| "All My Relatives". It is a saying that comes to us as a gift from the spiritual insight and way of living of the Lakota people. It is a marvelously brief but deep expression of what life is. In a few short words it includes everything that is real. It includes everything seen and unseen, everything that is real. It includes Creator who is the Great Spirit above all and in all. It includes all his spiritual messengers that move between Creator and humanity. It includes all the "ancient ones" --- those who have died to us but who are now alive to Him and gathered around Him in joy and peace. It includes all men and women, all children who are now living on the face of the earth. It includes the very earth itself and the air that surrounds it like a beautiful blanket. "All My Relatives". It is a saying that brings together all creation and the Creator into one great family. It extends kinship to everything "that lives and moves and has its being". Nothing can happen, therefore, to one part of this creation that does not in some small way happen to the rest of creation and its Creator. We are FAMILY whether we realize it or not at times, but the earth always realizes it, and the animals always realize it, and Creator the Spirit never forgets it. To all of them our kinsfolk, our family members, we owe our very lives, for they support us and keep us in existence. They form a great web of interdependence giving us daily, even second by second, what we need to stay alive. The spider-web can serve to give us a picture for our minds to dwell on, as to what this family can be likened. Everything is interwoven and interdependent. If one part is unraveling, then it begins to weaken the rest of the web. Conversely, if every part is strong and knows its place and what it is to do, then the entire web is strong and healthy. All creation is one, is harmonious and sacred. Like the garment of Jesus, it is a "seamless garment" and must not be torn apart. Every part needs to be reverenced as holy and worthy of respect, so that it can have the freedom to carry out its duties and functions. The earth must not be poisoned and scraped away. The air must not be polluted. The waters must be kept clean. Animals must not be hunted down and killed to extinction. Humanity must be free to praise and glorify Creator by being alive and healthy, both in body and spirit. Creator must be free to love and care for us as only He knows how to do. He must be able to love us as a true relative --- a Father --- Ateunyapi, and we must remove within us whatever it is that keeps that love from flowing into us. It is a tight-knit system and nothing is ever lost. Even when something or someone dies it still stays within the family. The flesh returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to the Creator. Things change from one place to another, or from one form to another, but they are never destroyed or lost to the family. Water can change to ice or steam, but it's always there. The sun can draw up water, but it always returns as rain to the earth. Animals and vegetables can be killed and eaten, but they give life to people who are eating them. People can lose their bodies, but their spirits join with Creator, like relatives returning home after a long journey. They are welcomed home with great joy and feasting. The Lakota people can be proud of their tradition which has given us not only the words but the wisdom of MITAKUYE OYASIN. It is a wisdom that the world desperately needs to hear ---- that the entire world and all the people spread across its face, are one family. They are all kinsfolk, and, when they kill or oppress one group of people, they are killing and oppressing their family members, their relatives. Not only are they killing them, they are killing themselves. This is not so hard to understand and there is a little bit of local expression that puts it very well: "What goes around, comes around". Since the world is a great web of interdependence, what appens to one, happens to all somehow. Eventually, it sets up a chain-reaction which influences the entire earthly community. Creator heard the cries and pleading of those Lakota people long ago, when they stood on lonely hill tops looking for guidance, and He answered them with the words: "MITAKUYE OYASIN --- ALL MY RELATIVES", and they received wisdom and sustenance for their earthly journey. 
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