How Insignificant We Are
Before I was six years old,
my grandparents and my mother
had taught me that
if all the green things that grow
were taken from the earth,
there could be no life.
If all the four-legged creatures
were taken from the earth,
there could be no life.
If all the winged creatures
were taken from the earth,
there could be no life.
If all our relatives who crawl and swim
and live within the earth
were taken away,
there could be no life.
But if all the human beings
were taken away,
life on earth would flourish.
That is how insignificant we are.”
By Russell Means,
Oglala Lakota Nation
(November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012).