Extracts of Chief Seattle’s Speech (1887) by Chief Seattle
The beast, the tree, the man. They all share the same breath.
You must teach your children that the ground they walk on is made from the ashes of our ancestors. In order for them to respect the earth, tell your children that it is enriched by the lives of our race.
Teach your children what we taught ours, that the earth is our mother. All that happens to the earth comes to the sons of the earth.
If men spit on the ground, they spit on themselves.
We know at least this: the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. That we know. All things stand together as the blood that unites the same family. All things stand together.
All that happens to the earth comes to the sons of the earth.
It is not the man who has woven the web of life: he is only a thread. Everything he does to the plot, he does it to himself …
Note: I took the photographs from this series at the Malinche, an extinct volcano in the state of Mexico. The next day we visited an arena where a bullfight took place while we were in the mountains. The fresh blood of the bull executed for the joy of the crowd was everywhere on the ground … it is the blood of this animal killed for the only pleasure of the man that I integrated in the landscapes …
The beast, the tree, the man. They all share the same breath.
