The Story of Joseph

I was in line at the grocery store, thinking about writing to my mother, and what to write about. I remembered one of my best memories from when we used to go up the logging roads in Idaho to pick huckleberries to one of our favorite places. There was a hillside with one or two abandoned autos, many huckleberry bushes, but also a beautiful stream.

I remember this stream as the ultimate Platonic ideal stream: deep in the forest, surrounded with greenery, bubbling over mossy stones, it looked like the photo model for one of those streams in the Kool cigarette ads. I sat with my mother by this stream and she mentioned that we were not far from where Chief Joseph had traveled while being pursued by the Army. She told me this story, and what he said when he surrendered--not captured, but surrendered: "I will fight no more forever."

I imagine this was to save the people of the village from further bloodshed.

Now I've been honored to meet, through the Baha'i Faith, relatives of Chief Joseph.

In my mind I call this "Chief Joseph Stream."