Mostly Agony

with a sprinkle of ecstasy

Before I jump into the grime of life and the ancient longings of my soul, I need to tell you about the documentary, Bring Them Home. It’s the story of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana returning wild buffalo to their tribal land after they’d been gone for 100 years. Narrated by Lily Gladstone (who has theee most soothing voice), there wasn’t a dry eye to be found amongst us. Killing the buffalo almost to the point of extinction disrupted tens of thousands of years of ecological health. Their population went from an estimated sixty to seventy million in 1853 to a mere few thousand by the early 1880s.

Kill every buffalo you can! Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.

—Lieutenant Colonel Dodge

One particular interview I loved was an elder describing how we humans are in relationship with every living thing on the planet and how we approach life on earth with respect for these delicate relationships. When the invaders arrived, they brought a sense of entitlement to the land, its resources, and our people, a sentiment that reverberates throughout society to this day. 

To witness the buffalo’s return to their native land (the herd had been displaced), the efforts to welcome the youth back to reconnect with the buffalo, and the healing taking place amongst the tribe, was a triumph for us all.

Restoring ecological functions to do what they have done for tens of thousands of years after logging, ranching, and mining disrupted and continue to disrupt our land’s environmental health is part of what we mean when we say, Land Back. 

A must-see documentary and it’s currently free to stream on PBS!