00:02:00.600In that way, I present myself as a Dine woman.
00:02:03.500I'm really happy to be here with all of you.
00:02:05.720Really happy to share a poem that I have.
00:02:09.420And this poem is actually about the gorge next to Taos, New Mexico, my hometown.
00:02:15.340It's very deep and it's always served as a reminder to me about the depth of time
00:02:19.740and how even water can carve stone hundreds of feet deep into the earth.
00:02:26.760And the beauty and the grace of that water
00:02:28.460and how time is really a reminder of our helplessness within the wave of creation
00:02:39.460and to humble ourselves before that wave and understand we're a small part of it.
00:02:45.340And so it also is really helpful, I think, for people like us who are in a constant state of agony over the state of things, not just the state of politics, but the state of the oceans, the state of the planets, the state of the biodiversity, the state of our brothers and sisters who are suffering because of inequity.
00:03:06.680and those of us who really are living in pain even though we're not the ones always receiving
00:03:13.160the pain and to really zoom out and understand that you know everything really is going to be
00:03:17.960okay that we can't control anything there's one thing we can control and that's whether we are
00:03:25.380acting in love or in fear that's literally the only thing we get to control in this life and
00:03:32.160that's really hard to remember and really hard to accept i saw this quote recently it said relax
00:03:38.380nothing is under control you know like we can't we're not the ones who are going to control any
00:03:47.760outcome of anything and i think the water carving the canyons so deep is really speaking about that
00:03:57.960is, you know, we live a blink of an eye as a human life when you really consider and contemplate
00:04:05.660eternity. And that doesn't mean we can't change the world. We can and we will and we are. But you
00:04:12.360can't really change people. You know, you can influence them, but you can't change them. If
00:04:17.940they change, it will be because they changed themselves. And maybe we inspired them, we
00:04:23.380influence them. But it will never be the same way you can change your oil on a car, you know,
00:04:29.840you're not they're not a machine, they're not at your disposal or your will. And so that's really
00:04:35.720all we can do in this time is fight in our own way, and do our best to learn how to fight. And
00:04:42.000then once we understand that, do our best to fight. And even if we fail, or even if we aren't perfect
00:04:48.380in our fight. The fact that we tried, the fact that we seek a way to fight and that we sought
00:04:54.560creator, we sought love, we sought healing. That is a victory in and of itself. And truly that's
00:05:03.060the only victory we get to guarantee to one another, is the victory that you will be able
00:05:08.740to try if that is your will and if that is your desire. That is something you can absolutely
00:05:15.340succeed in every single time is trying and understanding that the ancestors aren't really
00:05:21.520asking us to be perfect in this time of agony in this time of destruction and pure chaos
00:05:27.200they're just asking us to try and sometimes funnily enough if you give yourself permission
00:05:32.760to just try so many beautiful things can happen this poem also speaks to me about the creation
00:05:41.560of forgiveness within ourselves because also when you zoom out into geological time all of our
00:05:48.180mistakes those stupid things we did in seventh grade or that embarrassing thing we did when we0.96
00:05:53.480were five years old or ugly horrible things that happened to us or ugly horrible things that we did0.99
00:05:59.360to others and all the pain and the shame and the self-hatred and the disgust that really good people
00:06:06.900end up picking up as they go along in their journey of being human you know we're usually
00:06:11.680the ones that feel that shame the most the people who have a good heart because we're just so
00:06:15.960sick that we would ever be a part of something impure or not good and it's it's interesting
00:06:22.620because those are not just us but everyone deserves to be free of that pain of the shame
00:06:27.800and so this poem also speaks about that to me of like if we zoom out in a geological time scale
00:06:34.620you know really understanding that we are always going to be loved we are always going to be loved
00:06:41.160by creator and creation and anything we do is not only forgivable but must be forgiven
00:06:48.780and must be composted somehow some way and released and given back up to the sky because
00:06:57.160only then can we be free and only then can we give that freedom to others and so I think it's
00:07:04.200really important to meditate on that too as you listen to this poem and it's called God is the
00:07:11.060water and it's an extended metaphor about us being the stone and God being the water and what can
00:07:17.820happen over lifetimes of being human. So here it goes. Thank you for listening.