We are now lead to believe that his position in society must be very high in that he is someone with great knowledge for his surroundings as well as someone who is well respected. Being a man of his status we could conclude that Lame Deer is noticeably a fairly wealthy and recognized person in his society. .
In "Sanchez", William Least Heat Moon talks about a particular encounter on his three month road voyage across country where he meets a man named Porfirio Sanchez while traveling through Texas. "Outside of Fredericksburg, a small brown man, unable to bend his right knee, a paper sack under his arm, limped along the road to Hedwig's Hill. He looked directly at me, smiled, and oddly waved an upright thumb. As I passed, he waved goodbye. That's when I realized he was hitching." (Moon 459) That's also when we realize that Sanchez is basically a bum who caries his belongings with him and hitches rides to get where he needs to go. He barely speaks English and has very little money compared to what Lame Deer has. "I have these thirty-five cents. That's all. The cop buy me a doughnut and coffee, and so I eat. I walk one mile before another ride. When I wait, I kill a big rotlah." (Moon 460) Sanchez is someone who takes care of himself, and uses his surroundings for survival; as where Lame Deer criticizes today's people for using the environment to survive. We learn that Sanchez is a redskin and his mother was Apache so most likely Sanchez has a different perspective than Lame Deer. Although Lame Deer and Sanchez have different positions in their society, they both are Native Americans who have a tremendous amount of respect and who care for their surroundings that they use everyday.
Lame Deer's feelings for the environment are very strong, especially towards today's modern world. After Lame Deer had so nicely seduced us to sit and listen, he seems to attack us for the way we have not respected the environment.