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| Jiibay by � biidsis I stood next to him, on the Sacred Hill where he prayed. It was only a small hill but this was where they all came to pray these days. Standing next to him, I was only a spirit. He could not see me or hear me, but maybe he sensed my presence. I felt the pain of a leader, who had made decisions to save his people. And I saw when he tore his thin blanket to cover a small child standing in the snow. He knew the others would not understand his decision and would talk of it for generations to come. They would tell stories of double dealing and this tore at his heart. But before they came to live at the fort, he had been given a vision, shown what would happen to his people if he did not bring them here. He knew the Long Knives were ravaging the forests and that the creatures who had sustained them were disappearing too. His people were running ragged and hungry from the long knives and had long enough lived scattered and hiding in the hills and forests. I stood with him in line as they waited for food and felt his bitter disappointment when the food was only shoes and books. He looked at his people with a sadness so great it sent tears down my face. I shuddered under the burden of his pain. And when he was gone, the people did indeed talk of him. They talked in all the ways he imagined, but when he walked on, he knew he had done the only thing he could to insure the lives of his people. He left himself in that fort and somehow found his way back home to his family, and for that I am glad and felt his joy, the day they returned his medicine bundle. That act eased the pain of the day they stood in line waiting for food. Chi Miigwech, Jiibay, my Brother. Somebody remembers, somebody saw what you sacrificed for your people. Aho, my Brother bangan biidaaban |