Let us all become spiritual warriors and fight our greatest enemy, ourselves.
John G. Neihardt, Black Elk's Vision

I just finished reading a book that has deeply touched my soul and left it screaming for justice and compassion for all Native Americans.

In From The Flames Of Wounded Knee To The Center Of God's Will, Darrell New Plenty Stars bares his soul, mind and heart to any who are brave enough to listen. Darrell's friend and co-writer of the book, Shirlee Evans, gave him the encouragement he needed to come forward with his story.

This is not just another life story of one man's struggles and road blocks to overcome, but a soul-wrenching search for peace and understanding, for love and for a place in this world. From the battlefields in Vietnam, through mistaken identity that almost caused him loss of name, home and life, to a charge of murder, interrogation and trial, and the horrors of going through another Wounded Knee nightmare, Darrell writes of his long road, full of turmoil and injustice, back to his home on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Through trials and tribulations and tests he had to endure, Darrell finds the home and love he needs when he is led to the woman who will love him - Rose. Through many years of trying to follow the right path, slipping back into trouble with alcohol and violence, losing the woman he loves and their children, pulling himself back up and facing his God to beg forgiveness, Darrell pleads for his life and his family to be returned to him. He pleads for direction and guidance, he pleads for hope, any hope at all.

Darrell is a full-blood Oglala Lakota man. From the time he was born, then abandoned at the tender age of nine months, Darrell has faced death head-on and eye to eye. Every time he managed to stand straight, death was there, ready to taunt him and pull him down to eternal hell.

On December 29, 1890, Darrell's Grandfather, Red Fish, escaped undetected from the carnage of Wounded Knee. Red Fish was only twelve years old when he managed to do this. If not for Rev. James Red Fish and his bravery at the age of 12, Darrell would not be here to tell his story and to bring awareness to the struggles of his people, or to reach out to give spiritual guidance to those who are struggling as he has done.

Will Rose, a loving and giving person, be strong enough to stand by Darrell and give him the support and love he so desperately needs? Will Darrell's family and friends come back to him after turning away? Or must Darrell lose all he loves, his family, his soul, his salvation before he can stand strong again, or will he even be able to stand tall again? Will he find the peace that seems to elude him at every turn, making him doubt there is any hope at all? Will even God turn His back?

To read this story of a young man calling from the bitter cold and darkness of night for help is to find your own path and receive the encouragement you need to go forward, regardless of what tragedy befalls you.

This book has been a spiritual awakening for me. Long before I ever knew that James Red Fish, the 12 year old boy who escaped from the Wounded Knee massacre, existed, I wrote about a 12 year old boy in my article titled Hope From Wounded Knee. Back in June of this year, I wrote the fictional article (or I thought it was fictional. I called him a "Child of Hope". And now, six months later, the spiritual circle has brought me to Darrell, the grandson of that 12 year old boy.

The "Child of Hope" has come forward.

Awaken your spiritual path and read Darrell's story. It will touch your heart.

For some minutes the old man stood silent, with face uplifted, weeping in the drizzling rain. In a little while the sky was clear again. John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks
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