It's Indigenous Poem by Jim Yerman

No matter how much I read and study I will never understand the way we treated the indigenous people…the first ones to live upon this land.

I wish I could go back and change the past…amend our history…but, alas, time only moves forward…and that is not to be.

I believe understanding other cultures…other religions…what they do…the things they know…help us understand one another better…help us all to grow…

They believe in the spiritual nature of the land…they believe the land has worth…they believe the Earth is the mind of the people and that we are the mind of the Earth.

And though it is too late to change the past…the people and places we come from…it's not too late to change the people we are today…and the people we will become.

So, for me, I begin every day with a sun salute…then I stand up…fold my hands and pray…and I try to feel what they must have felt…as they began their day.

I look to the East and pray for Respect…then to the North to be as Brave as I can be…to the West I pray for Wisdom…to the South for Kindness and Honesty.

Next I turn my eyes to the Great Spirit and pray for Love in everything I do…with everyone I see…then down to the Earth…a quick glance…and I pray for Humility.

Knowing that's a lot to ask to whatever Great Spirit I'm praying to…I remind her I will still feel blessed if just one of my prayers comes true.

And then I add my own prayer:
That no one ever be made to feel small…
and that all these things I pray for…
will be indigenous to us all.