A letter to Bruce

Bruce, I have been engaged in non-stop writing and editing of my book. I am sorry I took so long to get back to you. You have a rich and powerful lineage to probe, and glean from Bruce. I am Crow (Absaroka), Creek (Muskogee) Indian, and African. I am the first born of parents, and the father of four children. I disagree with you about President Obama, and I read your blog on Yahoo 360! for a couple years. Whether you are a racists or not isn’t my concern. You have valid points I like to chew on because I can’t see every side of every issue. When you question the President’s birthplace it baffles me because those things are so easily confirmed. It is an issue because of something else concealed from view. But on the other hand I understand something of the insistence to question his nationality on a personal level because my nationality has long been a subject of debate even though I was born in the US.

I am a Rotarian. In my little club in Virginia I was president two years in a row. One of our long time members, a retired general, quit our club and transferred to another club because I never pledged allegiance to the American flag. It almost broke our group up, his leaving, but it forced me, as president, to speak for myself. I told the general that being American requires deep thought. I told the story of an 8-year-old boy (me) who suddenly understood what the flag meant to an Indian, and I simply stopped making the pledge. I got it! I told my mother that afternoon, and she told me, “It’s OK. I stopped saying the pledge when I was in 2nd grade too!”

My telling followed a long course of years across America, to Asia and further into Africa, and back into this country as a young man. My telling spoke to the core of patriotism and the need to be intelligence about it. There was more but my truth kept our group together, and we remained friends and Rotarians. When I finished the general walked up to me, shook my hand, and said, “Greg, I didn’t understand a damn thing you said!”

The vice-president of our club and I talked to our general-friend an hour and a half afterwards. The general had fought in Vietnam, Korea, and other places in his long career. He was understandably offended that the President and Vice-President did not pledge allegiance to the flag. Yet he shared with us that in Alabama where he was once stationed he disobeyed his commander and integrated his unit. I asked why.

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

I insisted on an explanation from different angles but got nowhere. He simply stared deep into my eyes and repeated himself.

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

I don’t need to be friends with Bill. I like him. I want to remain friends with him because there is much neither of us understands within the other. What we do gain from each other is warmth and validation. At the root of every relationship is a meaning, and finding the meaning, connecting to core values is crucial to the development of friendships. – Gregory E. Woods (Dawn Wolf) Keeper of Stores