Chester’s Story – Going Deeper

As mentioned in last week’s blog, seeing Chester Nez profoundly affected me. I continued feeling the emotional impact of his life whenever I thought of him. Chester, at the age of 91, is the last living member of the original group of twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers who helped the United States defeat the Japanese during World War II. I struggled with writing about him. Writing a blog post usually takes me five to eight hours, never less than three. Writing about Chester took me twelve hours, and I still felt I did not know why I was so deeply affected by his presence, his story, his life - why they had such a grip on me. I explored further in my morning pages (the term Julia Cameron uses to describe three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing done daily without any editing):

Why did I cry? Why did Chester’s story affect me? What did it want to tell me? Why did it touch me so? Writing is the way I reveal to myself what I am thinking. When Judith told the story of how the Navajo children had their culture and their language beaten out of them in boarding school, I felt what it was not to be accepted for who you are. When she described the disregard the U.S. government Bureau of Indian Affairs had for them, their feelings, their way of life, their well-being, it impacted me. The lack of respect with which they were treated appalled me. The cruelty of burning their animals alive distressed me – for them since they loved, cared for and depended on them and for their animals, screaming, crying out. Snot and tears as I write now. Getting down to the core issues. I could not believe or accept the cruelty and disregard with which they were treated – man’s inhumanity to man. I was the audience member who asked if the Navajos were ever compensated or received an apology. Spontaneously, I said, “I apologize,” to Chester and his grandson in front of the audience. If there are cruel thoughts and behavior anywhere, they are present everywhere since all is connected. It’s time to take responsibility and make a different choice.

One thing I didn’t include is that for the three years Chester and his group served in the Marines on the Pacific Islands, they were never allowed to go on leave like other soldiers because their services were considered too valuable. Despite the disregard and abuse with which his country treated him and his people, Chester continued to choose love (that makes me cry). He enlisted in the Marines because he loved his land, he loved his people, he loved their way of life and was willing to give up his life to protect them. If Chester can continue to choose love, choose love, choose love, can we? Can we love the Latino immigrants enough to find a way to interact with them, accept them, acknowledge them, appreciate their contributions to our society, to work together to find solutions that work for all? Can we do that with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people? Can we care for the poor, the elderly, compassionately, in a way that works for all? First, awareness that it is possible. Then a commitment to creating it together, making it real.

Who knew that facing the page today would let the stirrings of my heart pour out like this? The very thing that saved our country, speaking the Navajo language, was to be beaten out of Diné* children. Is that a cosmic message – a message from the Universe? We separated ourselves from the original citizens of this country and did not give them citizenship until 1924. The arrogance. As if it were ours to give. We ignored their knowledge, their gifts, their contributions – living knowing we are inseparable from the land. We denied their innate intelligence, unaware their language is far more complex than ours. We used them to accomplish our ends in the war, treating them like objects, as if they did not need leave, rest, recreation. Chester volunteered to serve a country that did not allow him to vote at the time. He chose love.

I believe it’s time to recognize we are one, one people, one nation, one planet. It’s time to act from the power of love. It’s time to acknowledge we are one big mirror ball with each surface reflecting the light in its own unique way as part of the whole - all equally valuable. It’s time to love ourselves enough that we can love each facet of ourselves. 

Going deeper, I found my own resonance with Chester’s story - not being seen, accepted, valued for who you are, being disregarded, disrespected, beaten as a child - but still able to choose love. Meditation and contemplation can lead to revelation. How would our planet be different today if we, like the Diné, knew we are inseparable from the land? If we knew everything is sacred? And lived as if that were so?

* Diné ("the people”) is the name Navajos call themselves.