I’ve been ‘a runner’ all my life. As a schoolboy I was a fairly decent sprinter, 100 and 200 meters. As an adult I then began appreciating long distance running and was lead to do 2 marathons. Brian Caruth and I crossed the finishing line of the iconic New York City marathon in 1997, and then Sam Cox, Joel, Ben and myself completed the Twin Cities marathon in 2006.
That is why I found it interesting that in Jeffrey Prather’s book Initiation, running was used by his Apache mentor as one of the ways in which he would be taught about how to best journey through life as a man.He learned how by combining the correct minimal footwear (in the form of moccasins), right breathing and physical and spiritual posture, it was possible to endure over a long distance.
I implemented what I had been reading about, as I ran some distance, barefoot each morning for those few weeks, along the northwest shore of Belfast Lough.
Then a few weeks ago Robin sent me a YouTube link to Dr Sean O’Mara. This wise doctor of Irish extraction who just happens to live in Minneapolis, also talked about moccasins, but in his case it was not about using them to endure over a long distance but rather using them to excel over a short distance
He was advocating, that no matter what age you are, you should be sprinting in moccasins! His science backed up by personal experience made perfect sense to me and encouraged me to take my ‘interval training which I have been doing for years to the next level.
Immediately I went to the website he suggested of a local moccasin company, and ordered a pair.
At the dinner table that night I eagerly shared my new knowledge, but the moment I announced my purchase I realized how rash my decision to purchase the moccasins had been.
First off, amongst our Dakota guests was Raine, an expert moccasin maker who should at least have been consulted.
And then of course there was my wife…..
‘You already have a pair of moccasins!’ Hilary exclaimed.
‘I do?’ I replied.
‘ Yes. Did you forget. Carolyn gave you Mark’s pair.’
Early the next morning I retrieved from the back of the closet a pair of very fine moccasin boots. They fitted perfectly, so I slipped my set of BFR bands into the pockets of my running shorts and set out, warming up with a gentle jog through the woods.
Then at the farthest point, I turned and put on the bands. Tension just right, I was released by the imaginary gun to speed along the track on my almost bare feet counting sixteen labored breaths before easing to a gentle walking pace. A minute later, I sprinted again. Then again and again twelve times.
The question I pondered was, ‘To endure as the genius Indigenous or to excel as the ‘enlightened’ European?’
I concluded ‘Not an either/or, but a both/and.’
My thoughts returned to the strange turn of events in American politics where some are speculating about how Donald Trump representing traditional conservatism and Bobby Kennedy representing traditional liberalism might work together? In a recent interview Colonel Douglas McGregor commented that what the two had in common was “authenticity’ and this was something ordinary people recognize and are looking for.
All the while praying, I was brought back to the one whose moccasins I was wearing, and what an honor it had been to inherit them from this marvelous son of God, taken from this side, and now on the other side’
Now I was indeed, in God’s time, ‘running in another man’s moccasins’.
‘Judge Softly’ is the name of the poem written by Mary T. Lathrop in 1895 known for the famous line, ‘walk a mile in another man’s moccasins’
At Mark’s funeral I was privileged to sing on his behalf,
“ I open my eyes. I see your smiling face.
Warming my heart, ‘Good Mornin’ Dad’
There others described, how the message Mark’s life lived on this side left us with, was simply…..
Never Judge. Always Forgive.
To which I would add the message Iris Mearns brought back when she returned from a visit to the other side, and scribbled on a chalk board….
Give Thanks.