I got silver and it don't mean squat

Hey guys and gals, I had a wife until recently and we had gold and silver, big bars.

Let's just say for the interests of reporting that it's all gone. Pracitcally is now but I know what it means to have silver. I gots what my grand-daddy left us and I only got like 1/10th of that, but the thing that pisses me off royally is ALL OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF THERE HERITITORS JUST SOLD IT.

They traded it in for FRNs. Can't believe it but it's true, but at the time. They probably got a one-on-one, at that time you could cash in and use the spending power. See to me, I was there for the dissolution of my grandparent's estate, small and pitiful as it was.

See the last thing we were thinking of was the metal. I want this to be the best appology we can make to you young people because we never, ever thought about trading the silver, we had half a mountain. An Adirondak mountain. We had a sugar bush which is a whole show-boat full of maple trees and we tapped them for sugar and we put up trap lines and in winters we went hunting or fixed our gear for a good season logging.

Now I am very tempted to go all Al Gore on you but this acid rain trip really tripped us out because we could see for ourselves, and we remembered things the elders told us: the clouds are differenet, the water tastes different, the cow's milk tastes different, I shit you not.

When grand daddy died, I made a bid for the small portion grand daddy left for us and because I made such an impassioned case I got all my father's silver at a bargain price. And I been giving it away all the time since. When I find somebody with heart and true understanding, I just can't resist giving them some silver to show then that I love you, really do, and here is something eternal to show it's permanent.

To tell you the truth, all I have is silver but if I had gold, i'd be giving it away now.

Recently my buddy Thumper passed on, for puraly stupid reasons, he did a freaking heroine overdose and left his kids.

What a freaking idiot, he fooled us all, he had us all convinced he was off the junk.

Know what I'm glad of now?

I'm glad I didn't give Thumper nothing before now, he would have just spent it on junk. He would have took my grand daddy's silver and spent it on junk. He would have taken 3 generations and shot it up his arm. And Thumper was one of the best musicians my people have seen in 3 generations, he was a singer.

Now let me tell you just a bit about what a tribal singer means. He just did not sing pretty songs, but he was trusted to KEEP THEM. KEEP THE SONGS FOR FUTURE GENERTATIONS. THE CHILDREN, THE CHILDREN ARE WHAT'S IMPORTANT.

But he didn't. He succombed. He went down to silence. He once was a great warrior. Now he's fertilizer. Fuck.

And now we got two kids on our hand and a pretty wife who don't know what to do with herself. Fucking Thumper.

Wells, I baby sat these kids and they know who Oyate is so I picked out a set for them. Thumper, little kid that he was, he was born in 1972 if I remeber corrrectly so I tried to pick out some coins from that date but i also gave them some Liberties, the originals and some Fraklins to show that our commitment as brothers still stands. Anything for a bro. It's a code. And when a bro goes down, you pour it into his survivors because love is eternal.

Now I gotta take a break and say this is why they kicked me off RPF, because I talk and I admit to you now I have to write, can't stop myself but I like to tell stories. You can tell this story is true because anybody can look up Tolerant AZ for the surviving metal band.

Bit we had a memorial and I knew just what to do because of tradition.

One time in my tradition, I got to see and take part in a real-live native wedding and it was TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME. We met 3 days in aedvance, apart from the women and did all kinds of neat things, we purified ourselves in sweatlodge, we drank beer and had fires but on the night before the wedding, the host, the male passed around a stone, a rock. Around the circle among us men the rock went and it wsa a fairly big rock. And it was said.........

Men, I call upon you as brethren because I cannot bear the weight of this rock alone, or if I fall, one of you must pick it up and carry this weight.

And each man around this fire got to hold the stone or pass it on.

Because each of us knew this burden, this weight, we knew it's significance, this was his unborn child. When they were married they would have a child and if they died, this burden would be passed onto us.

In other words, tradition states that if he fell, we would carry the burden.

Tradition states that he would carry the rock 4 times around the fire and then pass it on and we would pass this rock and you got 4 times to say what you really mean.

So I spoke my heart: I love you, I love Becca your wife and I love your child soon to come.

