We are part of the Earth
and it is part of us...
We are part of the Earth and it is part of us.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters;
The deer, the horse, the great eagle,
these are our brothers.
The rocky crests, the juices of the meadows,
and the body heat of the pony, and human beings
these all belong to the same family...
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers
is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors...
The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst...
The air is precious to the red man,
for all things share the same breath--
the animal, the tree, the human,
they all share the same breath...
The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath
also receives his last sigh...
What are people without animals?
If all the animals were gone, humans would die
from a great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the animals soon happens to the people.
All things are connected. This we know.
The Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth.
All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
-- Chief Sealth
