2/5/2016 (Day 36) Unexpected Snow Day with Fireworks and Leonard Peltier.

Last night I was super exhausted...I slept long and hard and, being that I don't watch TV and rarely listen to the radio, I was oblivous to the fact that it might snow. So, when I woke up, I was imaging the day one way (snowless) when my friend Lindy, who I was messaging with from safely inside my warm, cozy room, with the blinds closed mentioned something being buried under the snow....and I said, ''wait there's snow?" Darn...this was not at all the day I had envisioned, and I laughed remembering thinking just last night, as I walked back from Foster's Market, that maybe I should write a blog post on the Winter that never came...and then I realized it was too soon to proclaim that, and then wondered if pre-writing it would ''jinx'' it, or manifest it...lol. And, now I would never have the chance to find out, because Winter had arrived on this day. And, while being a lifelong New Englander, I should know enough to expect that it would have to eventually snow, I still found myself totally taken by surprise after having been lulled into winter complacency by the mild weather that we have been blessed with for most of the Winter so far.

And then I saw a post about a man in Great Falls (Officially known as Turners Falls...named after Captain William Turner who, on May 19,1676 lead the Peskeopmskut massacre where he and his men fell upon a poorly guarded village of mostly women and children and massacred them...but that's a story for another time)...so this man, David Detmold was interviewed on the radio while he stood  in Peskeompskut Park all day today, in solidarity with Leonard Peltier, bearing a sign that read:  "Tell Obama Yes He Can Free Leonard Peltier."  http://wrsi.com/monte/great-falls-man-stands-for-leonard-peltier/ 

For those of you who don't who he is, Leonard Peltier is an Anishinabe-Lakota Native American who has been imprissioned for 40 for allegedly murdering two FBI agents in 1975. He was a leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), an organization which seeks to promote and uphold Native American Indian rights. On 26 June 1975, during a confrontation involving AIM members on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, 2 FBI agents were killed. Leonard Peltier was convicted of their murders in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Leonard Peltier does not deny that he was present during the incident. However, he has always denied killing the agents as was alleged by the prosecution at his trial. Once you hear the whole story, it's quite obvious that he was set up and is an innocent man. You can learn more, and watch an excellent documentary, "Incident at Oglala" here http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/. I highly recommend watching it. 

Just yesterday I was telling a friend the story of when I went to Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations and visited Wounded Knee back in '96...she had been to these places too, and even knew the elder, Albert Whitehat, who had given me a profound message when I met him. It had stirred thoughts and feelings I hadn't experienced in a long time and brought about this strange longing I have always had for this place I only ever visited once, for a week, 20 years ago...and for the ways of a people I only recall from the memories that have been stirred in my Soul from the time I was a little girl whenever I think about the Native American's and the injustice that has been done to them. So all of this was still raw and present when I listened to this and it came to my attention that on February 27th...which is an historic date for the American Indian Movement (AIM) movement, known as Wounded Knee Liberation Day because, on this day in 1973 activists began a second occupation of Wounded Knee which lasted for 71 days in order to protest the failure of the United States to fulfill treaty obligations and the corruption of the Oglala tribal government...On February 27, 2016, students across the country are calling for a National Day of Action to demand that Obama grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. I will be sending lots of prayers and intention for assisting with making this happen, as well as writing to President Obama asking him to do the right thing and grant Leonard clemency before he leaves office. Leonard has recently been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm and so his clemency is of the utmost urgency at this time. Please, if you are so inclined, send some prayers and healing for Leonard...and  if it is in your heart to do so, please consider contacting President Obama and asking him to grant him clemency. 

These were some intense energies to run into which left me in a rather contemplative and somewhat raw state of mind...my empathness always works double over time when I tap into the energies of the plight of those who have been victims of unspeakable acts such as that of the virtual genocide of the Native American people and all the injustices they have suffered at the hands of our government and corporations that exploit their land and it's resources. Imagine tapping into the ripples of all of their suffering and feeling it inside of your consciousness, evoking a vast sadness within your heart and soul that, if allowed to, would swallow you and drag you into the depths of despair. That's what it's like when your an emapth. So, despite having gotten a full night's sleep, I found myself feeling a bit exhausted and remained in a deeply thoughtful state for much of the day (though I was, at one point rescued by some wonderfully delightful animal videos...which are like sweet salve to the emapthic soul).

Then later, while cooking dinner, I heard what, at first sounded like a car backfiring? gunshots? nooooo...FIREWORKS???...why on earth would I be hearing fireworks on February the 5th? So I went out front and sure enough, it sounded like fireworks and someone walking by said they were at the Winter Carnival...and I realized I could probably see them out my back door, and I went to look, and sure enough there they were. And at first I was excited to see them and then I suddenly remembered a poem my friend Eric, a veteran, wrote about fireworks. 

"How much like war

these fireworks

the throat tingling reek of sulfur

the bright burning lights

and the ear shattering booms

Perhaps only the veterans know

but wait there is a small child crying

a dog is barking

at the explosions 

they know too

and when the raging battle is over

with the sure victory

the good Americans go home

with bellies full of barbecue and beer"

(by Eric Wasileski in his book Live Free (or die)) 

I remember when I first read this poem last fall, as one who was born on the 4th of July and has always enjoyed fireworks as part of my birthday celebration, wondering how I would feel the next time I saw them...would I remember the poem? Would it change how I felt about them? And then, unexpectedly, here in the middle of winter, were these fireworks going off, and as I stood there watching them from my back porch, I was, at once filled with both an appreciation for and disdain of them. And in that moment, I decided to focus my intention on sending healing and Light to all who had been affected by the ravages of war and who would likely be feeling the urge to hide from the sight and sound of these things that I had always found to be so beautiful (albeit rather senseless and likely environmentally damaging...you see, nothing is ever just simple when you are striving to live in full consciousness...lol). I considered how lucky I am that, when I first heard the unexplained sound of exploding fireworks, never once did it cross my mind that perhaps we were being invaded...that bombs were dropping on us of there were soldiers firing somewhere. Had I been in Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen or Somalia or Pakistan or Nigeria or the Ukraine or South Sudan or Israel/Gaza...where there are currently wars, with casualties of more than 1,000 per year, being fought...I'm quite certain I would have had a whole different reaction to the sound of the unexpected fireworks. I am thankful for my safetyand pray that I never find out what that would be like, and I am thankful for having had my consciousness expanded by being prompted to look at something I've seen one way my whole life from the perspective of someone who has been to war (thank you Eric). I am thankful that, while this has been a day filled with heavy energies, I have had the opportunity explore my ever expanding, conscious experience of my humaness in some meaningful ways. (And I didn't even speak of my experience with the Archangels in my meditation...lol) I AM blessed <3