CULTURE & MORALITY

Cultural moral principles and virtues learned in childhood from elders in one's family society color one's behavior and is a sort of built-in guide for one's adult moral character for life. It's a convenient thing to have learned because it takes away the necessity of "fretting" over every one of one's actions to determine whether they are right or wrong.

Early learning in church and school, particularly in the early 50's set children's minds as to the right and wrong of actions. Even unstated moral upbringing based upon hidden cultural attitudes color one's belief system.

For instance, my maternal grandmother was the grand-daughter of a Shawnee woman who married a Swiss farmer. We heard hints of our heritage from early days, but no one ever actually voiced the information we were Native American. We were always cautioned not to mention that we were "Indians". When my Grandmother was in her mid-90's she said "I suppose its all right to talk about it now." That's when she actually confirmed that her grandmother was a full-blooded Shawnee. She joked "where do you think I got this nose?" She said she thought her nose looked like that of the Indian on the buffalo nickel.

As a result of that information and the wonderful plethora of information available on the internet I began studying the Shawnee, and in particular the words of the wise Chief Tecumseh. I realized the upbringing I had, and the words of my Grandmother were very reflective of the ideas and ideals of Tecumseh. Aside from the great understanding of the morals of the Indian, and the wisdom with regard to Creator and the world, I realized the character of the Indian family is somewhat different from people from other cultures.

For instance, the Indian woman is well-respected and the younger men will go to the older Indian women for advice. Even the warriors would seek the wisdom of the women in their decisions. In a lot of cases it was the quiet, calm, assertive leadership of the women of the tribe that kept the family and the tribe stable. Perhaps that's why I tend to be somewhat bossy?

From the time I was small I was always and constantly chafing against restrictions put on "girls". I was told I couldn't do something because I was a girl. I never understood that, and I became very stubborn about proving girls could do anything they wanted to do.

As well, this could explain as well why I've never been able to take orders well from any man. I listen, and sometimes I do what they want, but not if there's a better, quicker, more efficient way to accomplish the same thing. One employer/friend used to ask me constantly "why won't you ever obey me?!" Well, mostly because his orders were ridiculous, and then there was my reply "When did I take THAT vow?" As I recall I left out the obey part when I got married too. I think in all relationships one must have respect for the other person. There's only been one man in my life that I ever "obeyed" unquestionably. I never could figure out why I did. Perhaps its explained by the fact that I dreamed he was my father in a previous life.

Understanding that the way a child is brought up is important to a child's character growth, and noticing the complete lack of the teaching of morality and virtuous princples in schools, I took my son out of public school in the 2nd grade and put him into a Catholic school. We are not Catholic, but after looking at various parochial schools, St. Pat's filled all of my requirements. They kept trying to get him to convert, and I told them when he was 13 he could make up his own mind about it. When he was 13 he decided he wanted to return to pubic school for high school.

I supplemented his school education, whether parochial or public, with some teaching of my own, pointing out things I learned in church and school and pointing out to him the history lessons from the past, and history as it was being made and what was happening. One Easter I went out of my way to explain to him Good Friday and Easter and what I had learned that it meant, and how it all fit in with my spiritual understandings. He was about seven at the time. He put his hands on his hips and said "Mom. I go to Catholic school! I know about Easter.

At any rate, the teachings he got in Sunday School at the Church of God, and the lessons he got at St. Pat's were good for him and helped him build character. Knowing my Catholic friends, however, I wonder if he also has that Catholic "guilt" trip.

I think its the duty of every individual to understand their own morality. Unfortunately the world is populated with dark souls who would corrupt us and the world around us if they can. Fortunately we need to keep on remembering we are ultimately ruled by the Natural Laws of God and that our beliefs in the Laws of the Universe, the Energy that is God, and adherence to our own understanding thereof will keep us in good stead with society.