It
was Linda Worldturner, an 18-year-old Lakota-Sioux Native woman who taught me
that everything in life is about relationship, and, what that looks like when
practiced daily. Linda grew up on the
Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. Her home life was filled with
alcohol, drugs, violence and stuff that can destroy the spirit. Yet, for whatever reason, her spirit
soared
When I first met
Linda at a unique program for, what were referred to as American Indians, I was
just a standard white guy who grew up in L.A. on sandy beaches,long freeways
and an awareness of Native people only from the movies. Linda shared her
life story once, and never again. She
didn’t need to. Instead, she practiced
connecting with everyone, even the all white staff that tended to hold Native
people as needing to be civilized.
By watching Linda
interact with people of any age, color or racial belief, I saw what sacred
looks like when practiced, and lived.
Relationship, I learned, wasn’t just about getting to know someone, or
living with another person. It is a way
to be in life daily with all people, all the time, everywhere. Without using or thinking the word sacred, I
came to practice, more often, relating to people as sacred no matter what they
believed, or who they were. .
Linda never spoke
of these things. She simply smiled
often, looked into your
eyes and and cared for everyone.
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