Member-only story
The Two-leggeds Are Lost
Turtle woman is making an offering of wampum to the plants of the river.
“Please”, she asks, “can you help us?”
She explains how we need the rivers to be clean and she acknowledges the plants as the cleaners of the river.
She speaks to the wampum and thanks them also for the light they bring the world.
She talks to the plants for a long time. Telling them what is happening. She explains that the two leggeds have lost their ways. But there are still some who remember. She tells them about the babies that are coming who need clean water. She cries for her grandchildren.
The plants, being loving and generous, wait for her to finish speaking and then they tell her they have heard her prayers. They agree to help. They are gentle. They never have an unkind word to say about anyone…
~ Christi Belcourt
*
The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed … because people are changed by art — enriched, ennobled, encouraged — they then act in a way that may affect the course of events.
~ Leonard Bernstein
