The original Homeland Security...

Last night, my apartment complex had a mixer at the clubhouse. Since I am fairly new here and haven't met a lot of people, I went. There weren't a lot of people there, but I did meet a few.

One lady that I met had moved here in August. She works for the Federal Government in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (something like that). Anyway, we had a good conversation about the Indian tribes that remain in the US.

I said something about being part Indian (my grandmother on my dad's side was part indian, though I don't know the details). Though cordial, she was a little irritated by that. After she explained,I understood why. To an Indian, you are only Indian if you maintain the connection to the traditions. They are a very proud people. It's kind of like the people that move to the United States from other countries and call themselves Americans but don't learn the language or the culture. You can only refer to yourself as Indian if you remain connected to the culture. I understand.

We discussed several things about Indian culture and how important they have been to our nation. I told her about seeing something on the History Channel about "Code Talkers". Her face lit up when I mentioned that. During WWI and WWII, the military recruited Indians as an integral part of their communications system. They could freely speak to each other in a coded language that was based on their native tongue. Encryption can be broken, but a language must be studied for a long time before it can be understood. They were critical to the military. It is a proud moment in time for the Indian culture. We should thank them.