kiyana

“I do not believe that time is linear. Instead, I have come to believe that time is in cycles, and that the future is part of our past and the past is a part of our future. Always, however, we are in new cycles. The cycles omit some pieces and collect other pieces of our stories and our lives.

That is why we keep the names, and that is why we keep the words. To understand our relationship to the whole and our role in the path of life.”
― Winona LaDuke, Last Standing Woman

“The unborn” are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don’t resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don’t ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don’t need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don’t bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.”
― Methodist Pastor David Barnhart

“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”
― Rumi

“We should not believe that our lives are lived in a linear fashion; they don’t go that way, not for no reason; therefore, however, we should believe that our lives go in a circular manner. That is the Anishinaabe way of life.”
― Winona LaDuke, Last Standing Woman