The Day the World Ended

The Day the World Ended at Little Big Horn : a Lakota History
by Joseph Marshall III

We recently had an opportunity to drive to Montana for a funeral. Along the way we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. A fascinating place. Most enlightening was the Indian Memorial. The quotes from Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull made a deep impression on me.



It's no surprise that a book on the New Non Fiction shelf jumped into my hands. I've read very little about this turning point in American history, so enjoyed learning something new. There were two nuggets in this book that I want to remember.

First, the Lakota apparently have no word equivalent to the English "authority." Their culture and governance had no need for such a word. The chiefs led by example and reputation. If a family in a chief's village didn't like what the chief was proposing, they voted with their feet. It was not unusual for a new family to appear in the village overnight. Villages were relatively small, and the next two were within a days walk. A nomadic life style allows that. Our sedentary style doesn't. If I don't like what the President does, it's a little more difficult to move to France.

The second nugget in this book has a little more impact on how I think about our country today. In the days before the battle at Little Bighorn, the Lakota people were doing their best. Women were cooking and caring for the household. The young people were learning the necessary skills from the elders. The hunters were bringing home plenty of food and supplies, even when the Buffalo was in steep decline because of the white man. Even the warriors did well, winning various skirmishes with the Long Knives. All were doing what they were supposed to do. And they were doing it well.

Their society was complex and well run. Elders made decisions. The tribe produced the food and goods necessary for a good life. They all traded with the white man for various supplies. And they were reasonably successful at creating a good life.

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse knew their world was ending, but the common people really couldn't comprehend the change. Who among the Lakota or the Cheyenne knew the numbers of people and products that were massing to the east?

Then came the battle at Little Bighorn. And they won. Decisively.

But they lost the war.

Reading this, I jumped to comparing the life of a common Lakota family to ours. I work to bring home food and supplies, Judy maintains the home. The children learned their skills and created a life for themselves. And all did reasonably well. In fact, we feel darned good about it. I can only imagine that the Lakota did, too.

Do most of us not know or truly understand the masses of people and products that are gathering outside our borders? I was surprised to learn that the Mall of America in Bloomington is not even in the top ten shopping centers in the world today. New York is a small city compared to dozens around the world. India and China are educating thousands more people at the college level than we are.

Is there a comparison between the Lakota experience and ours. I believe there is some, and we need to be more aware than they were of the forces awakening in the world around us. Isolation and walls are not the answer. Fighting and wars are not the answer. Somehow, we must work with the rest of the world to avoid becoming an afterthought.

No, I don't have the silver bullet for this question. I'd like to vote for someone who has at least an inkling of a way to maintain our culture.

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Next is a book whose title drew me in immediately. We'll see if it's worth reading all the way to the end.

The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead
by David Shields