Credibility and trust can take decades to build up. 

It can be smashed in an instant.

Rebuilding it is harder.

Know your friends, and hold them to account.

There are Native life ways that reinforce this in matters that "Capitalism" and "Civilization" fail to.

For us, in my family & Rez, that means the richest of us are measured by how much we give away, or help others in our group, or inter-tribally. (You may have heard the term Inter-tribal at Powwows.) "Wealth" was measured by our generosity.

A generosity which Colonizers and Settlers abuse(d), to DEVASTATING effect, that I'm sure you've heard about. (Natives being disappeared and genocides, etc.)

(a few digressions to follow)
Colonizers for the purposes of my thread are the First Contact Generations of NonNatives (European mostly)

Settlers are the (not Black*) generations that lived and live here now and act as if this land is "their land."

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rRnHx3yVuf4…

(*Black People are neither Settlers or Colonizers, but instead they are the descendants of the Enslaved People, and it's NOT my place to talk about that in any detail except to refer you to the Black Natives  I know. Contact me)

Back to the wealth thing...

Capitalism is a demon. It will feed and crush as many humans, other living beings, and this entire planet if it can. Even its most beloved supporters will one day (soon) be crushed by the cancer that is "eternal profit growth."

But Indigenous peoples have worked with the planet's environments to live relatively stable lives for tens of thousands of years. We hoard stories and moments with our families, not Things. Collect wealth in jokes, and in oral histories, not stocks and bonds, collect driftwood for a warm fire at night surrounded by those we love, not bills and cars or houses or what have you.

we do this by (young people will hate this part) listening to our elders, and Listening to Our Elders. The world is a big scary place sometimes, but our grandparents and our tribal Elders have seen harder times. (we were chased, hunted and murdered by the tens of millions & still are) There is always a push and pull between generations. But for Indigenous people (this one at least) revering our Elders is second only Babies and those that carry them. Elders and babies are SACRED to us. 

Something I've learned in my 9+ years being a parent? I lean on my mom's advice and help just as fiercely as I will react like a pissed off Kodiak if you threaten my child.

Work together with your friends and chosen family, including those "boomers" others denigrate.  Native "Boomers" are still VERY important to me, because they are often also our tribal elders and our ancestral knowledge keepers. And for decades they protected us, died for us, and suffered for us.  But not just anyone can be an Elder. and these tweets are a life lesson this 42 year old Native learned at terrible cost.

Credibility and trust can take decades to build up. 

It can be smashed in an instant.

rebuilding it is harder. I hope I can rebuild mine, not so I can be an Elder, but so that I can have the right kind of wealth.

Because Capitalism is a demon.

This tweet essay-thread brought to you by my Patreon Patrons. all 295 of them. This Patron essay is also brought to you by Approximal, by Inter-tribal relations with members of the Diné people, and by 14,000 of Anishinaabe Lifeways. Miigwetch to my families, my clan, and all my friends and supporters.

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