Do we make ourselves into what we become or is it built into our genes, into the fate spun for us by whatever shapes events?

It is important to understand that there are many different ways of seeing the world and expressing the wisdom of Native belief...No one voice speaks for all voices.

Native people such as the Cherokees are just as human and complex and real as Americans are, and our nation needs to respect American Indian cultures and traditions.

The best teachers have showed me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly--we only think it does. The motion of drawing back a bow and sending an arrow straight into a target takes only a split second, but it is a skill many years in the making. So it is with a life, anyone's life.

Do we make ourselves into what we become or is it built into our genes, into the fate spun for us by whatever shapes events?

One of the things I've been taught by Native American elders is the importance of patience, of waiting to do things when the time is right. As an Onondaga friend put it to me, "you can't pick berries until the berries are ripe."

Kill every enemy twice, Wilky said. Better than gettin' shot by a soldier pretending to be dead.