Give peace a chance - Verna Marie Bartlett
This entry was posted on 7/13/2008 6:06 PM and is filed under Comments.
John Lennon wrote and sang these words :"Give peace a chance". It was sung
world wide and is still sung today. So what does it mean to us? For
me it's about Full Circle and what James, David and Nancy are attempting to do
today within our tribe. Since David has been on council he has done
nothing but travel the reservation, and other reservations, and speak of
bringing us together and working in the best interest of the ENTIRE tribe. He is
very visual at youth activities, he will ALWAYS stop and listen to every tribal
member, he is very involved in the ground breaking of and starting an elder's
facility and he is at every elder's luncheon and walks from table to table
listening to elder's concerns. James has been at David's side. Their
demeanor has been of a peace and togetherness. They have invited
EVERY ONE, NOT just Full Circle followers, to meetings, gatherings and
including former council candidates to express their thoughts and
intentions. James listens and doesn't judge. Both James
and David are very family oriented and believe in family. They do not
approve of gangs or gang violence and they are addressing this issue as best
they can. They do not believe in drugs and alcohol and help all of those
who approach them for help. Their job as council men is horrific but they
take it issue by issue. Even in the face of adversity as they are facing it
today.
And Nancy? She has done and is doing her job holding her head
up and goes through a thought process to address false accusations. She
has faced EXTREME adversity for years and especially during this last
council election process. She had enough votes to win her position on
council. She may have won by three votes but individuals who find
that offensive had best take in consideration that THE PEOPLE voted her in and
that is why she is there. Not because some one in the election
process did or didn’t do something——that something illegal happened or
someone didn't approve of how she carried herself on election day. Are
we so immature and vindictive it that it is acceptable to
stomp our feet, accuse and berate others?
Nancy has the heart of all tribal members in her heart and when it
comes to "fight or flight"—it doesn’t take her a New York minute to
choose "fight" but in an appropriate manner. She has matured over
the years. One has to remember that she comes from the fishing
wars era and extreme acts of violence brought on to the Indians by the
dominant society. Nancy fought but she didn’t fight just for herself. She
had and has a large immediate and extended family. Of course
she has their best interest at heart. Don't we all? But the
whole Puyallup tribe is in her heart and she fights for all of us. I won't live
to see Nancy reach her full potential as a tribal elder but I know she
will walk these sacred grounds with her head and fighting for the entire
tribe to her very last breath.
In spite of what accusations has been brought against Full Circle——-Full
Circle still exists and will continue to fight for the entire Puyallup
tribe——-not just a select few.
- Verna Marie Bartlett
