Mitakuye Oyasin

Several years ago, in the first season following my tour of duty as an authentic G.I.Joe, I set foot onto a campus of higher learning to obtain a formal education. I was unaware at the time that in life the real learning occurrs outside of the context of the classroom environment.

As a veteran soldier, I was abducted by a group of Native American veterans seeking to remember a fallen brother in arms, Ira Hayes. A full blooded Pima warrior, this man who at one time raised a flag at Iwo Jima, died while lost to a life of obscurity. Cultural genocide can be a cunning enemy.

Mitakuye Oyasin

A roommate of mine, in the season following this, borrowed my car for a very long time. My friend was both Dine (Navajo) and Lakota Sioux. Prior to his departure, he had the most beautiful hair I had ever seen…it literally fell all the way to the ground. He returned days later and perhaps I should have been mad. His ponytail was not with him. His grandfather had passed away.

In a discussion later I would learn an invaluable insight. My young idealistic mind was filled with so many questions, and he was always willing to share the stories of his other world, but one night in frustration he said unto me "Find your own Grandfathers!"

Mitakuye Oyasin

Half a dozen seasons times half a dozen years later I found myself standing in the middle of Cockroach Park. I have never known the real name of this park. I was at a Pow Wow that turned into a gathering at one of the elders' homes. The Pow Wow began in August and somehow it ended near the beginning of the winter solstice.

I sat out by the fire as the sacred stones were being prepared for ceremony. The snow fell gently on my shoulders, the moon was full, and I listened to the sound of the night, the sound of the wind, the sound of the fire burning. As the fire began to tell its tale, I understood this ancient language, this cracking and popping and warming of wood. This was the very same fire that my grandfathers had listened to as they tended to their animals while sitting on a ridge somewhere in the Scottish highlands.

Mitakuye Oyasin

It is a Lakota word that means we are all related. We are all connected to one another, to the Earth, the animals and all of nature. We are indeed a family.

I had finally found my grandfathers.