"I am always eager to see the manifestation of Destiny (not Manifest Destiny) in life. I tend to ask people whether they believe in fate or self destiny, the elusive twins in our lives. These two are like specters that one cannot always see but one that you can see wisps of out of the corner of the eyes (usually in attics or cellars). Women mostly say its fate directing us while men lean toward steering their own destiny.

In Oklahoma, we are in the neighborhood of renegotiating the tribal tobacco compacts with the state. The legacy of tobacco with Indians here is curiously neither fate or self destiny. The Sooner state has had its fair share of tobacco treason, raids, indictments and the like.

It used to be that love scenes in movies were often signaled by both parties in bed smoking a cigarette. Now that cozy scene could be a bygone as the old state-tribal tobacco compacts expire. In various forms of correspondence, Gov. Mary Fallin urges tribal leaders to come on down and make a deal because tobacco compacts are “significant opportunities for our two governments to work together for the betterment of all Oklahoma.”"

Get the Story:
S.E. Ruckman: Tobacco compacts and the manifestation of destiny (The Native American Times 2/4)