NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONAL CODE OF ETHICS

1. Each morning upon rising, and each evening before

sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for

all good things the Creator has given you. For all

theopportunities to grow a little each day. Consider

your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek

courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for

the things that will benefit others (everyone).

2. Respect: Respect means: “To feel and show honor or

esteem for someone or something; to consider

the well being of, or to treat someone or something

with deference or courtesy”. Showing respect is a

basic law of life.

a. Treat every person from the smallest child to

the oldest elder with respect at all times.

b. Special respect should be given to Elders,

Parents, Teachers, and Community Leaders.

c. No person should be made to feel “put down”

you; avoid hurting other hearts as you

would avoid a deadly poison.

d. Touch nothing that belongs to someone else

(especially Sacred Objects) without

permission, or an understanding between you.

e. Respect the privacy of every person, never

intrude on a person’s quiet moment or

personal space.

f. Never walk between people that are

conversing.

g. Never interrupt people who are conversing.

h. Speak in a soft voice, especially when you

are

in the presence of Elders, strangers or

others to whom special respect is due.

i. Do not speak unless invited to do so at

gatherings where Elders are present (except to ask

what is expected of you, should you be in

doubt).

j. Never speak about others in a negative way,

whether they are present or not.

k. Treat the earth and all of her aspects as

your

mother. Show deep respect for the mineral

world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do

nothing to pollute our Mother, rise up with

wisdom to defend her.

l. Show deep respect for the beliefs and

religion

of others.

m. Listen with courtesy to what others say, even

if you feel that what they are saying is

worthless. Listen with your heart.

n. Respect the wisdom of the people in council.

Once you give an idea to a council meeting

it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the

people. Respect demands that you listen

intently to the ideas of others in council and

that you do not insist that your idea prevail.

Indeed you should freely support the ideas of

others if they are true and good, even if those

ideas are quite different from the ones you have

contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth

the Spark of Truth.

3. Once a council has decided something in unity,

respect demands that no one speak secretly against

what has been decided. If the council has made an

error, that error will become apparent to everyone in

its own time.

4. Be truthful at all times, and under all

conditions.

5. Always treat your guests with honor and

consideration. Give of your best food, your best blankets, the

best part of your house, and your best service to

your

guests.

6. The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honor of

one is the honor of all.

7. Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving

heart

and as members of the human family.

8. All the races and tribes in the world are like the

different colored flowers of one meadow. All are

beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all

respected.

9. To serve others, to be of some use to family,

community, nation, and the world is one of the main

purposes for which human beings have been created. Do

not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget

your most important talks. True happiness comes only

to those who dedicate their

lives to the service of others.

10. Observe moderation and balance in all things.

11. Know those things that lead to your well-being,

and those things that lead to your destruction.

12. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your

heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms; in

prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in

the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.