In the morning of my first full day at Standing Rock, I awoke to the sunrise and the song of the Four Directions echoing over the 
camp. Quickly unwrapping myself from the emergency blanket, sleeping-bag liner and mummy bag in which I’d coccooned against the frigid night air, I did my morning preparations and hurried down to the central drum circle for the morning’s ceremonies.
What Is the Passion That Keeps You Alive?
This is a vote against the void: the yawning pit of utter nihilism and despair, the excruciating comfort of submerging in terror, uncertainty, grief and outrage at the headlines of the day; against allowing hope to be swept away in the tsunami of corruption, sadism, and malevolent destruction of the People and the Planet.
This is a vote for the possibility of facing, recognizing, and consciously deflecting the force(s) that would destroy us, choosing instead to live. Not once, but again and again, because the predator never stops following, inwardly or outwardly. And today, with the prowling danger of COVID-19 forcing us into fearful isolation, awaiting something as simple as our unconscious hand raised to our face, that choice is a moment-to-moment decision for every one of us.
