The Circle of Life Cooperative
Much corn had been planted during the spring on Sunshine Prairie in the Kingdom of Driftless Beauty. The summer season had seen much rain, and the vegetation on the prairie was as lush as anyone had seen in many years. The fall harvest had yielded a bumper crop. All this should have been great news for all the critters that feasted on the corn that was left over, but there had been much tension in the Kingdom of Driftless Beauty.
Fairy Princess Sonja sat on her favorite spot near Three Rock Chimney, the highest point of Sunshine Prairie. From there she could survey the entire kingdom. The birds and critters always knew where to find her if they needed help or advice. Ole, the green-striped frog, could always be found sitting beside her. Ole was having trouble getting around because his arthritic frog legs were hurting again. There had been a drastic change in the temperature, as a blast of winter weather approached. Ole’s relatives over in Frogtown, near Chipmunk Coulee, had sent word that there had been a lot of trouble in the coulee lately. Gray Squirrels from Gamle Oak Ridge, had invaded Chipmunk Coulee and were stealing the winter supply of corn that the chipmunks were stockpiling. There were reports of a battle being waged as they fought back to protect their food supply.
Sonja had sent Carrot Top, the red-headed Bald Eagle, and the White Dove of Peace to do a fly-over of the area and see what was happening. When they returned they had Uncle Ho, the leader of the Chipmunk Coulee Clan with them. After they landed, Uncle Ho hopped down from Carrot Top’s back.
“It’s good to see you again, Uncle Ho.” Said Princess Sonja. “I understand there’s been trouble in your coulee. Tell me what’s been happening.”
“It’s been tough,” said Uncle Ho. “Because of all the rain this summer, much of my time was spent dealing with water control and drainage in our tunnel complex. As you know, we have a huge underground tunnel system where we live. Normally, our storerooms would be full of corn, seeds, and nuts at this time of year. Once winter arrives we live exclusively underground. But we’ve been spending so much time repairing our tunnel system that we got way behind on gathering food supplies. Then a couple weeks ago, Chipmunk Coulee was invaded by an army of Gray Squirrels. They were stealing all the corn in the fields near us, and running off with all the acorns and nuts that had fallen on the ground. We tried to fight them off, but we were outnumbered and they were so much bigger than us. We needed help so I contacted the Red Squirrels up on Red Rover Ridge.
“I spent considerable time in conversation with our Native brothers and they came to our aid. As we all know, but too many have forgotten, most of our Chip ancestors hitchhiked along with the European and Scandinavian immigrants when they came to this part of the country. We’re native here now, but it wasn’t always this way. The Red Squirrel Clan are the “real” Natives. Their ancestors were here long before our ancestors hitched rides with the immigrants.
“I’ve been meeting and talking with many of those Natives since our struggles with the Gray Squirrel Clan began. It’s been most enlightening and I found there’s much we can learn from them in our struggles with both the humans and other critters that want to harm us.
“I’ve learned from my meetings with them, that war and fighting is not the answer to solving our problems. We must start by looking within. We all know that humans are not as smart as us critters, but maybe we can get their attention so we can reason with them too, and make them stop trying to kill all of us. As we have seen in listening to their political squabbles, reason is not a strong suit among many humans. They are very opinionated and seem to believe that fighting is the only way to settle differences. Granted, we in the critter world have our problems too, but I think on a whole, we are much more civilized than the humans. At least that’s the conclusion we have all come to during my conversations with the Native Red Squirrels.
“One of the Natives that I’ve been meeting with is “Runs Fast With Tail In Air.” We call him “Runs Fast” for short. After I related our problems to Runs Fast, he contacted his cousin who lives in South Dakota and is the Spiritual Leader of their clan. His name is “He Who Walks the Walk and Talks the Talk,” “Walky-Talky” for short. After Walky-Talky heard about our fight to save our food supply, he caught the first non-stop Eagle flight out of the Black Hills.
“I’ve found it most inspiring, sharing ideas and thoughts with our Native friends. I was feeling that there was little we could do to change things, but now I feel that hope–and help–is on the way.
“I’ve found that our Native brothers and sisters look at things differently than we who have ancestors that hitched rides to this Kingdom of Driftless Beauty. Even though we live with nature all around us, we have become so blind that we no longer notice. As you and I have discussed before, too many of our brothers and sisters in the Critter World rely too much on handouts from the humans and forget how to survive on their own. The Natives have tried to remember to include nature in their world. Granted, Runs Fast and Walky-Talky say that many of their clan have also fallen into the trap of relying on the humans for handouts, and have forgotten how to forage for themselves. They also get into trouble when invading the homes of the humans looking for food, just like we do. When in reality, there’s plenty of free food around, we just need to work a little to find it.
