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Wokikuye: Remembering Those We Knew
The influence of others can have a huge impact on you.
At a history conference several years ago, an elderly Lakota woman who was one of my college professors was one of the speakers. Her class had a large impact on me, and I was excited to see her again. We hadn’t seen each other since I’d graduated a couple of decades before. Over the years, I’ve thought of her often and wished I could talk to her again.
That day she spoke about wokikuye (wa-keek-su-way), a Lakota word that means memorial or remembering the words and actions of your ancestors. Remembering the words and wisdom of the elders is important because you acknowledge their gifts to you and use them in your own life, she said. This philosophy is very strong in that culture.
Her words set me to thinking about my own wokikuye and recognizing those of my family and elderly friends who have a major impact on me and how my life has turned out. I owe them everything.
My mother’s mother was the only person who ever encouraged me to go to college. I never forgot her inspiration even though she died when I was 16. I’d love to talk with her again and tell her I did in fact go to college. I was 30 and had kids, but I went like she said I should. I heard her encouraging words the whole time I studied and graduated magna sum laude. She would be very proud of…