And it came true. He had the best little boy. His name turned out to be Mikey. It would have been nicer if Mikey had brown skin and brown eyes but we got a little blue-eyed buy with blonde hair. Go figure. But man was he the best kid.

One time when I was babysitting him I sat him down on the bench seat of the truck and tried to belt him in (how you you seatbelt a 3 year old anyways?) but I buckled him in and he just started singing this song and it went like this:

"I love daddy
and I love mommy
and I love Christnen (their cat)
and I love Oyate
and I love everybody"

So I started singing with him.

"I love daddy
and I love mommy".....& etc.

Time went on and I found another wife and she came equipped with kids whom i love very much but when Thumper died I realized HFS, i have neglected my tribal and familial responsibilities and HOW COULD I OR WE EVER LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?

He had us all convinced he was off junk. And he apparently fooled us all. And as metal heads, we are no strangers to drug addiction, to alcohol dependency, the works. He fooled us all.

By Gods, there is not a man in the Northern Arizona heavy metal scene, by Gods if he came back to life today we'd kill him dead now. By Gods Thumper, what did you do now? Fuck man.

But so now my money is where my mouth is. I held this stone, I had a chance to drop out, I chose to hold it and when we had a memorial for Thumper, I ran out into the yard and called in my heart for a stone, just a symbolic stone and I found one like it came calling. A beautiful hunk of rose quartz and I said "you have laid here for thousand of years but today we go to work"

So I took that rock and to the memorial and reminded the brothers, those same brothers, that we are in charge now and we must be the brothers and by hook and crook, these kids and this woman are now our sole responsibility. And among those same brethen who were there for the original stone passing, I offered the stone back to them and not one of them refused it.

OK so now all we gotta do is basically take care of these kids for life because now there are two of them. There's a daugheter. Her name is Mallory. How ironic is her name to begin with the latin word for "illness" or "destruction". I will not, cannot call her by this name because I would prefer to call her Mallard like a duck or anything but not that.

I did what I could at the memorial which is to say I was a drunken fool but I did the rock thing and gave 3 ounces of silver to each of them. To Mikey and Mallory and Becca their mom but it doesn't stop there. My bond is to look out for them FOR LIFE. FOR EVER. And now the job is upon me, I am glad for the support of the people, my brothers and I am glad I don't carry this stone alone because I have others to bear it with me and if I fall, one of my brothers is sure to pick it up.

The fuck if you don't think us metal heads don't try to preserve honor.

Now you see where this is going. I did not carry this stone alone, it is too heavy. But brothers and sisters, I adjure you to make plans that you don't want to happen. Brothers, write a will. We are warriors number one and number two, we must make provisons such that if anything happens to us, we leave the see-through. I'm all set because you brothers and sisters told me to buy metal and metal I (me and my present wife) have bought. And then our metal turns into something of a dowry or at least, take care of our kids and it is paid for over and again. And I can only trust you, my people who never held the stone, who never made a promise, I would ask you to steward my kids and treat them as your own as we have treated Mikey, and when we find her, Mallory.

I would also convict you men as I have been, as a warrior, THEY ARE ALL OUR CHILDREN. To a warrior, all things belong to you. And you know what I am talking about, you can say yes or you can say no.

Where it comes to kids, brothers and sisters, I would urge you to say "yes". For I have demonstrated to you that our children, OUR children are worth more than silver and gold. And if you are in any doubt, THEY ARE ALL OUR CHILDREN. And again, you can say yes or you can say no but remember, it's never too late to change your mind.

Brothers and sisters, pray for me that I have wisdom to direct these young lives but also look for the opportunity like a sniper to come in at the right moment, you can save lives and gain honour.

Brothers, I do not always know right from wrong, I am a warrior and so are you. All I can say as a warrior is there is a chance for honor and it goes fast. Be that man as I have been. All I can say is one day you might have a 3 year old who .sings a song of "I love you" and trust me, that makes everything, every single thing worth it

Wo Lakota Om,Najum and I am sorry that I start out making a point but tell a story and I thank you for your time.