Shall We Stand

Shall We Stand

A Vision

In my vision there is a great crossroads, a crossing so immense that one can not see from end to end. It is here that i stand, a barren, dry, brown land.

The wind gathers up the dust of ages long forgotten and tosses them to the heavens where they once again begin their descent to once again join those who wait.

My flesh tingles from the tiny grains rushing past me as if they too know the time is nigh.
The ancestors voices call, they say to me “Now we stand with you upon the crossroads of destiny!”
“We call to the great mystery to guide you, so that you may honor that which has been given freely!”

I say to the ancestors, “Which direction shall I take?”, “As there are four in which to choose,each the same as the other as far as i can see.”
There is silence. I turn my gaze to the crossroads before me, cutting through the barren land like great scars upon the earth.

"Listen!" I hear the ancestors say.
As I listen a sound seems to reach out from a great distance, the sound low and far away at first becomes clearer, as if the sound were moving toward me.

I face in the direction of the sound and I see a great black sky, as if no stars had ever touched its depths. As I looked closer a small white orb begins to grow from the center of the dark void until suddenly before me stood a great white buffalo, it's body bruised and bloody. It stood, crying with a thousand different voices, sounds of pain and suffering as if the whole of all living things were within the sound.

As i watched the buffalo stumbled and bent on one knee struggled most valiantly to stand. His eyes meeting mine held the pain of all creation, and the mourning cries of all those who had suffered at the hands of injustice and cruelty. I tried to turn from the sight not wanting to witness the terrible agony of those who cried out!

The ancestors began to cry.. wailing as if they too suffered in mourning, and they sang a song of death and destruction as i watched the buffalo slowly turned toward the darkness from which it had come, the voices becoming silent as the great beast stepped within the void and was gone.

I unable to bear the sight and sounds which had assaulted my whole being closed my eyes and covering my ears i sank to the stark lifeless earth,tears began to fill my eyes and i began to cry. My tears ran like the river that flows after the storm rushing forward down my cheeks and falling upon the earth, small darkened spots which at first simply lay on the earth in tiny pools of crystal shimmering light reflected by the sun, soon began to grow.

I knelt for some time, letting the tears of anguish, hatred, fear, and death flow freely, and as my tears began to wane i could hear the ancestors song had changed, now they sang a new song and with the song came a smell like that of a morning shower, and sounds like that of birds singing within the trees.

I thought this strange,that there should be birds singing and the smell of a fresh rain shower where just moments ago there was so much pain and anguish and as I began to open my eyes I felt the caress of a gentle breeze as it lifted my hair upon the air current I reached my hand to grasp the lock of hair and stood amazed. Before me no longer existed a barren and hopeless landscape devoid of life and bereft of humanity, now before me stood many people all colors and all nations with many different voices, each sang a different song and the vibrations of the many voices began to reverberate within the earth itself.

I looked toward the ancestors and asked " who are these people with many voices, and what is it they are saying?"
The ancestors said," these are those who wait," I asked, "what do they wait for?" A single voice spoke saying "they wait for you and your kind to make the last choice"

I looked toward the multitude of people as they began to step one and then the other to the right side of me or the left side of me.  When they had finished I saw that there were many more on the the left than the right and asked, "why are there so many to one side and so few to the other?" The one voice replied " this is the time of imbalance, those who have been and who have chosen now wait"

I asked, "How can balance be once again achieved?", answering the voice said " now is the time of reckoning, the crossroads of mankind stretches out before you, now comes the second choice that of destiny" saying this the voice once again joined in the song of the ancestors.

As i listened i heard voices begin to sing behind me,and turning I saw an even greater number of humanity walking toward me and the crossroads.

As they approached they smiled and began singing but the song was too low and i could not hear their words, as they passed to either side of me there was a smell of sage and cedar and I felt the air itself become lighter. I watched them pass thinking that they would join the others across the roads but as they approached the crossroads they stopped and fell silent.

The ancestors also ceased in their prayers and stood motionless all became silent. "what has happened?" I asked, my voice sounded small, and fragile in the cold silence that enveloped the crossroads like a blanket of winter snow.

A voice to my left, spoke startling me at first saying, "they like you stand upon the crossroads of destiny! Those who stand upon the other side have made their choice as to which way they will go there deeds are done for good or ill there is no difference, for each of us must fulfill our own destiny to complete the hoop.

Those who stand with you before the crossroads are those who must like you also choose the path that lies within your hearts. It is your age that will determine the worth of mankind and his future."

"But what about the buffalo? Why is he dying? Why do the voices within him cry out in pain? i asked remembering how the cries had echoed within my heart causing me to despair.
"The buffalo" the voice said, " represents the age of the current cycle, he is dying and must return to the place of creation so that a new age can be born, the voices of pain for which you yourself suffer are the pains of purification and rebirth"
"All must suffer in this, but it will be short lived for the heavens and the great mystery have made it so, and with the new age will be a new earth."

"Each one must stand upon this crossroad, each one must choose. The destiny of one is the destiny of all”

By Pattie Walkinturtle