Dear Friends,
I was inspired to write this piece after going for a swim a
couple of months ago. It was going to appear in the fall
newsletter (Leopold section) but got bumped, so I'm posting
it here. Hope you enjoy it.
Jim Fleming


> CHIEF WAPELLO RETURNS
>
> I was Chief of the great Sac and Fox nations that roamed
> these prairies
> for many, many years before the white man came.  I was
> one who chose a
> path of peace and my white brothers honored me.  I
> understand that they
> have named some things after me.  This was many years ago
> and all have
> considered me long dead.  But I never died.  I never left
> this place.  I
> have been resting and waiting.  I gave your society many
> years to see
> what it would do with the land and the waters and now the
> waiting is
> over.  I can no longer be silent.  I thought the Great
> Spirit would send
> many calamities when He saw what was happening to the
> land and the
> waters and He has done some of that but not enough to
> wake you up. I am
> thinking now, that I am supposed to do something about
> this.   Let me
> tell you a story and maybe you will th ink that it’s time
> for you to do
> something, too.
>
> Yesterday  I went swimming in a lake.  It was at one of
> those places
> that they named for me:  Lake Wapello.  The water was
> warm and felt good
> on my body and there were beautiful trees on the shore
> line and no roads
> or cars across the lake or anything that made me think
> that I was not
> back with my people 150 years ago.  But there was a
> problem.  Maybe you
> think I don’t know how to read, but I’ve had lots of
> time to practice.
> And the other day I was reading about the lakes in the
> land they call
> “Iowa” now.  And I was reading about these tiny creatures
> you cannot see
> but that the white man knows are there  because they can
> see them with
> special glasses that they have made and they know that
> these creatures
> can make you very sick.  And I was reading that many
> lakes in Iowa are
> full of these creatures and that if you swallow the water
> or if you have
> wounds that are not healed on your skin or if your body
> cannot fight off
> disease good then you can become very sick.  Last year
> they were closing
> some of the lakes because of this, but now they are not
> closing, they
> are only telling you to be careful.  So when I went
> swimming, I had to
> be sure I did not swallow any water and I had to spit it
> out all of the
> time.  This is not right. Our water has become sick.  And
> so now I am
> thinking that we have to  do something about this.
>
> Before today I have not uttered  a word for about 150
years
> but I am going
> to start talking to people about this problem.  That’s
> why I am telling
> you about it now.  I want you to tell everyone about it.
> And I hope the
> people that you tell about it tell other people about it.
>  Talk to the
> people in government and the people business people and
> the people who
> grow food on the land and raise animals.  And the people
> in the cities
> that know about getting rid of the waste so it doesn’t
> get into the
> lakes and the rivers.
>
> And we have to tell the people that the new way of
> raising animals for
> meat is not a good thing.  Now the animals don’t live on
> the land.  They
> live in buildings too close together with floors made out
> of concrete
> instead of dirt.  So they have to bring the food to them.
>  And they have
> to ship out their waste.  It sounds really crazy but they
> do it because
> it makes more money.  And that’s the only good thing
> about it.  And even
> that is probably not good.  So we have to stop this
> craziness. And there
> are many things that need to change if we want the Earth
> to live.  Some
> people don’t care and just want money, or they think the
> Earth is so big
> and great that it will never die or even get sick.  But
> when you can’t
> breathe the air or go in the water without getting sick,
> then you know
> it is already happening.
>
> There’s a lot more I could say but first I want you to
> talk to everybody
> about it.  Then let me know what people are saying about
> it and we’ll
> meet and decide what to do.  Everyone knows we have to do
> something. We
> cannot be silent any longer.
>
>
>


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