The Vision

The Vision

By C.F. Stacey 6-19-1993



Once, I was sitting near the riverbank watching the dirty water and listening to the sounds of nature all around me. I felt a presence, so I turned to look but no one was there. I felt at peace with myself, at one with nature.

Then I started to hear the trucks on the road not half a mile away, and people talking as the walked the path but 15 feet behind me. It was at that time I realized that I must walk the path of peace and love and not hate and violence.

I can still see myself sitting on the riverbank, only this one is far away from any road. It’s in an open field with only a few young trees for shade. I can see some children come and sit along beside both sides of me. They just sat there, quietly watching, as if waiting for me to tell them something. One of the mothers comes to chase the children away thinking I want to be alone. I ask her to leave the children be and ask if the rest of the children and women would like to hear a story. The woman said she would ask and left to find out. A short time later the women and children were gathered around me and I started to tell my story.

“When I was a little girl, I felt very alone and lonely. I knew my parents loved me very much and so not to hurt them I never said anything. I kept it to myself. In school I did just enough to pass my classes but never really cared. Then I started losing time. I would blank out for anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes at a time. It started to get me into trouble. My teachers called it daydreaming. I didn’t know what it was.

It was four years later that I discovered it was meditation. You see, that is when your spirit watches, talks with, and learns from nature. I started reading books on it and learning all I could. I had no one that I could talk with about this. No one who could teach me, tell me why I would do this without even trying.

My friends and family called me the Peace Keeper with a Heart of Gold. They still do. When there is trouble I step in and do what I can to fix the problem. I always have and always will. There have been time I wonder why, but then I get gentile and not so gentile reminders.

Like the time I watched the flame on a candle. First I saw an Indian woman, only I called her Grandmother. Then she disappeared and in that same flame I saw a young Indian woman I called sister.

There was also the dream I had once a year for 7 years in a row, and each year with me going a little further along in it. Facing the fear and mystery of discovery, only to find out many years later that me best friend had the exact same dream, and that there was a third girl and a fourth person in our group.

Also the times I would sit I would sit on the riverbank and let my spirit soar like the wind.

These are just a few of the gentile reminders that the spirits gave me.

If you are wondering why I am telling you this story, it’s because I care about all of you. To let you know that it is alright to be afraid sometimes, to not understand everything, all of the time. That it is alright to go to your parents and elders and say what does this mean, I’m scared, I don’t understand. They will help you learn, and not have to be afraid anymore.”

After my story was finished, the children went to play, and their mothers went back to their work. One of the elders came to stand a few feet behind me. Without turning around I invited him to join me on the riverbank. We sat and talked for a while and then I left the area.

I will always remember this vision. It is a reminder to me of why I am here, doing what I am doing.