As the timeline of my second vision draws to an end, I wouldn’t be surprised if the final chapter wasn’t just around the corner – the “emergence of the police state” and restrictions on interstate travel. If that were to happen, the effect would be much greater than most might realize. Practical considerations aside, America as a nation developed in with open-space; room for everybody and the freedom to go where you wanted when you wanted. And in that sense, there has never really been a place quite like the ol US of A. Yet, this is much more than a coincidental phenomenon, linked to Jeffersonian idealism and the advent of the motor-vehicle. It extends well back into the prehistory of North America. Archeology has become increasingly certain that at some time before the age of discovery, developing civilizations within North America were themselves part of a vast, interconnected trading empire, one which spanned the width and breadth of the Americas. This ancient panorama, although already in decline by the time of the European conquest, was subsequently given new life with the arrival and domestication of the horse by its indigenous inhabitants. This in itself says something about the people who lived here, as the land itself formed them. The country’s vast expanses, with its ability to stir the imagination, not only motivated people to travel, but to do so just to see what was on the other side of the mountain. Yet the European explorers and entrepreneurs who followed were motivated by a much different principle; not driven by commerce or curiosity per se, but greed. Which, being part of their essential nature, would sweep across the country, from one coast to another, just like a tsunami.
People came, from here, there and everywhere, first with their horses and wagons, as settlers, and then somewhat later, with their cars. Ancient tracks became established trails, while those trails eventually became roads and freeways. Consider for a moment then, if all these thoroughfares that we’ve naturally become accustomed to were suddenly devoid of cars. If that were to happen, it wouldn’t take long for weeds to sprout. And, while the phrase, noxious weeds, was once used to describe American Indians, viable seed from the distant past might be more illustrative. Having lain dormant for centuries, if traffic were to stop, it wouldn’t take much for that seed to break through the pavement without the slightest hesitation. In time, another species might burst forth; a people who would in effect “…make the road by walking,” (Klein 2019). The road they would walk would be a spiritual road, as it is for that purpose Native people have their life and calling. And they will come – “…from the west to the east, from the Arctic to Tierra de Fuego; one Native nation under God, walking in a sacred way, flying but one flag: a people who will speak with a voice like Thunder.” And people will listen! (Chalkyitsik, Alaska 1998)
CoupStick Chaplain 