Warriors must . . .

...be clean and straight

Don't be a Smiley Fool for booze. Don't be a Frowney Fool who suffers from what it does to you and others.

I started the little Smiley Fool story as a jokey way to show some tips about web page formatting, but the seriousness of some young people's foolish use of alcohol led me step by step into this message here. What alcohol most cripples in us is our spirituality. You cannot be a Pipe carrier and drink; if you fall, you must give the Pipe to a relative to hold for you until you have been clean and straight for a year. Alcohol causes spiritual things -- not only yourself, your family, but ceremonies and sacred things -- to get mixed up, to go bad somehow. Ask any elder, any tribe, all will tell you the same. It is a poison that first affects the spirit, then minds and bodies. Without alcohol, I do not think the white invaders could have taken the continent. When they came, they were not numerous nor militarily strong. Guns were no good until the 19th century. Diseases that they brought -- to which Native peoples had no immunities -- helped them some. But the attractive poison of alcohol was their most important weapon. So think it over, young men. You are still targeted by that weapon, in the Longest War. Young women have this problem too, but I address young warrior men, because almost always women follow men in this drinking. I've heard it many times "He picked up the bottle and poured himself down the drain....and I, I poured myself down there right after him." You heard all this many times before. Now it's on Big Computer in the Sky, the InterNet. Will anyone read this, I wonder? What will they think? (If you are not Indian, I am not talking to you, and I don't really care what you think about this. Though if you drink, I hope you stop, too.) So we're going back now to Smiley Fool's page. But he's not a fool any more -- he's quit drinking when he parties, he's trying hard, praying for strength to keep straight, and we all are praying for him, because of course I do have a particular young former fool in mind here as I am writing this, my grandson in the Indian way. Ho, Smiley, you're looking lots better. An eagle dream, and a head full of stars, your dawn, your day, your night. Way to go, young warrior, still a way to go, but you're on the path. (He still smiles a lot, still likes to laugh and joke. We still call him Smiley -- but he's no fool anymore!)  Return to the Smiley Trip web page construction tips analysis page if that's how you got here.

---

CREDITS: The warrior image, in black and white, was used on many AIM and Wounded Knee Legal Defense flyers in 1973-75, by pasteup. It first appeared in an issue of Akwesasne Notes and was probably drawn by Rokwaho, Wolf Clan Mohawk, artist and poetry editor for Notes back then. I traced it in FreeHand several years ago, and colored and adapted it for this page. I hope to not see it stolen for other websites, as some of these graphics already have been.