Myth vs. Reality

It really irritates me when history is purposely distorted, or downright fictionalized.

Case in point, "Chief Seattle's Letter."

I am not going to waste my socks' time regurgitating the drivel I'm sure you've probably already seen. I'm sure you know the diatribe I'm talking about. It's the one that glorifies AmerIndian traditions at the expense of Judeo-Christian values and culture, ending with the trite phrase, "We are all brothers."

Whatever. I mean, if you're "in" to drinking that Kool-Aid, go ahead. But, at least have the decency not to bastardize history in the process.

The FACT of the matter is that Seattle was never so eloquent. The so-called "letter" was actually lifted from a screenplay written by a New York City drama teacher named Ted Perry in the early 1970s. He, incidentally, is mortified that his work of FICTION has been passed-off as truth by others, and has spent a lot of time trying to set the record straight.

But, it's an uphill battle, mostly because those who pervert our history in the name of ecology and secular humanism have seen fit to reprint it ad nauseum on t-shirts, postcards, websites, etc. It has even been quoted (unwittingly, I hope) in the works of the late Joseph Campbell and the former President George H.W. Bush.

So, my plea to ye socks in the dryer is, when you hear something you know is a bunch of malarkey, stand up for the truth! And, if confronted by this particular example of buffoonery, tell the purveyors that Chief Seattle was a confirmed Roman Catholic, converted by French missionaries, and saw to it that his entire tribe attended regular Mass and joined together in prayer every morning and every evening. The chief accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, acknowledged His virgin birth, and knew God as the Blessed Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He didn't worship twigs and branches or pray to rocks.

Would that some others would follow his TRUE example.