ROADSIDE HISTORY...

We hear a lot about stories of 'The Wild West' but, unfortunately, most only hear the ACCEPTED versions. The history books and what is taught in schools is seldom the whole truth, if any truth at all. The victors write THEIR version and that is suppose to be taken as the truth.
American history is packed with stories of heroes fighting off the wild  'Red Man', which(according to the writers) did nothing but attack the innocent settlers without good reason. OK! That's one version...

Although it has been many years since all that passed, and I'm sure much of the world thinks the American Indians are all gone, nothing can be farther from the truth. A little bit at a time, more of the truth finds it's way to the surface. Truths, that never were meant to be known, and in time, hopefully forgotten or rendered unimportant enough for anyone to notice. If it were not for some good hearted souls that realized the Indians got the short end of the deal, in the settling of the western United States, the lies might have gone unnoticed.

In the mid 1800s a unit of the Colorado Militia, under the command of Colonel Shivington, rode down on a peaceful Cheyenne Indian village in eastern Colorado, along what is known as Sand Creek. Before attacking,  he ordered his soldiers to remove their jackets, in anticipation of the blood he intended. He had already made up his mind to slaughter as many as he could. As the story goes, the Chief of the band was known as BLACK KETTLE. This particular band had made peace with the whites and he was  given an American flag to fly over his village to keep them from harm. That meant nothing to Colonel Chivington. He only wanted DEAD Indians...
The battle raged, most of the village was killed; men, women and children. There were to be no survivors...

A few years ago I was driving down across a secluded back road in western Kansas and dropped down into a small ravine and as I crossed  the bridge I saw some sort of  home made monument off to the side of the road. I needed to take a break so I stopped in a wide spot there and decided to look.  I was curious what this crude sign and park were all about. What could be so important that anyone would go to the trouble of erecting a monument; Monument to what? It was,  for sure, home made; Nothing official, like the State would put up.

Was I ever surprised when I realized  what some local historian had done here. I had never read anything about SURVIVORS, from the Sand Creek massacre...But apparently, many living locally had heard the story over the years, and one man decided to do something about acknowledging this lost band of Cheyenne survivors.
As the story goes, Chief Black Kettle and a few had managed to get away and made their way to this small, obscure valley, where they hid out for some time, before it was safe to move on.The sign was made of heavy, rough,sheet metal and the inscriptions were all roughly hand painted There was a list of the names of the Indians that survived. I have to say, I was amazed that this man went to all the trouble, and he was not even an Indian. Some descendant of one of the settlers that realized what the Indians had been subjected too.

In the above picture, the rough iron statue of an Indian on his horse, stands majestically atop the hill, for those who might forget. If  this one man  hadn't cared enough, this remembrance of a once proud people might have been lost. Obviously, it wasn't important enough to make mention of it in the OFFICIAL history books.

A MAN'S WAY BACK...

In today's society, if a man is mentally disturbed, or in anyway a hinderance to anyone, he(or she) may be locked away forever. It's true, we call ourselves civilized but that can be interpreted as a matter of opinion(my opinion, anyway). Different cultures around the world may consider an individual's  state of mind differently...

Long ago, many of the American Indian tribes had a different way of looking at life; Their own life and that of others around them...

Although, these people were considered less than human by some of their lighter skinned neighbors,  the(so-called) RED man had the idea that each two legged (meaning mankind) had his own individual path  to walk. Each has a special way we must go, through this life and into the beyond. Sometimes, one might lose his or her way and leave the path, then bad things happen...What some might call insanity these days...

Often, the lost one wanders from the good path and become confused, not in their right mind; Often a very troublesome person to be around.  As I said before, in today's society this type of person is locked away in a hopeless situation and often forgotten. Lost from the path,  never to find their way back.
Many of the tribes believed that, UNLESS the lost one is a threat to, or attacks another, they were to be tolerated and left alone. If for some reason someone were to take  the man's life, they would be lost forever, with no chance for redemption. That act in itself was bad medicine...

The idea was that each should do the right thing and help the lost person if they could, but NEVER impede their chance to find their way back. None knew for sure, but MAYBE, the great spirit had touched this person to see how others would react. If THEY were worthy of redemption...No! They would be left alone and tolerated.

It is my personal opinion(again) but isn't that along the lines of how ALL religions SHOULD work...