As I ponder the "challenges" facing our society, I am reminded of the story of Chief    , a Black Warrior River Creek Indian chief who traded with the U.S. store in St. Stephens U.S. Factory Store just before the outbreak of the War of 1812. When the chief came down river in 1813 to haggle over his yearly bill, he negotiated while withholding a terrible secret. The old chief understood what the future held far more accurately than his white traders who held his debts. Oba knew that the many of the greatest chiefs of the Creek Nation had already made "fight to the death" alliance/pact with the fanatical Red Sticks who followed an extremely apocalyptic religion promoted by the Shawnee of the Great Lakes. With the promise of British support, Old chief may have really believed that the genocide of St. Stephens was on a near horizon so he was counting on the Red Stick genocide of the whites of THE MAN in St. Stephens would wipe the slate clean. Here's how I described the situation in a story I wrote two decades ago.