.…I am poor and naked,
but I am chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we want to train our
children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to
the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
Red Cloud
(Makhpiya-luta) April 1870
Like
a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last ounce of food, our pick struck
gold. Joy at release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father
feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug
the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely
scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the
rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.
If
the family cooperates, dad will soon see that he is suffering from a distortion
of values. He will perceive that his spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an
average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family
obligations may not be so perfect after all. If the family will appreciate that
dad’s current behavior is but a phrase of his development, all will be well. In
the midst of an understanding and sympathetic family, these vagaries of dad’s
spiritual infancy will quickly disappear.
Big Book pgs. 128 & 129