By Nahum Ward-Lev and Andrew Black | Dec 9, 2017
We just returned from a visit to the Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah in the company of nearly 30 faith and tribal leaders. Our group undertook the journey to stand in solidarity with the indigenous tribes that have held this land sacred for millennia, and to raise a moral voice for the importance of the protection of indigenous sacred sites and public lands that are endangered by the Trump administration’s determination to diminish some of our national monuments.
On our journey to Bears Ears, we were moved by the way that the sacred land brought our group together spiritually. Coming from many faith and spiritual backgrounds, we were united as one by the joy and renewal that the beauty of the land brought to our hearts. We stood in awe before grand, multi-colored canyons. Delight rippled through our group when we saw wild turkeys ambling through the woods and when a large buck turned his antlered head toward us and held us in his gaze. Each of us felt the healing and rejuvenating power of the land as we witnessed a mother mountain lion and her kittens cross a dirt road in a flourishing forest.