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The employees at
Chilocco Indian School were strongly grounded in their Christian faith
whether it be Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist or any other. They
must have had some orientation of some sort to give them definite guidelines
for respecting the student's beliefs. At the time I was there in 1955 even
the Native American culture was being allowed. The Indian Club was made
available for any who wished to belong and participate. This is a picture of
my beautiful friend Heawatha, who is no longer living. Whether Mrs. Wapp
helped her with this buckskin dress or whether it was her own I do know
know. It is a beautiful and accurate representation of the plains peoples
ceremonial dress down to the perfect shawl and to the fan she holds.
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/heawatha.htm
These were the days
before competition was so much a part of the Native American ceremonies. The
religious significance was more of importance and the reverence, I think,
comes through in this picture.
My father's faith was
tied up in his ancient Scottish ways, I believe. It was a simple teaching
and couldn't be tied to any formal religion because he pulled away from all
religion. He could not accept the modern ways of teaching that tied into
commercialism, materialism and competition; therefore, he stuck just to the
teachings of Christ which he pointed out were all about loving one's
neighbor. He didn't dominate us with it but carefully pointed out the
reasoning behind such thinking. It always made sense to me and I never had
any desire to pick up a formal teaching or faith while I was there at
Chilocco, although we were encouraged to attend services on Sunday. If a
boyfriend invited you to Sunday services, of course, you would go. I knew
about dressing up on Sunday through my Uncle's still yet strong ties to his
faith.
In this way I probably
became the most educated person as far as tolerance was concerned. Later on
in college my class, “History of Religion,” further widened my knowledge out
to the total world's religions.
At Chilocco one week a
service was staccato like, orderly, reverent and with beautiful music.
Another service the next week would be a speaker who reasoned with the
students in a rather paternal like, manner. My father had already studied
extensively with me regarding certain dogma and I sometimes wondered why the
speaker had not researched more carefully.
Still another speaker
would be a podium pounding, energetic, fire-breathing-advocate for saving
our souls from hell-fire. Mostly I kept my head down so as not to giggle at
the thought of how sinful could we be? There we were almost, virtually
prisoners in a rigid military regime. How much sinning could we do when we
were scheduled so tightly to such a close timing that we actually had little
time to make an error. Of course, I know some of the kid's did slip out at
night which was called “night hawking.” However, if they were caught, and
they usually were, the consequence of expulsion was too great for me to even
think about. Why would I take the risk of losing this one chance I had for a
high school education. It was unthinkable.
Today at this time in
my life when sometimes folks stand in straight obedience to their faith and
have fear their children by being exposed to another religion will destroy
them, I'm thankful, even more, for my father's gentle teachings of Christ
like love. Even though I was exposed to other's beliefs I always remembered
my father's extensive studies with me that nothing is greater than Christ's
teachings on love. Dad taught us Christ's simple truth; in kindness and
respect for others below, do not set one person above another, not even for
a year, a day, or an instant. It was what brought early day pilgrims to this
land so that they might be free of kingly domination. It is what gives us
respect for each person's abilities and talents. It is a wonderful way to
live and frees us from so much anguish so we can then appreciate our God
given gifts and other peoples as well. Granted in these days it is difficult
to maintain any of these values, still, for my own peace of mind, I cling to
my Dad's teachings learned from Jesus Christ, our King who has a Kingdom, (a
government) the perfection of which we cannot even imagine. |
