Who was Hundertwasser? He was an Austrian artist and architect who believed, among other things, that trees as well as people should be tenants of buildings, and that people should be the well-behaved guests of Nature. He published manifestos on window rights and tree duties. He was a pacifist and activist. His ideas and what he carried out in his lifetime were way ahead of his time. He was for the environment and against anything nuclear. Read his bio HERE. Be sure to scroll down and see some pictures of what he did in his remarkable and productive lifetime. It may lead to hours of visual entertainment and inspiration.
Who was Sitting Bull?
Here's what the opening paragraph of Wikipedia says:
Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography),[2] also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a war chief during years of resistance to United States government policies. Born near the Grand River in Dakota Territory, he was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him and prevent him from supporting the Ghost Dance movement.
Sitting Bull was a guerilla warrior. He fought off marauding bands, and he fought off white man's infringement on Sioux lands. People forced off their lands fled to his camp, which ended up with 10,000 strong. He defeated Custer at the battle of Little Bighorn, fled to Canada for years and refused a pardon from the U.S, but hunger brought him and the few supporters he had left (who hadn't died of smallpox, been murdered, or surrendered to reservation life) back, where they were incarcerated in U.S. forts for almost 2 yrs. and finally allowed to go back to their home 'agency.' humph!!!
The in-between story is sad and sick and shameful; the persecution of Native Americans all over this continent. Anyone refusing to live on reservations was hunted down for extermination. The sacred buffalo herds were slaughtered by the whites. Because they were great guerilla fighters and had powerful medicine, because they lived close to the earth, were nomadic, and were mightier in spirit than the oligarchs (yes, we had them then too) and the armies and of the feds, they were murdered.
I had heard of the Ghost Dance and was never sure what it was about, guessing that it was a ritual to honor and commune with ancestors. I learned today (again on Wikipedia*) that the ghost dance was/is so much more than that. It is a Spirit Dance,done in a circle, and through translation, became known as Ghost Dance. It was peaceful, a way to worship, and the belief by its originator (Wovoka) was that evil would be washed from the planet and all would live in harmony by performing this ritual at certain times. Later the Lakota warriors, sick of persecution and death, used this spirit dance to build their strength and courage to fend of white man's continual assaults, and they were feared and the dance meaning was twisted around by the Indian Agents (who were "assigned" reservations to "govern", with federally hired police and enforcers) and one of the results was the massacre at Wounded Knee, where Black Elk was murdered.
What do these two people, Hundertwasser and Sitting Bull, have in common? Living for truth and beauty and being unwilling to catipulate or comply to laws that would kill their souls and the life they were sworn to protect. They both believed a better world was possible and acted on those beliefs how they saw fit.
This quote by George Orwell says it all:
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” And thus, truth tellers are ridiculed, marginalized, persecuted and silenced.
Sitting Bull and Black Elk died defending life and truth. They weren't willing to compromise when they knew it really meant loss of life and destruction of the earth. The men above are just a few examples of people who stuck with their values and resisted oppression. May we do the same today, in our modern times and our modern ways.
* if I had money, I would donate to Wikipedia.
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