Stand still
The trees ahead and the bushes behind you are not lost.
Wherever you are is called here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
Listen! The forest breeze it whispers,
"I have made this place around you.
If you leave it you may come back again
saying "Here!"
No two trees are the same to Raven,
No two bushes are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or branch does are lost on you
Then you are surely lost.
Stand still.
The forest knows where you are.
You must let it find you.
A Native American Teaching Story by David Waggoner
In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations - Iroquois Confederacy
