The Ice Is Melting: Martha Gould-Lehe

Posted At : August 8, 2008 1:00 AM
Related Categories: Philosophy

Excerpted from "The Ice Is Melting," by Oren Lyons, and used by permission of the E.F. Schumacher Society. Full text available at www.smallisbeautiful.org.

Read by Martha Gould-Lehe: "This piece has meaning for me because it speaks of the future generations of children; it is they who will inherit our blunders, innovations, and wisdom." Martha is a 20-year teacher, most recently involved in creating the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School in Anchorage. Martha is also a wife, mother of 4, and grandmother of 6 who loves to hike and enjoy different colors in sunrises and sunsets.

Chief Oren Lyons of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation, in one of the Annual E. F. Schumacher Society Lectures, describes leadership amongst his people:

"When you sit in your council for the welfare of the people, think not of yourself or of your family or of your generation. [The Great Peacemaker] said, Make your decision on behalf of the seventh generation coming. That was the instruction of a thousand years ago. It's good instruction for leadership. And when the Council of Chiefs at Onondaga meets, we actually do try to see seven generations ahead. We try, and let me tell you, it's pretty murky. I can remember a time when I thought I could see seven generations, but not now. And it keeps getting harder to see."

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