|
Thursday, 20 March 2008 |
Taking time to notice the small things
“In beauty may I walk… With beauty may I walk” this quote is just a piece of a Navajo poem I came across over spring break. Yet, it has given definition to what I learned from the Native American people I met last week.
Over Spring Break I traveled to Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado with the Anthropology department.
The purpose of the trip was to learn about past and present Native American culture.
I met people from many different tribes, including the Navajo and the Zuni.
The beliefs of the different tribes differ. However, one thing remained the same. They all walked in
beauty.
I know this may sound silly or even over romantic but when I sit down to think about what I observed in
these people it makes more sense than any American philosophy I have ever known.
They simply believe in respecting your culture, respecting yourself, respecting your elders, and
respecting and honoring your land.
As I walked around the Zuni Pueblo reservation and saw the homes of the people and watched the
children walking home from school, I could feel the sense of self that they possessed.
I walk around campus seeing people constantly changing their major and their look and anything else
they can possibly change in order to define them selves. I wonder how it can be so simple for the Zuni
and Navajo people.
They don’t have fancy cars or huge houses, most never get the chance to go to college. Yet they
know who they are.
When I listened to my Navajo guide speak he simply closed his eyes and let the stories he had been
told for so long speak through him and teach us.
Although the desert was dry and the colors were bland the spirits of the Zuni people gave color to the
reservation.
As I walked through the reservation passing by people who lived there I realized for this short period of
time I was the passerby.
One hundred large brown eyes looked me over and wondered what the white girl was doing on their
reservation, yet they were no less than welcoming.
As college students and as humans we could learn a lot from the Navajo and Zuni.
If we take a little time and realize that we too can walk in beauty.
We create everyday, we leave footprints for the coming generations we write papers and we write
books.
Why?
To leave our mark.
Walking in beauty is not about what you look like.
It isn’t about the things you can change to make your physical appearance more beautiful. It is not
even about making the world around you more physically beautiful.
To walk in beauty you simply must walk with good intentions.
Walk knowing people are watching you and you are leaving footprints for future generations to follow.
To walk in beauty is to stay true to yourself even when the world is working against you.
To know who you are.
“Through the returning seasons may I walk.”
“Beautifully will I posses again.”
 |
Exclusive 
Show/Hide comments
