Was, He Told Me He Was A Tribal Chief
I Was Stunned, That He Would Take The Time To Answer My Questions
Why Would He Answer So Many Questions From A White Man That He Didn't Know
But I Sensed Deep Inside That He Did Know Me Better Than I Did Myself
He Stated That He Answered My Questions Because I Wanted To Learn
He Said That I Had A True Heart
He Said That Even Though I Asked A Lot Of Questions That Deep Inside Of Me, I Was A Quiet Man
He Told Me That I Was Now His Friend
He Said From Now On, "I Will Call You QuietMan"
As I Went Back To Fort Sill That Night
In My Heart I Knew That I Had Made A Lifetime Friend

The Next Day When I Came Back To The Pow-Wow He Let Me In Free
I Listened And Learned More From Him
I Met His Wife And Family
I Shared Meals With Them
They Asked About My Experiences In VietNam
I Didn't Like To Talk About It But Because They Asked Me, I Answered Them
It Felt Good To Talk About It To Them
In A Way, We Were Learning From Each Other
I No Longer Felt Like A Stranger

One Year In VietNam Took A Lot Out Of Me
This One Man And His Family Gave Me A Years Worth Of Peace In Just Two Days
I Remained Friends With Them While I Was In Oklahoma
I Visited With Them Often
They Continued To Teach Me
They Taught Me That There Is A Lot To Learn If You Will Only Take The Time To Listen
But I Am Ashamed To Admit That After Leaving The Service And Going Back To Ohio That I Lost Track Of Him And His Family
But I Have Never Forgotten Them
They Remain In My Heart Today

All These Years Later When I Saw This Picture Of The Indian Girl Blowing Leaves Over Her Village And Her Mother Earth That We Are using On Our Cry For Mother Earth Page And This Page, Something Touched Me And I Saw A Need To Make A Page For It
My Wife Was The One That Found The Picture Of The Indian Girl
She Thought That I Might Be Able To Write Something To Compliment It


I Sat Down In My Chair And Tried To Write Something And Drew A Blank
Nothing, No Words, Could I Find
Then I Closed My Eyes And Relaxed
I Was Asleep But Yet I Wasn't Asleep
I Felt A Warmth And Peacefulness Descend On Me

In A Dream Or In A Trance, I Wasn't Sure
I Saw The Indian Chief That I Knew In Oklahoma
I Saw Running Bear
All These Years Later He Had Once Again Found Me
He Was In The Same Headdress, Still Dancing And Chanting
His Arms Were Again Uplifted To The Skies
At First I Didn't Understand What He Was Saying
But Then His Words Started Flowing From Within Me And I Understood Them
His Words Were Flowing From My Heart
I Wrote The Words Down As He Gave Them To Me
He Gave Me A Message To Give To The World
He Gave Me Hope For Peace And Understanding
He Gave Me Love And Again His Friendship

When I Awoke, I Felt As If I Had Lost My Mind
But There Were The Written Words That Running Bear Gave To Me
When My Wife Came Home, I Related To Her What Had Happened
She Told Me That I Had Had A Vision
I Read The Written Words To Her
She Felt What I Had Felt And Helped Me Finish Cry For Mother Earth

The Cry For Mother Earth Page Means A Lot To The Both Of Us
We Both Are Still Learning And Educating Ourselves To The Indian Way Of Life
We Are Like Human Sponges
We Absorb Anything And Everything That We Can About The Indian Way Of Life
Mother Earth Would Be A Lot Better Off If We Followed The Beliefs Of The Indian
This Planet Would Not Be On A Path Of Self Destruction

We Are Not Proud Of What Our Forefathers Did
We Realize That We Cannot Change The Past
But Together Maybe We Can Change The Future
We Ask For Your Forgiveness And Extend Our Hand In Peace
We The People Need To Unite As One
We Need Your Help To Change The World And Save Mother Earth

To Running Bear And His Family
Where Ever You Are
I Have Never Forgotten You
Your Friend
QuietMan

CopyRight © 2003-
Written By Rick 12/04/2003
Rasky's VietNam Memorial
All Rights Reserved


We Would Like To Share Some Of Our Friend's Comments On Our Cry For Mother Earth Page
Thank You From The Bottoms Of Our Hearts
For Understanding What It Is That We Are Trying To Convey

Rick, Bobbie and Rasky


Emotions Unfold, Tumultously
Cascading With The Tears
The Vision, The Understanding
But Most Of All The Words
The Words To Help Others To See
To Feel, To Weep
As Realization Sees In For Them
Our Mother - The Earth
Struggling To Survive
The Total Disregard Of Her Gifts
But Not Alone,
Some Of Her Children Feel Her Pain
They Pray To Heal Her
With Their Pure Spirit Their Love
Their Vision
And The Words
Words To Help Others Understand

Rick, Bobbie and Rasky
No Greater Gift Could You Have Given Me, Than The Words
Cry For Mother Earth
Nyeahweh
From Eyes That Weep And A Heart That Is Grateful
Earth Woman


Dear Rick ,Bobbie And Rasky

Your Words
Your Spirit
Are All The Asking For Forgiveness
That Any Indian
Even My Relation "Man-Who-Is-Crazy-About-His-Horses" Could Ever Ask For
If We Had 1000 People Like You Folks
Who Answered The "Call"
The Sacred Hoop Would Be Repaired In No Time At All
I Am Intrigued By Your Attitude And True Spirit
You Have Spoken To My Heart With The Tongue Of One Of The People
Your Words Do NOT Tumble About In The Wind To Be Scattered To The Four Directions By Father Sky
There Is Much That I Have "Heard" That You Did Not Speak
But My Spirit Heard It Just The Same

Dok'sha Wolf Mstalkingwolf


This Is So Beautful
Thank You So Much For Doing It
My Heart Is Raining Tears Because It Is So Beautiful

Many Tribes


This Is So True!
I'm Going To Share It With My Fifth Grade Class At Winona Elementary

Claudie Cline Thompson


This Is A Beautiful Tribute To Our Native Americans
Reading This Touched My Heart For A Long Time To Come

Diana


You Guys Never Cease To Amaze Me
Great Job
Keep Up The Good Work
And For The Worthiest Of Causes

Greywolf



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RASKY'S VIETNAM MEMORIAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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