Jerry Young Bear, Jr: Transcript

Tama, Meskwaki storyteller
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If you can't see the future, we have no future. If we can't see our kids, we have no future. If we can't learn from the past, we have no future. So we learn there is no difference between the past, present, and the future because it is all really the same in Mother Nature's eyes.

My name is Jerry Young Bear, Jr. I was born in Marshalltown, Iowa. My mother is a member of the Eagle clan. My father is a member of the Bear clan. I was raised by my grandparents, both of them, so I learned a lot about the Eagle clan and the Bear clan and what functions to do in the ceremonies. Ceremonies come around, I was always there, so I was always at the ceremonies.

To me, it kind of seems like that the grandparents are your ultimate love, and they send you back home to Mom and Dad for discipline. That's what I've noticed. You know, your uncles and aunts, they are the disciplinarians that, you know, tell you you're doing the wrong things. And your mom and dad are supposed to love and respect you and just try to let you grow in your own ways. And that's the function of the tribe, is—your aunts and uncles discipline you and make you do things you don't want to do. And your mom and dad just kind of guide you. Your grandparents love you, you know, and that's what I've noticed.

I got two girls, Jessica and Jerrica Young Bear. I'm trying to teach them to lead a Native American life, you know, Meskwaki style. And it's not easy, trying to get back to nature as much as possible, because I was always out in Nature, so it just made sense to go this way.
You know, I believe in education, but we still can't forget where we come from. Once you forget your roots, you're not—you don't feel whole sometimes. You're just lost. And as long as you can maintain your culture, then you have a lot to be thankful for. And that's why a lot of other tribes ask us if we know about them. Because our tribe was intact because we bought this land ourselves. And when we bought this land, we specifically stated that we had the right to practice our own religion. So we have a lot of our traditions intact today. So that's why I pray that we don't lose our language and our culture, because once we lose it, it's gone, you know. But they say that if you believe in your heart strong enough—you know, even in the Christian culture they say faith moves mountains.

So myself, I feel that everything has been out there all along, we just forgot. And that's all I'm trying to do is bring back some of the memories for the people.

It's beautiful out here. All Iowa used to be like this at one time, and now it's not. And it just makes me sad. But what I've learned is that Mother Nature has a way of taking care of its own, and if we give the earth the chance to heal itself, it will. And maybe this is one way I can reach people is by telling them that we need to start worrying about this earth and what we're leaving for our kids, and she's willing to help us. All we need do is reach out there and do it.

There are so many people that want to do things out there, but they don't know where to go. You know, maybe we need to organize people and tell them where to go to help. Maybe you can even go in your backyard and pick up the trash. That's the easiest way to do it. But who wants to do anything that's hard? How could you pollute your own backyard? People do it. We're a throw-away society, and we've got to change that mentality.

I listen to dreams, you know. Your dreams tell you what's wrong in your life. Your dreams tell you how to deal with things in your life if we know how to look at it. But you've got to look at it in such a way that they try to teach you, not hurt you. Just like with bad dreams, it's the same thing. They are trying to teach you, not hurt you. They are trying to show you things in your dreams. That's the way I learned, anyway, but the people who've got an open heart and want to listen to it, it will reach them, and it will tell them things that's beyond what the story was. It helps them, teach them what they really want to know. And that's the truth that comes from your heart.