Being a Warrior

It's so easy to say that I was a warrior when I faced the German's during WWWII, and completed the four coup's to become a chief. I have to admit that I was proud of what I had done throughout the war and pleased that I was able to express myself as an Indian as well as an American. I am proud of my past and my ancestors.

But the time in my life where I was a true warrior, was when I was attended school in Oregon. It was the first time I was away from my people. I had always attended schools with other Indians, and the last time I was with non-indians I didn't do well and got sick of the fighting. But as I packed my car up to go to Linefeild, with my goal of being the first Crow man to finish college I didn't have the foresight of what was to come as my Cheyenne grandmother did. She began to sing a song that I had never heard before, and I learned it was what was sung when a warrior was going off to war. I had no idea at the time that I really was about to face a type of battle, and it was what would make me a warrior as much as running around in the snow.

Only the battle field was the mind, I had to fight against prejudices and discrimination from others, but I also had to battle my own mental capicity. I had to open my brain up in ways I hadn't been forced to before, to really understand all the things that were being taught to me. Any time it seemed as if one of my classes was beating me, I would think of my old Cheyenne grandmother's song and I would automatically be revitalized.

I have decided that being a warrior is more than just fighting in a declared war, it is pushing one's own boundaries. When I was younger I was getting use to the idea of pushing my limits by running in the snow, once then twice then three times, and this was just getting me use to the idea of pushing myself. As I got older, I had to push againast my own belief's about being white and what it means to be a white person. In college I needed to make sure that I didn't let school bet me, I needed to push past academic boundaries and learn as much as I could. In the war, I was when I was the most conventional warrior, fighting with weapons against an enemy. But I have been a warrior all the way through my life.