“Walky-Talky told me of a great leader of their Red Squirrel Clan, who lived many years ago. His name was “He With A Black Tail Who Thinks Deep.” It is said that he lived in a tree near a great Spiritual leader of the Red Humans, called Black Elk. He often sat outside the tent of Black Elk and listened as he departed his wisdom and insight to his people. Great spiritual leaders from other tribes would also come and meet with Black Elk and they would share their wisdom. Black Tail Thinks Deep became so in awe of the wisdom of this great Red Human, that he decided to change his name to Little Black Elk. He would then gather the Red Squirrel Clan around him, and sit for hours, telling them of the great wisdom of Black Elk.
“One important thing he learned from them is that life is a circle. Black Elk said, ‘You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round... The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours... Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.’
“Little Black Elk began to think about his own life. The holes they made in tree trunks were round. Their nests were round to better envelop and protect them from the elements. Then he remembered what another Red Human, Chief Dave, of the Oglala Lakota Nation said about the circle. ‘The Circle has healing power. In the Circle, we are all equal. When in the Circle, no one is in front of you. No one is behind you. No one is above you. No one is below you. The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity. The Hoop of Life is also a circle. On this hoop there is a place for every species, every race, every tree, and every plant. It is this completeness of Life that must be respected in order to bring about health on this planet.’
“The circle, thought Little Black Elk, is so simple and yet so profound. From that time on, he traveled throughout the Dakotas, telling the Native Critter Clans about the importance of the circle of life. When there were disagreements, they no longer stood in opposing lines, but gathered in a circle. It soon became hard to tell friend from foe, leader from follower. They became as one. And as one, they became more united. Soon they were finding ways to help each other instead of hurt each other. As the Red Human, Black Elk had said, ‘Power moves in a circle. As the destructive power of the wind, moving in a circle shows, the circle can also be destructive, just as every action can be turned into evil and destructive if the heart of the doer is inclined in that direction.’
“Princess Sonja, you and I have heard of what the humans call atomic power. If used for good it can produce energy to light the world. If used for evil, it can produce energy to wipe out all the lights of the world! The choice is left to the humans.
“Little Black Elk also told his fellow Natives, ‘…there’s a place for every species, every race, every tree, and every plant. It is this completeness of Life that must be respected in order to bring about health on this planet.’
“Little Black Elk also told of another important lesson he learned from the Red Humans. An ancient Red Human Proverb says, ‘Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.’
“That is another important thing I learned after meeting with Runs Fast and Walky-Talky. We can’t continue fighting every time we have a disagreement. It’s a no win situation and will only bring grief and suffering. I knew it was time to start listening to the wisdom of our Native brothers and sisters. We must start thinking of the circle of life. It is a circle that began with our birth and will continue in our lives until we die. But the circle will continue even after we are no longer walking the circle path. Others will continue after us, and we must remember to leave this place as good or better than we found it.
A week ago, Runs Fast, Walky-Talky, and I sat down with the leaders of the Gray Squirrel Clan. We sat in a circle and talked through the night and into the next day. We found that we all had the same concerns, hopes, and dreams. We found that each of us had things we could do to help the others. All of us in the Chip Clan could tunnel underground to build shelters. The squirrels could climb high in the trees to reach nuts and seeds that we couldn’t reach. Instead of collecting and hoarding our supplies, we began to help each other and share. By the end of the week, all our storerooms were filled and the Gray Squirrels had plenty of food buried for the winter too. It was so much easier and fun when we all cooperated. We even invited the rabbits, mice, birds, and other critters to join us and we all formed a Circle of Life Cooperative and plan to work together from now on.
“Now when I think of the circle of life, and all of us trying to walk that circle together as one, I see a ray of hope that I didn’t have before. Help and hope are found in the circle when we embrace each other, not confront each other.”
Fairy Princess Sonja smiled. “You have learned well, Uncle Ho. This Kingdom of Driftless Beauty is a wonderful place, and it’s good to hear that all of you who inhabit it are working together to make it a better and more peaceful place for all of us. And I might add, many Humans who live here have their hearts in the right place too, providing a wonderful paradise for all the critters. It sounds like the circle of life is alive and well here, thanks to all of you. This Christmas season we who live in the Kingdom of Driftless Beauty can truly say, ‘Peace on earth and good will to all humans and critters.’”
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