Respecting Mother Earth

     Native Americans do not worship the land; they see the
       land as an expression of the Creator. Treating the earth
         with the same respect and love that a person shows his or
     her mother is a way of giving thanks to the Creator for
       the gift of being alive. To Native Americans, the earth is
              sacred... a living entity that exists for the benefit of all forms
            of life. The earth plays a central role in the lives of Indians,
       The land is  always stalking people.
     The land makes people live right.

    The land looks after us. The idea of dividing landscape
    into plots of individually owned land is a concept alien
     to Native Americans. That is why the Indians could not
               understand when the Pilgrims built fences to define property
 lines. How could anyone own the earth? Non-Indians
     tend to think of themselves as separate from the earth;
   it is something to be mastered. They think in terms of
     owning land...  of land as a commodity. Even the word
       "frontier" is based on the  notion that a certain area lies
         undeveloped, awaiting settlement and civilization, which
                  implies that land is not good until it is used for  some purpose,
     a belief that is incomprehensible to Native Americans.
                                                                             GOLDENBEAR