Page 20 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • December 14, 2011 ent. He described talking some Lakota and Cheyenne friends to the Custer Battlefield Monument, as it was then called, and watching their faces when the guide described how General Custer had been ambushed and massacred by “savages.” His Indian guests were not amused. Neither was Josephy. The Lakota and the Cheyenne know a lot more about the Little Bighorn than the average white American, and they all know that Custer’s defeat started with a surprise attack that backfired and the Indians involved were defending their wives and daughters with – from the Army’s point of view – a deplorable degree of success. Josephy’s article got the guide he quoted fired. Soon Russell Means – another friend of the family – got the name of the battlefield changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial. “Since when do you name a battlefield after the guy who lost?” he reasoned. One thing about Russ: He isn’t politically correct in any context. Having been called a communist for his role in the Wounded Knee Uprising of 1973, he recovered from several gunshot and stab wounds and some jail time, joined the Miskito Indians in Central America in their fight against the real communists of the Soviet Union and Castro’s Cuba. As at the Little Bighorn, the Indians won. It remained for Park Historian John Doerner, still another friend and one who agreed with me that Sergeant Frank Finckle survived Custer’s Last Stand, to go the whole distance and see that the individual Indians who died at the Little Bighorn also received monuments to their valor. The whole battlefield became a monument, not to Manifest Destiny, but to the mutual sacrifice of those who fought on both sides. Doerner took some flak from people who still hate Indians – you would be surprised how many people use the flag as a cloak for anachronistic racism and a total ignorance of the wider context of history – but his work in commemorating fallen fighters on both sides was epochal. I recently saw an outtake from the PBS series “The National Parks” by Ken Burns, in which American Indians working for the National Park Service were the hosts at Mount Rushmore. Two men lectured on the history and culture of the tribes, and one of them got his audience so involved that the spectators could actually tell the Siouan dialects apart by key letter changes. A pretty teenaged Indian girl in costume did a highhopping “hoop dance” that defied imitation. She finished up surrounded by more rings than the Olympic logo – and this was appropriate, though the dance was not traditional as much as imaginative. She got a resounding round of applause, and the two Indian men got people to think about – dare we say it – why it took so long for the rest of us to appreciate these people. The Black Hills and the Little Bighorn Battlefield, and the whole National Park System, represent not only the best of what America was, but the best of what America is in the process of becoming – the actual land of the free and the home of the brave. Without being crass, the Little Bighorn, the Black Hills, Gettysburg, Antietam, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Muir Woods, to list only a few National Parks, draw tourists whose money is important to our economy and whose favorable opinions represent one hope for our future. The United States of today had a better record on human rights than most of our economic competitors had for the 20th century, but trying to turn the American 19th century into a white-makes-right hero myth will only harden the resolve of most of our economic competitors to shrug their shoulders if we sink. World opinion doesn’t support alibis for African slavery or the destruction of the Indian tribes, with millions of dead in both cases, and world opinion is suddenly important. Germany and France are now the economic fulcrum of Europe, and people in both countries love Indians, love Lincoln, and love to argue about Custer. So do most other Europeans and most Asians. The U.S. National Parks are the heart of America, and need to be saved. How would you rate a surgeon who opened someone up to take out an infected appendix, but took out the heart instead? That is what we are looking at in terms of the frantic attempts to balance the federal budget by making cuts in all the wrong places. Swinging the ax in an uninformed manner will undoubtedly do the nation more harm than good – and it will happen if we all roll over and go back to sleep instead of telling the feds how we feel. This could be a very perilous slumber. People used to say the man in the White House knew best. Most people have not said that for the last two decades. They have mostly been right. The most recent cut we have all heard about is the U.S. Postal Service. If plans are carried out, the expected speedy delivery by first class mail may become history along with the Pony Express. This is a sad thing, but it is also a dangerous thing – really and truly dangerous. The fact is that local newspapers are often delivered by local U.S. Mail and that curtailing this delivery by jacking up the price is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” Sound familiar? Check the Web if you can’t live without the latest gossip about Kim and Snookie and who is dating whom in Hollywood. Check your local paper if you want to find out what is happening in your own town hall, the schools, and the library. This is the heart, not