Fascination with Medicine
Each and every week during this course we have been asked to write about a particular topic (short paper) or a topic of our choosing (reaction paper). This week is the latter and each week during the assigned reading, there is one section that I hope for each week, which is about medicine. Why? Well as you know I am of Native American descent and I loved learning about “the bounty of the Great One” as my grandfather would say. This is a topic that is very dear to me. Long before I had learned enough from grandfather on the subject, he crossed the great expanse for the Happy Hunting Ground. Our time together is missed, but I understand. Therefore I took it upon myself to continue my education that he had begun with me.
I read anything and everything concerning Native American medicine. The textbook for this course is no difference; I search for the little tidbits concerning this topic. One would be surprise when you can find things on the subject. In the section on Religion and Medicine we got to read about the Manitou, which per say is not medicinal, but I would like to relate to you something that happened when I was only a small child.
As a small child often does, I got a bad case of flatulence. Every one of the children I played with would laugh when I tooted so to speak. However, my mother thought it was terribly rude to make fun of what she took as a sign of trouble. I did not understand at the time why she thought this meant trouble. She sent me over to grandfathers’ house to learn about taking care of the trouble before it got any bigger. Once there I hoped we would have a great walk and learn more about Mother Earth and the wonderful bounty of the great one. I was not disappointed to say the least, however I was not thrilled either. For as things progressed, we began gathering what I had been taught was Cat’s Paw (Catnip) mint. We gathered more and more until my little arms were full and over flowing,...