Principles

[Zorra]

1. A most excellent essay.

“Our principles do not change. Justice is always justice; freedom is always freedom. Great principles are constant. And so what they call the ‘old way’ is nothing more than principles. And they say you can’t go back to the old ways -- which means you can’t go back to justice, you can’t go back to equality, you can’t go back to what is right and what is wrong. Principles are how you exist above and beyond the emotions that you feel, to control and have discipline of one’s self. Self-discipline, not people making you behave, but the discipline where you don’t need police. That is how our people lived. There were no police. There were no jails. There were basic laws -- you don’t lie and steal. Tell the truth. Be strong. Look out for your brother. Look out for the ones just underneath you. Look out for the elders. Use your strength on behalf of the nation, on behalf of the people. Conduct yourself in a proper manner.”
-- Oren Lyons; Faith Keeper; Onondaga Nation

Beautiful, thank you; I hope someday soon our descendants will create for themselves, in large majority, a diverse national tribe that will universally believe in, and practice, the principles described by Faith Keeper Oren.