Lessons of a Lakota

By Vernon Marshall View Profile
Anyone who has an interest in Native American culture will enjoy this book. Anyone who is searching for meaning in life will enjoy it too. Anyone who has had to struggle to discover happiness following bereavement will also enjoy this book. It is a lovely book, a book to bring out when one is fighting that sense of meaningless that creeps upon us from time to time. It could have been written as a non-fiction work but its impact may not have been so great. Its story-form is appealing, to people of any age, including young adults and older children, who have had to deal with the pain of loss.

This story concerns a young Native American who loses his beloved sister and has found life to be empty because of it. He is therefore sent on a journey. He has been given a scroll to lead him to happiness, upon which are certain symbols and pictures. Different people have to be approached with the interpretation of them and this takes David, the lead character, from one wise person to another, building up all the time a store of wisdom. The outcome, which I will not reveal, results in a new life for a happy young man whose dead sister’s life and death begins to have greater meaning for him.

It is only a small book, with less than 200 pages, but is a real treasure. We Europeans would do well to rediscover the power of story. This book contains a lovely philosophy of life that is presented so simply and yet so effectively. It would be a lovely present for anyone, but especially a young person who is perplexed by life’s difficult experiences.