When a Person Has No Children, Then All Children Are Their Children

“Among my Crow Indian people there is a beautiful and very functional tradition. When a person has no children, then all the children are their children. This means both all the children of that specific tribe, camp or clan as well as all the children of Earth, which includes every being and thing upon our Mother Earth – the four leggeds, the wingeds, the green growing ones, the stone and gem people, those who live within the earth and crawl upon her, the waters and the finned ones: all things in the Great Circle of Life. As those of you with children well know, your own children occupy a large percentage of your time, and thus it should be so that our coming generations are raised with love and care. Those of us with no children have much more time to focus on the larger circle of life; we have that responsibility.”

Brooke Medicine Eagle

(photo credit :: national geographic)