An Unbearable Moment
One morning, a couple years ago, I received a message from a good friend, informing me that a mother Black Bear and her cub had been killed on the highway just north of town. My friend was beside herself with grief and asked me to come offer prayer over their bodies, laying in the ditch together alongside the road.
I hurried, but by the time I got there, the lifeless Bears had been loaded onto a flatbed truck, to be "removed." I asked the men who had loaded them onto the truck if I could have a moment to offer Ceremony to this family that had died together. The answer? "NO." However, I managed to quickly sprinkle some Asema (Tobacco) on them anyway with a few words in Ojibwe, under my breath.
When I asked these men what was to become of the bodies, they informed me, "We'll take 'em to the dump, or just dump 'em somewhere else." I watched, filled with sadness (and a little anger), as our Relatives were unceremoniously hauled off to be "disposed of." This lack of regard, respect, or sense of honoring was unfathomable to me.
These two Bears were known and loved throughout this town where I live. They had never caused any "problems," never gotten into "trouble," and always brought smiles to people with every yard they visited or passed through.
But to me, and to many traditional Native People, these "animals" are not "just Bears" - they are Relatives. Extended family. For them to be treated as they were - garbage, basically - spoke volumes to me about the way our society as a whole seems to view the Earth herself - disposable, dispensable, unimportant.
For Bears, like us, are expressions of the Earth. They are OF the Earth. As are all of us.
But many have forgotten how to listen to the Earth.
STRANGE VISITORS FROM ANOTHER WORLD
People come to this region from all over the country, all over the world, to take in the beauty of the mountains, wildlife, forests, and rivers, as well as to "enjoy" the slower pace of life here. But God forbid if a Deer or a bunch of Wild Turkeys or a Bear crosses the street in front of them, slowing down their forward progress. Then, they'll honk, holler, and hurl expletives at the very creatures that they've come all this way to see and enjoy. All the while, it seems they’re a big hurry to get to Yellowstone, where they can gawk at - and risk their safety by taking selfies with - the animals along the roadway.
No respect, regard, or honoring. They fail to see themselves in these Relatives.
It's not just out-of-staters, though.
Last Spring a man who lives only a few blocks from me shot and killed a Bear cub in his yard - in front of the cub's mother and twin sibling - because it wouldn't leave his bird feeder alone. The neighborhood was traumatized, but I can't even imagine the trauma that the cub's mother and sibling experienced - as they tried, unsuccessfully, to drag the cub's body away. The man was given a slap on the wrist, and a small fine.
BEYOND IMAGINATION
I could go on all day with stories like these. Montana, and the West, has become hostile, inhospitable territory for the very Wildlife and Wild Things that attract visitors from across the globe.
The point I'd like to make, though, is that events like these could all be avoided if we learned -- as all of our primal ancestors did -- to UNDERSTAND these creatures, instead of simply imagining them. With understanding comes not only tolerance, but acceptance, and opens the heart and mind to communication.
Yes, communication. With "animals."
I have spent days, weeks, months over the course of my life alone in the mountains and forests in the company of Bears, Wolves, Deer, Ravens, Magpies, and so many others. In stillness -- with the quieting of the mind, body, heart, and Spirit --understanding the heart and Spirit of all things is possible. The Wild world is waiting for us to come back to it as a Relative. A "good Relative."
I have had Deer come right outside my front door and "ask" for help. One needed help with untangling his antlers from a line of outdoor Christmas lights that he had gotten into while browsing a neighbor's shrubs. Another had twine wrapped around the main beam of his antlers. Through silent communication, I was able to help free them both.
BEARING THE BRUNT
I am NOT trying to bang my own drum here. I'm no "animal whisperer." I'm just saying that communication - even Relationship - is possible if one is OPEN to the idea, to the possibility. The Wild world, and by extension, the Earth, is suffering from our lack of openness. And by extension, so are we.
Start by LISTENING to Bears. SEE yourselves in THEM. They are bearing the brunt of yet another onslaught on their lands and their lives, because they are NOT SEEN. They are not typically the brooding, malevolent, vicious creatures of our imagination (and popular depiction). Although, like us, they CAN be. We are more like Bear than we care to admit. After all - we ARE related.
As our Bear Relatives prepare for their long sleep -- "going within" -- I hope that we too can "go within." To allow ourselves to be transformed - as the Bear that emerges from the den in the Spring is different from the Bear that disappeared in the Winter.
Let us also move forward into the growing light and operate more from the center of ourselves. Bears, and other Relatives, are waiting for us to open ourselves to them again. And they're right outside our door.
