 Whenever we walk on the Earth, we should pay attention to what is going on. Too often our minds are somewhere else, thinking about the past or thinking about the future. When we do this, we are missing important lessons. The Earth is a constant flow of lessons and teachings, which also include a constant flow of positive feelings. If we are aware as we walk, we will gather words for our lives, the lessons to help our children; we will gather feelings of interconnectedness and calmness. When we experience this, we should say or think thoughts of gratitude. When we do this, the next person to walk on the sacred path will benefit even more.  Ah key chee ta-keyn-we cha you oh nee huh pay = Almighty, Everlasting God, the Protector of all those who put their trust in Thee: hear our prayers in behalf of Thy servants who sail their vessels beneath the seas. We beseech Thee to keep in Thy sustaining care all who are in submarines, that they may be delivered from the hidden dangers of the deep. Grant them courage, and a devotion to fulfill their duties, that they may better serve Thee and their native land. Though acquainted with the depths of the ocean, deliver them from the depths of despair and the dark hours of the absence of friendliness and grant them a good ship's spirit. Bless all their kindred and loved ones from whom they are separated. When they surface their ships, may they praise Thee for Thou art there as well as in the deep. Fill them with Thy Spirit that they may be sure in their reckonings, unwavering in duty, high in purpose, and upholding the honor of their nation. Amen
the submariner's prayer -  Whenever we walk on the Earth, we should pay attention to what is going on. Too often our minds are somewhere else, thinking about the past or thinking about the future. When we do this, we are missing important lessons. The Earth is a constant flow of lessons and learnings which also include a constant flow of positive feelings. If we are aware as we walk, we will gather words for our lives, the lessons to help our children; we will gather feelings of interconnectedness and calmness. When we experience this, we should say or think thoughts of gratitude. When we do this, the next person to walk on the sacred path will benefit even more. 
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History of Bay Pines
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by I. Mac Perry
The first inhabitants of Florida arrived around 10,000 BC when the climate was drier and the state twice as wide as it is today. As the ice age glaciers melted, the Gulf of Mexico moved in. Tampa Bay and its western arm Boca Ciega Bay were formed. Around AD 500, a group of stocky, tattooed Indians set up a village on the north shore of Boca Ciega Bay where today’s VA Medical Center sits. They would later called Weeden Island People.
While these native people collected berries and roots and hunted deer and other mammals, 75% of their diet came from the fish and shellfish (mostly oysters) they gathered out of the shallow bay. They made tools out of the empty whelk and clam shells (hammers, adzes, cups, celts, and dippers), and they drank the black drink, a highly caffeinated tea made from holly leaves.
These Weeden Island People lived during the renaissance of pottery making in Florida. They didn’t invent pottery but made the finest pottery ever to exist in the aboriginal eastern U.S. The surface of their beautiful pots were stamped with checks, incised with whorls, and punctuated with tiny holes. Many of their pots had animal effigies and were placed in the mounds of their dead.
Besides burial mounds, another type of mound existed at the Bay Pines village. It is called a shell midden and ran as a ridge along the shore. The midden was made of discarded empty shells that were cast upon the beach year after year. In time, the shell midden was covered with soil and plants grew on top. A remnant of the midden still exists on the Medical Center grounds. It stands about two feet high and runs the length of a football field along the shore.
In 1971, a team of archaeologists investigated this midden and adjacent burial mound. They found 68 pottery shards, 97 shell tools, 630 animal bones, and twenty human burials.
By A.D. 1000, the Weeden Island People had disappeared from Florida. They were replaced by a more advanced culture that had chiefs, temple mounds, and large towns. These people, the Safety Harbor People were the ones the Spanish Conquistadors met in the 1500s. There is no evidence that any Safety Harbor People ever lived at the Bay Pines Site.
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