Then John and I headed off . . . to Tony Hillerman country . . . the Navajo Reservation! John and Pat recently bought one of those little all-classified newspapers, and today was one of the distribution runs. There's a slight chance that I might take over this route, that's why I was on this trip.
On one of our first few stops, I wanted to buy a bottle of water. When I got out of the truck, an old Navajo woman approached me and wanted a ride. Where? To the casino! When I heard that, I half turned away and shook my head. Coming from a casino background, I know how those places operate, and know that they didn't get that tall from other people winning money. I turned back to her, and couldn't help myself saying, "They'll take all your money!" She said, "I want to go." I didn't know where it was, or even if we were going that direction. When I asked John, he said we were going the other way. I told her I was sorry. She was a nice old woman.
What I noticed most as we approached the town we were going to, Shiprock, was the proliferation of pawn shops. I asked John if they had popped up since the casino came to town (I'm always ready to blame the casinos for the ills of any community), but he said they had always been there.
Shiprock itself is a cool town. Very spread out, it has a nice "feel" to it. Or, maybe it's just me! As we were driving up, out from the horizon looms this huge, beautiful rock. I asked John what it was . . . it was "shiprock" . . . where the town got it's name. It looked and exuded "sacredness" . . . maybe that's why I liked the town . . . in the shadow of such an incredible rock. When I talked to Pat about it later, she said that she has camped at the base of it before, and that the energy there is very intense.
As we dropped off the newspapers, we would pick up last week's papers, and then count them so we know if we should leave more or less next time. At one place, the people behind the counter told John he had to count in Navajo. There were only five left, and he knew how to count to five! He surprised them!
I got a Navajo paper there called The Wisdom of the Navajo People. It is incredibly interesting with articles on: Navajo deities, old legends, healing with plants, raptors, and Navajo traditional prayers. Here is one . . . I'll type it in English instead of Navajo, though!
May there be beauty in front of me.
May there be beauty behind me.
May there be beauty underneath me.
May there be beauty over me.
May there be beauty around me.
May there be beauty in my voice.
With my body and soul I pray to travel down this road of life, my sacred footprints.
One sad thing . . . you know we've all read the stories about long ago when the missionaries took the "Indians" from the reservations, put them into schools and wouldn't let them speak their own language? That's really sad, right? Well, it's still going on today . . . in another way. The religious indoctrination that these native people are receiving tells them that if they speak Navajo and obey their old customs, they won't get to heaven. So much for freedom of religion.
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