There's pride in walking iron.
In which I gush about the Mohawk Skywalkers
In reading something completely different I came upon a quote that thrilled me:
“A lot of people think Mohawks aren’t afraid of heights; that’s not true. We have as much fear as the next guy. The difference is that we deal with it better. We also have the experience of the old timers to follow and the responsibility to lead the younger guys. There’s pride in ‘walking iron’.”
This was said by Kyle Karonhiaktatie Beauvais, a fourth-generation Mohawk Skywalker, as quoted in an amazing blog post by Amelia Mavis Christnot for The Big Picture.
What’s a Mohawk Skywalker, you ask?
Kanien’kéhá:ka of the Haudenosaunee men who built the steel infrastructures for skyscrapers in New York City, climbing hundreds of feet in the air without safety equipment. These men started off as loggers, dancing over logjams in rivers to free up the timber. (My dad, whose mother was the cook for a logging camp in the Snowy Range of Wyoming a lifetime ago, almost drowned when he “danced” on river-bound logs and fell into the river underneath them. Dangerous work.) As the industrial revolution evolved, they adapted to the demands of modern construction and began “sky walking.”
Like modern-day superheroes.
What I love about Kyle Karonhiaktatie Beauvais’s quote is that he busts this myth wide open. And shares a secret we can all benefit from:
“We deal with it better.”
Yes! We’re all afraid! We’re all envious! We’re all insecure! We’re all assholes!
But who among us deals with it better?
And who among us looks to our old-timers for strength? And takes responsibility to “lead the younger guys”? (This is the charge teachers and parents take up, of course. And it ain’t easy, especially in a broad culture that siphons reverence out of our souls.)
Who among us takes pride in walking the iron of everyday (and even more high-stakes) relationships?
Would that we all would! If you are a “Relationship Walker,” I hope you take a moment right now to feel some pride in your beautiful humanity. Leave a comment celebrating yourself! And others like you! And the Kanien’kéhá:ka of the Haudenosaunee for their inspiring example!