Black Robe is a powerful film, all right. Haven't seen Smoke Signals.

Regarding Dances With Wolves, a realistic ending to that story could only have been miserably, horribly tragic and bloody. I'm glad I didn't have to sit through such an ending, having lived (and died) through many such endings before, more times than I wanted to...you can choose to end a given story at any point you wish to.

They did add a postscript, saying that the free life of those plains people was over in ten years, didn't they?

You know, I eventually decided after years of spiritual study that all people are shining souls of the same nation (although they seldom seem to be aware of it), and it matters less what your genetic makeup is than it does what shirt you decide to wear today. The Medicine Wheel now includes all people in a great circle. There's no point getting arrogant over tribal afilliations or cultural purity, and it doesn't help anyone to do so (not that you can't celebrate it in a positive way). You have to look beyond the mere skin and hair to the spirit and consciousness within. That includes forgiving the past too, and not dragging old hatreds into the present where they do not belong.

I used to put Indians on a pedestal above other people. Now I put everyone on the same level field. It was a hard lesson to swallow.

- LH