A particularly irate letter to the editor, Seattle Weekly, January 1, 1997:

After examining your article on Chief Joseph ("My heart is sick and sad," 12/11), I was struck by what a wonderful example your newspaper is for what Chief Joseph was fighting against.

Chief Joseph did not say the things he was quoted as saying in your article. The Nez Perce were not English speakers. our society forcibly took away the language, culture, and spirit of those people. Translation of Chief Joseph's words is only another reminder of the horrible society we live in.

You featured "My heart is sick and sad" directly above the "Gift-Guide: Tips for Tightwads." Chief Joseph, along with most Native Americans, fought this country, sometimes to the death, to avoid such bull****. This society is wrong. Everything we have is based on abusing the environment and dipping into 100 million years of solar energy in the form of oil. Everyone is happy because we get to have toys and candy. When we are sad, there is always Prozac, lest anyone suspect this world is dying and be disturbed. The oil is going to run out. The violations we have committed against this planet and ourselves will be present when all of us are on trial for being asleep.

Have you ever been to a museum? Did you ever wonder what happened to all the ancient civilizations whose art and artifacts we treasure so much? They died. They ran out of resources. They abused their environments and were not awake and alive when it became essential to see that they must be responsible for the world they create.

Like Chief Joseph, "my heart is sick and sad." I live in a society based on lies, among a people who are spiritual zombies, and within a civilization that is a cancer to this planet. If any of you took the time to step out of your culture's paradigm and hold yourself accountable for being awake and alive, perhaps you could truly see that the Emperor has no clothes, and you can quit your job as his indentured tailor. If you did that, it would hurt. Everyone wants to feel all of the earth's pleasures, but few are willing to suffer with the earth and feel the pain our civilization has manifested.

—Caleb Schaber
Seattle

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