the following lines come from a speech given by freemen owle, a member of
the north carolina eastern band cherokee, while addressing the nantahala
hiking club. these words reflect my approach at enjoying nature's precious
resources, and i thought that, in light of the location of the upcoming anti
clave, some of ya'll might also enjoy the sentiment mr. owle shares in his
speech.


.......at least you got to the point in your lives
when you can go out into the forest,
and you don't have to run through the forest
to get from one end to the other.
You may have had to do that for a lifetime.
But it's now time to slow down
and listen to the stream as it gurgles by,
it's time to slow down
and listen to the call of the birds, and see if you can identify it,
it's time to sometimes take your shoes off,
and, like a little child,
to go and splash in the waters of the Tennessee or the Nantahala.
Once you lose that childlikeness,
you have lost life.


from the book
Living Stories of the Cherokee
collected and edited by Barbara Duncan

(whom i had the pleasure of meeting in Cherokee)

snakefiddler