I'll never forget the past

Apache's on their way to imprisonment at Fort Marion in Florida. Geronimo is front row third-person from the right with beads and hat.

I lived in 

England, Germany (twice), 

South Dakota,
Florida, Connecticut
and northern California
while growing up 
in a chaotic and 

dysfunctional military family.

Three different high schools.

I hate good-byes,

so many beloved friends and family

left behind.

My heart wept.

Thus the love, 

for the sentimentality 

of The Kinks,

plus they got the blues.

All of these places I lived

were steeped in 

rich fertile history

which I explored 

with my eyes, 

my heart and my soul.

I absorbed the essence

of these 'home towns'.

Carried the stories

with me like a sacred scroll.

For good

and for bad,

I'm a

puzzle of geographic 

and cultural creation.

I won't forget

the pain and suffering of the poor 

in feudal London.

I haven't forgotten

the Roman ruins along the Rhine.

I won't forget Wounded Knee 

or Custer's Last Stand.

I also haven't forgotten this story 

from Fort Marion prison 

in St. Augustine, Florida.

On April 16, 1886, a train arrived in St. Augustine. People from all over town gathered at the station to take a peek at the fearsome and demonized people that carried little to nothing when they got off the train.

The new arrivals were Apache (including Geronimo) taken prisoner in Arizona and transported for confinement and 're-education' inside  Fort Marion - prisoners of the US Army.

Years later, after being moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Geronimo died as a prisoner. On February 16, 1909, the 79 year old Apache leader fell off a horse and spent a night in the cold, on the ground at Fort Sill. He died the next day and was buried there. 

Legend has it that former US Senator Prescott Bush (Grandad of George W. Bush) took a raiding party to Fort Sill and dug up Geronimo's skull which was placed inside the Tomb at Yale's secret Skull and Bones Club.

Yale's Peabody Museum acknowledges the presence of Geronimo's skull in its collection. There have been demands for repatriation from Apache descendants but no response.

I'll never forget

the deep respect I carry for 

those who fought 

to protect the people,

even when they knew

the genocidal white man's army
had the greater power and numbers.

In South Korea 

they say 'fighting!'

which translates 

to me as

courage, strength, 

clarity of purpose,

loyalty,

and a deep spiritual

understanding of our

connection to one another.

I won't forget that 'fighting'

means our responsibility

to protect the future generations.

I'll never forget that 

all things 

on and around

our beautiful Mother Earth

are related and sacred.

Bruce