I Am Thankful

If the part of our journey that carries us through this world is a time and a place of learning and of teaching, for ourselves and for those with whom we come into contact, then I will be so much the wiser in the next part of my journey.
 I've been more than fortunate to have met, and to have spent time with some tremendous people in my life, and have had the opportunity to learn from each of them. 
Magnificence is something that is often amplified by simplicity. One thing that I've found is how the importance of the very simplest things in life may be more profound and more enriching than the greatest amount of material wealth; that is, the times, events, unplanned meetings, the tiniest kind gesture or sharing of warm words. Events like these so often prove to be the most important and full filling events to ourselves and to others around us. Perhaps these folks also need to learn the very same lessons, and perhaps we are here to help each other to learn these lessons. 
As these days of my life go by, I learn to pay more attention to these lessons, to accept them into my heart and to share them with others. And I am thankful to those with whom I get to have the privilege to share these lessons.

Paralell: Palestinians // 'American Indians'

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/

There is at least one apparent parallel between what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians at the present time, 2012, and the actions of the American Government and Society against the Indigenous Peoples of the United States, starting mainly in the 1800's, and continuing into the present time(Read the book: 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' Author: Dee Brown).

 ...Or, is it that we are actually witnessing a simple progression of the very same--though perhaps evolved, society; with an evolved and expanded set of international social and political relationships, and a similar,  possibly evolved, lack of   intuitively appropriate--and humane, morals and practises?

There is a statement that makes its way around the social circles of the Internet. The statement contains an Historic photograph of  nineteenth century American Indigenous warriors, mounted on horse back and carrying rifles, while stoically gazing into the lens of the camera. The caption reads, 'Fighting Terrorism since 1492'. 

Terrorism is nothing new to us as the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas; both North and South America. Although the face of North American-style terrorism may have been altered somewhat since it began over five hundred years ago, the reality continues to infuse our homeland territories and our common, Indigenous Community with the destructive tracks of this unabashed foe. As members of the Indigenous Tribal Groups of these lands, we have watched one another suffer through, and die as a result of, the various forms and tactics of this multi-faceted and Federally espoused, and on-going campaign of North American based, home-spun Terrorism. This brand of Terrorism  is made up of the DNA of North American non-Indigenous socio-political structure. 

At the present time, 2012, we watch as government assisted corporate activity continues the practise of the destruction, and indeed the decimation of our homelands and resources at the expense of our Indigenous practises of traditional sustenance and livelihood, Cultural Practise and self-determination.
Across Canada and the United States, Indigenous Peoples continue to lose additional portions of their traditional homeland territory and their natural resources, to the efforts of these governments and their corporate partners. Efforts of these Indigenous Peoples to protect their homelands and their resources against such encroachment are suppressed by these North American Federal Governments, through the use of their political power structure, which includes their bureaucracy, their law courts, their police and their militia.   Because the populace of these countries refuse to acknowledge any impropriety toward these Indigenous Peoples in regards to these historic and present issues, Indigenous Peoples all across the Americas continue to endure these draconian realities, essentially at the hands of both the American and the Canadian Society .
The underlying truth of this all is that, if the Government of Canada were to intervene in this historic practise of  the denial of the Human Rights and the Indigenous Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Canada, the entire structure of wealth distribution across Canada would shift in favour of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and away from non-Indigenous Canadians. Historic legal, political, social, and financial wrongs would have to be corrected. Again this would place a huge burden, upon Canada and Canadians, of repatriation of Property and wealth to the coffers of Canada's Indigenous Peoples. And it will be a cold day in hell before the Government of Canada will ever consider, 'Doing the right thing,' in terms of honestly assessing and effectively correcting its historic and its present relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. 

1. 

RCMP in Red Deer city Alberta are asking the public for help locating a missing youth. 16-year-old Sommer Currie was last seen in the Deer Park area last Friday
night. She is Aboriginal, 5'2", 170 lbs and was wearing a dark sweater, dark pants, red and black runners and a black backpack. Anyone with information is asked to call your local RCMP or CrimeStoppers 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS)



This bulletin was publicized via Facebook by a individual who has long been vigilant for the cause of closure for the families of the many Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women of Canada.

There are a number of questions that have long since begun to gel in terms of the response of Canadian Authorities to this Canadian calamity. 
To begin with, is there a on-going public-accessible listing anywhere that tracks these Murdered and Missing Women cases?
What are some obstacles faced by authorities in their efforts to solve these cases?
What can members of the general public do to assist in this effort?  
Is there any sort of surveilance in place that records the responses, and the quality of the efforts being made by Canadian and American authorties? --American because American Indigenous women are also disappearing without a trace.
 
Members of the Canadian public, mainly Indigenous individuals, have been posting these bulletins very regularly in public places such as their Facebook page, and it seems that the rate of these disappearances may be on the rise. Its very striking that so many young Indigenous women from across Canada are disappearing on such a regular basis, and that the outwardly apparent attitude of the Canadian general public is of a basically passive nature. 
It is almost amazing that the media has apparently dismissed this as something that will not improve the ratings and so can be discounted as being less than 'News Worthy'.
 I beleive that if these missing women and girls were of any other racial group, there would be a fuming uproar across Canada over the apparent lack of ambition on the part of officials to solve these human tragedies.