on this eve of the peaceful transfer of power in the usa, i re-member the words of the Dalai Lama about our island home desperately needing more peacemakers, healers, restorers, lovers and storytellers which reminds me of an old legend of the first peoples of this land…

a legend about a savior named deganawida, the peacemaker, originating over a thousand years ago during the final decades of pre-columbian america at a time like now, a time of pervasive fear and instability in the iroquois world when a young virgin gave birth to a son… she was told in a dream that “your child will be a messenger of the creator and will bring peace and harmony to the people on earth.”

when deganawida came of age he told his mother, “I shall now build my canoe from white stone, for the time has come for me to start my mission in this world. I know I must travel afar on lakes and rivers to seek out the council smoke of nations beyond this lake. It is now time for me to go stop the shedding of blood among human beings.”

as deganawida began his mission he first encountered a group of hunters who were fleeing from the bloodshed in the their own village and he instructed them: “Go back to your people and tell them that the Good News of Peace and Righteousness has come to your nation.”

the peacemaker’s mission, as the many accounts of the legend make clear, was to reestablish the natural equilibrium on which the wellbeing of individuals, societies, and the whole of creation depends… deganawida achieved this mission by healing them—by “making their minds straight.” deganawida’s role was not that of a warrior, but a redemptive shaman—a healer… he was quite explicit about the mission: “health means peace, for that is what comes when minds are sane and bodies are cared for.”

may we all be peacemakers…