Journey to Forgiveness & Healing

Last Thursday, Patty Grant came to campus to discuss:

 Cherokee Historical Grief & Trauma

and

The Journey to Forgiveness & Healing

Coming from a girl who is not very fond of lectures, I really enjoyed what she had to say. Her perspective was coming from not only a Cherokee from the Deer clan, but also from a social worker. She looked back on the history of the Cherokee (and American Indians in general) and examined how they were all mentally affected.... Here's a link to the website for more information on the actual Journey to Forgiveness.

I was really touched by the way she opened up to us. At one point while discussing the Trail of Tears she began to cry. Choked up she quietly said, "Before they crossed the river they burned the image of their homeland in their brain because they knew that they would never return." I immediately thought of the Jewish holocaust and how similar these accounts are. How horrible and wretched and disgusting that any human would do this to another. But, her lecture gave hope for not only us but the Cherokee as well. There is healing happening. Slowly, but it absolutely exists. A man asked during the Q&A time, "When is there going to be point where the Cherokee stop passing on the trauma & burden and start passing on an attitude of forward-thinking?" His question actually bothered me. I don't think that an entire culture can at one point just stop the hurting and trauma. Even if they could, it would be wrong to forget what happened and pretend that it ever occurred. (One reason why I don't like the term "color-blind." Instead of ignoring the differences, embrace them! and explore the life that can flourish from them). The Cherokee would not be what they are today if it wasn't for what happened (good and the bad). I'm sure that the healing wont just happen over night. Forgiveness is a slow process, but also rich and life-abounding. 

At this point I am so humbled by how the Cherokee are responding to the holocaust  of their people. They don't have to forgive anyone. They have the absolute right to be angry and furious and demand justice, but instead they are humbling themselves and attempting to relinquish the chains of Hate that have bonded them for so long. It reminds me of the time when an outsider came into an Amish community and murdered children in a schoolyard. However, instead of seeking justice, the families of the kids who were killed turned around and started a savings account for the children of the murderer so that they would be cared for. How bizarre and beautiful that is! How humbled am I by the love that the Cherokee are showing and their desire to make amends and move forward. She said something absolutely incredible: "We're taking our history and making that the healer." This can apply to any situation, but in particular the Cherokee aren't going to forget what happened. They are, instead, going to somehow incorporate everything they've experienced and come out on the other side as new creations, a new people united in healing and hope.

I'll leave this blog entry with this quote taken from the website on the Journey to Forgiveness. 

We ask you to join us in this sacred Universal Gathering. Together, we will offer our thanksgiving to Creator, asking for the cleansing Water of Life to flow through us, for the Spirit of the Eternal Flame to embrace us, and drawing us together once again in peace and harmony with All Our Relations and balance with the Universe.

There are other tid-bits of information that I learned and thought was interesting enough to share:

**The Cherokee was a matriarchal society. How awesome! The lineage passed through the mother. 

**The Cherokee was/is comprised of 7 different clans. I'm not sure if it's because I never really thought about this too much, but the Cherokee is such a large nation of Indians that it's almost impossible not to have a separate community. Grant is from the Deer clan and can only marry from someone from a separate clan. Neat....

**The first woman chief of the Cherokee was named "Wilma Mankiller." 

**The number 7 is sacred to the Cherokee. Interestingly enough the number 7 is of great importance to the Judeo-Christian culture as well. Coincidence?

**Before they were demolished, the Cherokee nation covered 40,000 square MILES (around 8 states). Now, they have 54,000 square ACRES.