Veterans and Water Protectors at Standing Rock: If you weren't watching between the lines carefully, you might have missed the most important miracle in the last couple of centuries-- the beginning of healing the soul of America.

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Yes, a miracle happened at Standing Rock. No, it's not the one you thought it was.

The Water Protectors have struggled for months, the veterans showed up en masse, and in hours the tide shifted, with the Army Corps of Engineers denying access to the Dakota Pipeline. For the moment.

Amidst blizzard conditions, people are leaving the area, although most are rightfully keeping a very wary eye on further developments, well aware of the cunning deception of the Dakota Access Pipeline company. That portion of the story continues to unfold, and should command our attention.

But if you weren't watching between the lines carefully, you might have missed the most important American miracle in the last couple of centuries. A miracle that begins the healing of the soul of our country.

Wesley Clark Jr. spearheaded the voluntary deployment of thousands of veterans to Standing Rock in support of the Water Protectors, via Facebook post. The project grew from several dozen participants to a couple of thousand in just a few days. And, Clark admits, eventually became a logistical challenge that took a few extra steps to keep up with. That's not surprising, many lofty visions manage to make it over the rocky path to a beneficial goal, finally, as this one did.

Clark is a screenwriter, an activist and has been a guest host for the "Young Turks" online news broadcast. He is son of General Wesley Clark, Sr., the United States Army general who is credited with ending the Kosovo war and who ran for president in 2004. Clark Jr. notes that his views about Standing Rock are in opposition to his father's perspective.

Ahead of the event, Clark said, "we have 2,500 veterans going to Standing Rock. No one is being paid a dime to stand out there and get beaten up. We will follow the example of Gandhi or Martin Luther King and turn the other cheek" according to Salon.

Amidst the intention of peaceful resistance, the miracle that emerged was the extraordinary public words of long overdue respect and apology offered to Leonard Crow Dog and the First Nations, by activist Wesley Clark, Jr.

This 2-minute video captures this miracle, which will no doubt eventually have a prominent place in history. Deservedly so.

An incredible moment of healing at Standing Rock: Hundreds of veterans ask Native elders for forgiveness.
"We fought you. We took your land. We signed treaties that we broke. We stole minerals from your sacred hills. We blasted the faces of our presidents onto your sacred mountain... We didn't respect you, we polluted your Earth, we've hurt you in so many ways but we've come to say that we are sorry. We are at your service and we beg for your forgiveness." -Wes Clark, Jr.

A portion of the letter that Clark posted on his Facebook page after the events follows:

Our action was successful thanks to the sacrifice and hard work of those who were on the ground before us and endured the risk, pain and suffering when the eyes of the world were not on Standing Rock - the water protectors, the youth, and the elders who have instructed us from the day we arrived that faith, prayer and peace are the way forward.

Through the collective actions of everyone involved we have pried open a window to begin dialogue with the other side to begin envisioning a way forward through a system that none of us on any side are solely responsible for building.

The route ahead is perilous and filled with many dangers. We all need to open our hearts to the spiritual force many of us felt first hand at Standing Rock and understand that only though peace, love, honesty and forgiveness can we truly solve the greater problem of how to save our planet and bring about the world we all know exists just around the corner.

Human nature being what it is, we must be open to real dialogue with our opponents in this fight because their families are at just as great a risk as ours in what could become an extinction-level event if we don't start healing our world now. Please don't allow hate and mistrust to cloud your vision as we move forward in what many of us increasingly recognize as a climate emergency. All of our futures, and especially those of our children, are at stake in this larger battle.

I am a person living with both Native and Caucasian blood in my veins. During the past few months, my soul directed me with passion to spread the word about the events at Standing Rock, and to support it in other ways, also. However, I didn't realize how fully these outer conflicts were registering inside my body until watching this video, and personally feeling the advent of healing, celebrated in the heart, honored by tears and baptized by integrity.

Ho.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.