Had the new people learned what Original Man was taught at a council of animals — never damage Creation, and never interfere with the sacred purpose … - Robin Wall Kimmerer

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Had the new people learned what Original Man was taught at a council of animals — never damage Creation, and never interfere with the sacred purpose of another being — the eagle would look down on a different world. The salmon would be crowding up the rivers, and passenger pigeons would darken the sky. Wolves, cranes, Nehalem, cougars, Lenape, old-growth forests would still be here, each fulfilling their sacred purpose. I would be speaking Potawatomi. We would see what Nanabozho saw. It does not bear too much imagining, for in that direction lies heartbreak.