My family heritage goes back to the indigenous people, the Basques, residing in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain. The Basque language, Euskera, is unrelated to any other language and is the oldest language still spoken today. My father's parents were both full-blooded Basques. My mother's father was Basque and her mother was French Canadian. I remember being very interested in Native Americans as a child even though I don't remember my parents drawing any parallels between my grandparents and Native Americans. When I was in college, I visited my grandmother in Winnemucca, Nevada quite often. She was one of the first born in the US. Her stories showed me similarities between the Basques & Native Americans.

The ancient Basques never founded a country or nation and yet they lived autonomously within Spain and France. Native American peoples were nations living across the expanse of a land not yet known or named by others. They lived autonomously across the lands of this continent,...

One of the cards in Daniel Levin's box of "Zen Cards" says

Right Speech

Say little.

But when you speak,

utter GENTLE words

that touch the heart.

Be TRUTHFUL.

Express kindness.

Abstain from vanity.

This is The Way.

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On Sunday, September 6, 2020, I watched SuperSoul Sunday, hosted by Oprah Winfrey. Her guest was Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani woman who survived being shot in the head by a man in her own country. She was 15 years old when he boarded her school bus with the intention of murdering her. Why? Because she dared to publicly speak her truth.

Her beloved parents taught Malala along with her brothers because they believed that girls had a right to education.  When she began to speak publicly on behalf the rights of all girls, her parents supported her even though they knew there could be consequences. They refused to limit her natural intelligence, gifts, and talents.

Malala's stage is the world - and rightly so. She survived what should have been a fatal head wound. She healed, as people of all faiths around the world fervently prayed for her, and she regained her ability to walk, speak, read, and write. She has published 2 books and travels to countries where...