the appendix. Don’t cut it. Subsidizing the post office as an employer of U.S. veterans also has a certain moral cachet and makes good economic sense. My best friend’s father was a combatwounded World War II veteran: D-Day, Silver Star, Purple Heart. He sent three kids through college working for the U.S. Post Office. He deserved a useful job that did some good. People deserve to read print news if they want to. All our mailboxes would breathe easier, however, if fewer and fewer catalogues for stuff we can’t afford cease to stop off on their way to the recycling center. What if we drove that particular postage up? That’s the appendix: junk mail nobody requests that is neither charitable nor journalistic in nature. Cut there! Speaking of forests, another bad place to save federal money could be the funding of the National Parks. These aren’t water parks, folks. The National Parks are the real thing. This was not always the case. I remember about 40 years ago when the late Alvin Josephy broke the Time-Life Barrier. Josephy, who once had dinner at my house in Glen Rock, finally told the world that Henry Luce, publisher of Time and Life, absolutely vetoed any stories about American Indians that didn’t make the Indians look ridiculous. Josephy had been a combat correspondent with the U.S. Marines in the Pacific in World War II, and he was a strong supporter of the concept of Indians as human beings, but he bit his tongue and did his Indian stories for American Heritage and various book publishers. Finally, at the end of the 1960s, he was able to convince Life magazine to devote a cover issue to American Indians of the past and the pres- Take the appendix, just spare the heart Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: What a wonderful night to celebrate the holiday season at the Midland Park Annual Tree Lighting! It was a beautiful time of our community coming together. I would like to thank Recreation Coordinator Kathy Lamonte for a job well done. The Recreation Committee helped with the setup and serving. Members of the town hall staff were on hand to assist with the cookies and hot chocolate, Chief Casson represented the police, Chief Berninger and the fire department made sure that Santa arrived safely, and Captain Junta and his EMS team were on hand to assist if a medical need arose. The DPW with Rudy at the lead did an outstanding job as usual in the setup and break down for the event. Midland Park CERT assisted with parking. The band played some festive songs to start the evening. Many local businesses contributed financially to help make the evening a success. Please remember them this holiday season by shopping locally. There were many other individuals and organizations who worked to make this evening a success and I am thankful for each and everyone of them. Midland Park is a special community. As Mayor Monahan mentioned in his talk, we are a giving community. He mentioned that it is truly better to give than to receive. I noticed this while setting up for the evening’s festivities. When they arrived, many people asked how they could help out. This is unique. They were not asking what they could get, but what they could give. This is Midland Park. We are a truly blessed community. My prayer is that this spirit of giving will continue. Starting in your homes (sometimes families are the hardest) spreading to your neighbors (even those you don’t know well or really like) and going through- Midland Park Tree Lighting reflections out this great community that we enjoy. I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Scott Pruiksma, Councilman/Recreation Liaison Midland Park Dear Editor: On behalf of the Midland Park Board of Recreation, I would like to thank the many sponsors and volunteers who contributed to the success of the Midland Park Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration. We are especially grateful to all the sponsors and volunteers listed below who have helped the recreation department shape this celebration into a muchanticipated community event. The success of this event would not have been possible without the help of the following contributors: TD Bank, The Rotary Club, Family Hair Care, The Love Fund, The Hot Dog Caboose, Godwin Tool and Hardware, V&S Floor Covering, LAN Associates, Danco Tent Rentals, and David Zuidema, Inc. A very special thanks to the Midland Park Fire Department, Midland Park Ambulance, Midland Park Police Department, Midland Park Department of Public Works, CERT members, Midland Park Girl Scouts, the Gormley Family, the Highland School Band, and Christopher Gandet, and the many student and adult volunteers who helped make this event a success. All of your generous contributions and community service led to the success of this wonderful event enjoyed by all of the neighbors and residents who attended this year’s celebration. Kathy LaMonte, Recreation Coordinator Midland Park Holiday celebration thank you 2011 Nurse Recognition Award (continued from page 11) Whelan continued. “She is a great role model for anyone who wishes to purse his/her lifelong dream and is determined to achieve it.” The mission of the New Jersey League for Nursing supports and implements the mission of the National League for Nursing to promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce to advance the national’s health at the constituent level. CHCC has served the community since 1911, providing a broad scope of mental-health and elder-care services.