06/18/2026
Háŋ Mitákuye Oyás'iŋ
The world just made its first trillionaire
and I sat with that for a minute
because I can't understand it.
A trillion dollars held in one set of hands
while babies go without,
while elders choose between heat and medicine,
while whole communities are told there isn't enough.
That mindset runs the world
and it makes me sick.
Me ? I got a payout this week
and the money was barely mine before it was moving again.
Paid another small business for their honey and their wax.
Bought bread and vegetables from the farmers market.
Walked a vendor fair and put money in the hands of other makers.
Sent some to family who needed it.
I'm not rich in money.
I'm rich in family. Rich in teachings.
I've paid for funerals.
Car bills. Rent. Light bills. Groceries.
Tipi raising contests. Wačhípi funds.
Boxes of medicine sent to people I'll never get a thank you from
and I never asked for one.
I don't take it back. I don't accept what's offered in return.
Because that's not the way I was raised.
We don't hoard. We share.
When ours is taken care of, we help others have.
Our people measured wealth by how much you gave away,
not how much you could pile up and sit on top of.
So in that way, I'm trying to be wealthy.
Wealthy enough to keep giving.
It's a hard way to live inside a banking system
that was never built for people like us.
But I'll get through it.
I always do.
They take and take with no regard for another life.
We give and give and somehow we're still standing.
That's the difference.
That's the whole difference.
lakotamade.com
