When I was growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of American Indian or Native American culture. I remember visiting a museum and learning about this interesting culture from a very early age. In the museum, there were many ancient Native American relics that had been removed from ancient villages. There were also remnants and remains from a few famous battles between the U.S. Calvary and some Native American tribes during the turbulent time of the mid-19th century. Also on display was a tepee, a portable dwelling that the Indians lived in. This tepee had been renovated and repaired to look exactly like it did 150 years before, when actual Indians had rested and relaxed inside of it. On the outside of the tepee, there were crude drawings of animals like buffalo and deer. There were also drawings of a fire that represented “The Great Spirit” which the Indians worshiped like a god.
    As I was looking at the tepee I said to a friend, “How come Indians don’t live like this anymore?” a woman who worked for the museum overheard my remark and came over to tell me the relevant information about what had happened.
    She explained to me that before white people had settled in this area, the Native Americans had depended on the buffalo to provide them food, leather, and many other essential items. When the white people started moving across America, they killed millions of buffalos for sport and for their valuables skins. I had heard this before, but she reminded me that without the buffalos, there was no way for the Indians to replace their broken tepees or renew their food supply; basically, they were rendered helpless.
    The Indian chiefs discussed how they could relieve their terrible situation and find a remedy for this terrible problem. They thought that maybe someone in the Indian tribe had done something evil in the eyes of “The Great Spirit” and he was repaying the tribes for their wickedness. So, all of the tribal leaders gathered around a large fire and sang and danced and repented for angering “The Great Spirit”. Around the fire, they released some doves as a peace offering to “The Great Spirit”, hoping that he would help them to repel the white man’s destruction. They hoped the doves would relay their message to the god soon so they could enjoy a great cultural renaissance. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the white men kept coming and nearly destroyed that great civilization