Cherokee Forgiveness

Not being a very emotional person I found it extremely hard to try and connect with Patricia Grant speak about the Cherokee Forgiveness.  She is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She explained to us the troubles her people endeavored, her meanings of trauma, and the sacred hoop of balance. Trauma, to her, is cumulative, and psychic wounding across generations was related to the massive root trauma. This trauma was a direct result form the Trail of Tears. Where 17,000 Indians were removed from their homes and forced to march through the winter months with almost no sleep in attempts to try and exterminate them. Indians owned almost all of America and after a period of 500 years it dwindled to a mere 50,000 square acres. I knew it was hard for her to stand up there and talk about what she has dealt with and the horrific events that occured, but I was unable to fully understand the pain she felt since I am not a compassionate person. 

Sacred Hoop

Throughout her presentation she compared Indians to Americans. Indians work in a circular fashion while Americans work in a linear way. The sacred hoop emphasizes balance, harmony, the whole, and spiritual being. They have different morals and way of living that we do not. The first thing she said was that WE did this to her people and at first I took it personally because it was not I who did this and she seemed as though she was holding a grudge. Afterwards, I decided that it was not us she was mad at. It was our ancestors and there is nothing we can do to change the past, but it is still hard to deal with the trauma that emerged from this event.

The journey to forgiveness is an effort to help enlighten people about the tragic events suchs as the Trail of Tears and hopefully make people realize the amount of trauma that has been passed through the generations as an effect to these events.  More information about the journey is provided through the link below and there is a video on the site :) Enjoyyyyy!
Journey to Forgiveness and Healing