The Walking People
The Walking People is the vast oral history and tradition on which the Past Is Prologue: A Learning Way is based. It is also a human story, a “migration” story of a determined people who carried with them all that was learned, sometimes painfully so, over countless generations. “The nature of their path, the nature of the coming together and talking one to another,” was born of a cataclysmic event that left them without the wisdom of their ancestors. Ever since that time, learning has been held as sacred, assuring the survival of the People. For they knew that one day other life-altering events would surely befall those who would follow. It was understood that their present circumstance could serve as a beacon, guiding all Earth’s children through a time of chaos . . . when all they knew changed.
The following excerpt from The Walking People describes their commitment to learning, their commitment to oral history and the unique way they devised so that the ancestors could reach across time to speak to future generations.
(pp.154-155)
“LET US PRESERVE”
. . . they told one another . . .
“Not only the nature of our path,
but also the nature of the coming together
the talking one to another,
the designs in air
that we have learned to follow.
“LET US PRESERVE ALL THIS
SO THAT NOT AGAIN
SHALL THE CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN
WALK UNAIDED
THROUGH A STRANGE AND NEW LAND.
“FOR WE HAVE SEEN”
. . . they continued . . .
“HOW IT IS
that much counseling together of every voice
can lead to Wisdom,
“AND HOW THE PATTERNS
perceived by this one and that
can weave a new way
through difficult circumstance.
“AND HOW THE PEOPLE
can survive the apparently unsurvivable
with these two strong legs to stand on.
“SO LET US NOW”
. . . they said at last . . .
“REMEMBER THE NATURE OF THIS PATH
SO CLEARLY
“THAT THE CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN
CANNOT FAIL TO SEE IT
IN THE MANNER OF OUR WALK
AND THE NATURE OF OUR SPEECH.
“LET THEM LEARN FROM US
WHAT WE HAVE SO PAINFULLY LEARNED
FROM ONE ANOTHER.”
FOR I TELL YOU NOW
THAT NEVER SINCE THAT DAY
HAVE THE CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN
FAILED TO LEARN THESE GREAT LESSONS.
SO THAT . . .
even if some
learn it more slowly than others . . .
this way has been preserved,
even as you
learn it from me now . . .
As you hear these words from me . . .
let your children’s children
hear such words from you.
SO THAT . . .
EVEN SHOULD THE EARTH SHAKE
and the sky drop down stones
and the ocean rise to meet mountains
EVEN SHOULD SUCH THINGS OCCUR
as had never been before seen
EVEN THEN . . .
WILL THE CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN
carry with them a flame brighter than fire
and an understanding more secure
than any circumstance . . .
EVEN THEN
WILL THEY KNOW
TO WALK FROM ONE LIFE TO ANOTHER . . .
sure that somewhere among them
lie the possibilities
of a long rope bridge
across improbable changes . . .
SECURING WHAT WAS
TO WHAT WILL BE . . .
ASSURING
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PEOPLE.
LET IT BE SO . . .
_