Reflections On Journey To Life’s End

I’ve just passed that point on my climb up the mountain known as the sixth decade. I can only hope there is more mountain to climb before reaching the pinnacle.

But at this juncture, it becomes quite clear that one is closer to the end than the beginning. There are still many things I want to accomplish while on this Earth, and with the help of Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit), and a lot of luck, perhaps I will reach these goals.

As we approach the new millennium, the world seems to be revolving twice as fast as it did when we were young.

I woke up this morning and wondered what happened to the month of June. Did we have a spring this year, or did we skip this season and go directly to summer?

I suppose this must say a lot about the individual. We’ve all been advised by parents, friends, magazines and books to take a few minutes out of the day to “smell the flowers.”

When one passes the sixth decade, it is time to take stock of health, wealth (not necessarily material) and the welfare of those you leave behind. It is time to prepare for the end.

It seems that in America the end is not something to be discussed or even thought about. Many Americans treat the end as something science will find a cure for in the near future. It ain’t gonna happen, folks.

In those days before Columbus, while the indigenous peoples were the rulers of the Western Hemisphere, every tribe looked upon the inevitable end in a different way.

In a society where all had to contribute to the unit in order for the whole to survive, every tribal member knew that when this was no longer possible, they had to step aside. They did so without fear because every tribal member on this continent had been prepared for this eventuality. In the cold climates of this continent, the American Indian people measured their years on this earth in winters.

When the elders had reached that crossroads in life where they had lived “many winters,” they went out into the frigid night after a spiritual ceremony to guide them on their journey to the “Spirit World,” and gave their lives for the survival of the tribe.

Whether death came in this form, by disease or warfare, the tribes of the Northern Plains wrapped their dead in buffalo robes, placed their bodies upon scaffolds high in the hills, and in this fashion gave their remains back to natural order of things - the natural order that had helped them to survive while on this Earth.

When the missionaries gained the strength to do so, this practice was outlawed as barbaric.

The heads of the American Indian families, now confined to reservations, were ordered to report to the nearest church and give the missionaries a list of their family members so they could be buried in the church cemeteries in the event of their death.

It was not the custom of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota (called Sioux by the white man) to dig a hole and place their dead in it.

This practice came about in the mid-1800s. As a matter of fact, the spiritual leaders back then believed it a horror to send a tribal member to the Spirit World without all of their body parts, intact if possible. Placed next to the body, if not.

The very thought of an autopsy was abhorrent to the traditional American Indian. The very thought of a doctor carving up the body of the dead left many American Indians fearful of their chances of ever traveling to the Spirit World.

As limited as they may be, I suppose we still have choices as to how our remains will be handled. There are some Lakota who do not want to be planted in the ground. These Lakota, like my old friend Elijah Whirlwind Horse, preferred to be cremated.

As for myself, I do not choose to be buried beneath the ground. If it was not against some silly law, I would prefer to be wrapped in buffalo robes and placed on a scaffold high in the Sacred Paha Sapa (Black Hills).

Since this would never be allowed, I opt to be cremated and my ashes scattered among the pine trees of the hills I love.

Until then, the view from the sixth decade is not an unpleasant one. It is a view that takes in all that has been and still leaves room for all that can be. It is a view that still takes my breath away and makes my heart beat for the excitement of a new tomorrow.

xxxx