The Voices We Don’t Hear

Photo by Hou Zhuo Wu

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The clan mothers ran everything and had the last word. I think that’s the answer.

— Floyd Red Crow Westerman

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If the forest is alive — if the animals, the plants, the fungi, the river, the air, and the rocks are all animate beings — then we need to find ways to hear their voices and spirits.

— Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito

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Indigenous people are very scientific — it’s just that our science includes the heart.

— Johnathan Ferrier, Indigenous ethnobotanist

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…The context is not in your control,

but your commitment is yours to make,

and you can make the deepest commitment

with a total detachment about where it will take you.

You want it to lead to a better world,

and you shape your actions and take full responsibility for them, but then you have detachment.

And that combination of deep passion and deep detachment allows me to take on the next challenge,

because I don’t cripple myself, I don’t tie myself in knots.