Well, I hate to use the words, but the Hollywood style of viewing us is bad. The "cowboys and indians" view of history is not correct. I can remember when they were filming a John Wayne movie out here and the director had some of our people in the movie. He said that when John Wayne pulled out his gun we were all supposed to fall to the ground. This is what the young people learn about themselves and it is sad.

If I could give a message to any Native children who would listen, I would say to first learn about who you are and then to be proud to be who you are. You should go somewhere very quiet and just feel what kind of person that you are and try to feel the spirit inside and outside and then to not be ashamed or feel bad about who and what you are.

Let nature be nature. Let yourself be who you are. Don't try to improve or cover up your true self. At the same time, some things should be preserved and kept private. Even within the Navajo people there is a great difference between the so-called East and West Navajos. Around Gallup and Albequerque there are Navajo who are selling souvenirs of sacred items and are making a living off of the culture. This only diminishes the culture when you sell it off. Some things ought to be kept to the people as their sacred traditions.

One thing that is harmful is television. Young people see things and get ideas that are difficult for the older people to even understand. As a result we have young people shooting other young people in schools and we have a problem with drugs and alcohol. It is what they see on television. We have a very bad problem among some of our youth in this area. It is a difficult problem to face.

Some of the other things that I do not feel good about are intermarriage. People will say that he or she is a good person and will be a good mate. We are trying to keep our ways intact. It is hard for me to say what my own children will do. The most important thing is that they should want to learn the language and then they will be able to carry on the ways. I don't want to be the last one to preserve the ways of my family and my people. My mission is to encourage them to listen and to want to learn these things. I think I am becoming successful because they are returning again and again. They are coming back and asking questions and they are curious and it is a good sign. Only time will tell.

On the Earth

We have noticed that things are a little bit different from one year and season to the next. Once we did not get burns from the sun but now we notice that even our skin begins to burn when we are out in it for a long time. It was not like that before. Man makes the mistake of trying to understand things and improve upon them when they do not need to be looked at so closely. Once there would be a beauty walk, as we call it, and it was fine. Then someone would decide that it would be better to build a paved road on the same path. And the road is not natural and so things around the road change. Sometimes we do not need to look at trying to improve on natural things. And sometimes it is not really progress.

Stories are very important to us. We have stories that remind us of the past ...

In our tradion we say that a long, long time ago the gods got together to have a meeting. It was what I call the god conference. They had to decide, "How shall we make the human people? How shall we make the plant people? The reptile people, and so on..." And more importantly they had to decide, "How shall these people live together?" Those are some of the questions that came about. They decided to give them each different settings and categories. So that is what happened when they called this conference.

The cayote was, as you would say, the "MC" of the conference. And so it was the cayote who ran the meeting and became the messenger, telling which category everything would be in. But the cayote was clever and had a sense of humor. That is why we see humor in the world. The cayote has a sense of humor and so you will see that at every meeting of Native Americans there is always a joke- someone will crack a joke to start the discussion. Then they get down to business.

Many white people think that the Navajo are serious people because we do not smile much. This has its origin in the cayote legend. We are told that everything is not a joke. The many gods have things that they control, and they are not all humorous, but the only messenger we have is the cayote. If we see a cayote cross our path we say, "Oh look, the cayote! What kind of message is he bringing to me?" If the cayote is encountered when you are facing to the north then it is usually a bad message. If he shows when you are facing the south then it is likely to be good news. Whatever the case, we usually stop and make an offering to the cayote for delivering the message. If it is a good message then the offering will assure hid blessing. If it is a bad message then you should make that offering so maybe it will not come true. In any case, if you see the cayote it is a wake up call and an indication that he is delivering a message to you.

The cayote has his songs, too. They are different for each of the seasons. In fact, we can talk about the cayote mainly in the winter because he is hiding, or, as we say, he is taking a vacation. Right now, as we talk about him, he is listening to us and hears what we say about him. That is why some cayote stories are told only at certain times of the year.

When the gods made the different kinds of people, they decided "Let's not make them know each other at first. Let the different people find each other and be curious and want to know about each other." Curiosity is important because it fosters respect for each other and our differences. When we have to learn about each other, we also learn about ourselves and we respect our differences.

When people who speak different languages meet, the hand languages are very important because that is how we can communicate. We use gestures and symbols. This was the intention of the cayote. He wanted to make it interesting for different people to meet. That is his sense of humor.

Sometimes the cayote will make things happen for a purpose- always for a purpose. He may make you have a deformity or an illness, but it is because you need to learn something or to pay attention to something. So he may make something happen that you might think is bad but it is for your benefit to make you learn a lesson. Often the lesson will make you say, "Why me? Why did this happen to me?" The cayote knows that this is a big lesson that will be learned by you and your family and your friends, so that they all benefit from the lesson.