Chief Seattle - 1853
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes
to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky?
the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own
the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water,
how can you buy them?
Every
part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining
pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark
woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy
in the memory and experience of my people.
We
know the sap which courses through the trees as we know
the blood that courses through our veins. We are part
of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers
are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle,
these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the
meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong
to the same family.
The
shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is
not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we
sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred.
Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes
tells of events and memories in the life of my people.
The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The
rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They
carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give
the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If
we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious
to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life
that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his
first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also
gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our
land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where
man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the
meadow flowers.
Will
you teach your children what we have taught our children?
That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls
all the sons of the earth.
This
we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs
to the earth. All things are connected like the blood
that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life,
he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web,
he does to himself.
One
thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is
precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt
on its creator.
Your
destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the
buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What
will happen when the secret corners of the forest are
heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe
hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket
be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to
say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of
living and the beginning of survival.
When
the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and
his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across
the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here?
Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We
love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat.
So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved
it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your
mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive
it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as
God loves us.
As
we are part of the land, you too are part of the land.
This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
One
thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red
man or White man, can be apart. We are all brothers after
all."
