Buried Article

Page A11 in the bottom left corner of the Peoria Journal Star last Thursday was an eleven line article that stopped me in my scanning from the doldrums of oil leaks, Avanti's dome, U.S. General changes in Afghanistan, Peoria shootings, yada yada yada. The headline: "Last South Dakota code talker buried." Many thoughts crossed my mind when I saw the headline, but a lesson I try to communicate to my students immediately came to mind.

We all carry our life story with us and when we are gone, our story is gone. I tell my students that there is no way that we will know all the stories, but we cannot discount people. Their stories are important and we need to listen to the stories and pass them on. I saw this article and all I could think is I hope that Clarence Wolf Guts' story lives somewhere. He is gone and his voice is gone. All we might have is the story that he told someone. This hero's story is seemingly so significant but so small in actual remembrance. Maybe technology like this will help us to document our stories so the future generations will remember and learn from us easier.