A reminder of our responsibility [editorial]

We have a couple of stories in this newspaper this month that take a look at the news from a more spiritual angle than you might normally get. We like to touch back to this perspective when we can to ground us, or remind us, that there is more to this worldly endeavor than just politics and land claims, conflict and struggle. It lifts us up, renews us, and humbles us.

That is why we are pleased to share with readers, if you haven’t already heard, that a white buffalo calf was born in May on a ranch in Texas. On May 12, a thunderstorm blew through Hunt County near Greenville and a miracle occurred, or, at least, the longest of long shots. Rancher Arby Little Soldier welcomed a rare creature to the land, which, according to the National Bison Association, occurs one out of every 10 million births.

Little Soldier and his wife spotted the calf while they were out riding one day. Its brother, a black calf, had been born earlier, and while the mother was preparing to birth again the couple hoped to watch, but when the herd became agitated and surrounded the couple they retreated a distance, and later caught a glimpse of the special offspring.

According to a report from Ernestine Chasing Hawk, Little Soldier saw something near his pond running alongside one of the cows. At first he thought it was a coyote or a white dog, he told the reporter, but when he looked through his binoculars he could see the white face with black eyes, a black nose and a black tipped tail.

Now for those unfamiliar with the prophecy around the birth of a white buffalo, let us recount to you the tale of White Buffalo Calf Woman. She gifted the Lakota centuries ago with a sacred bundle and a red clay peace pipe. She appeared at a distance to two warriors out hunting in the Black Hills in what is now called South Dakota. At first she was just a large shape coming toward them, but as she came near she turned into a beautiful young Indian girl.

One of the men had evil in his mind and heart and, recognizing this, White Buffalo Calf Woman asked him to step forward. When he did, a black cloud appeared over him and destroyed him leaving only a skeleton. The other warrior fell to his knees to pray. White Buffalo Calf Woman sent him back to his community with a message. She would travel to his village to give them the sacred bundle she was holding and he was to prepare the people.

The next day she came toward the village singing. She laid the bundle down on the ground, and opened the buffalo robe, revealing a pipe stem and bowl. She assembled the pipe, sang to the four directions, and explained how to use it, and she gifted them with seven sacred ceremonies—a purification ceremony (sweatlodge), a naming ceremony, a healing ceremony, an adoption ceremony, a marriage ceremony, the vision quest, and the sundance.

Before she left the community she made some prophecies, and one of them was that when a white buffalo calf stood upon the earth she would return to them to purify the world bringing back harmony, balance and spirituality. She left toward the west and as she traveled the people could see her transform first into a young black buffalo, a red one, a yellow one and finally, as she went out of sight over the hill, a white buffalo calf.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe bundle. He was 12 years old when he received it. He says that almost every year since 1994 a white buffalo “has stood upon the earth” and while White Buffalo Calf Woman said that this would be a blessing, Looking Horse says it is also a warning.

“When the white animal shows his sacred color there will be some great changes,” said Looking Horse. He believes that we are in that time of great change with global warming, and changes to the earth.

It’s hard not to believe that the tsunamis of the past few years that have wreaked havoc around the world, the terrible earthquakes, the fires, and the floods, aren’t just poor Mother Earth trying to tell us that something is terribly wrong. It’s like we have forgotten how to live and care for her.

Looking Horse says that in order for this earth to survive, it will take a global effort of like-minded people with good hearts and minds to come together and help each other to create that peace and harmony and balance that the world so desperately needs.

Looking Horse says that in the circle of humanity there is no one person higher than another. All have the gift of compassion, and the gift of responsibility. And there is no place to hide from that responsibility. There is no place on the earth that is not being affected by this great change.

Even though the birth of a white buffalo calf is an auspicious occasion, we have to understand that it is no magic pill that will relieve us of our responsibility to Mother Earth, and there is no one person who will alone be able to relieve her of her pain.

“He was born to all nations and not just to me,” said Little Soldier of the white calf.

Truer words have never been said.

Windspeaker