An Ode to My Fellow Canadians

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Comment by cass benedict on February 5, 2013 at 5:06pm

As a distant Canadian, my mother and grandparents homesteaded near Calgary in the early part of last century.  They imagrated to Oregon, where I was born.  I am a non tribal mixied blood, raised white.  When I was a young man, I was drawn to and blessed by native people, and I have been adopted and loved by indian people.  Invited into the sweat lodge, taught the way of mother earth, and learned the real story of how the land was taken along with the language, way of life, through war and deciet.  Idle no More is an opportunity for non-first nation people to learn, grow, and become educated to the facts.  We can work and pull together for the justice and for the generations to come.  This is a time for break through thinking, we have an opportunity to lay down the burden of hatered and domination of others and choose to love, to share, to forgive (forgive our past miss deeds and to make amends by living in a way that is inclusive of all, and inclusive) this way will provide us with a future that is sustainable, fair, and we just might be surprized how beautiful life is when we set aside fear and hatred.  Cass Red Heart

Comment by Gordon Ross on February 1, 2013 at 3:44pm

there is a Zulu greeting that is very deep - "sawubona"  I SEE you.  it means in a profound way and I would like to say that here.  there is a growing awareness and a growing cultural mosaic in our country, there is a growing respect for First Nations as your struggle in reality is a fight for all of us concerned for our environment and well being. I hope that we can grow to know each other and learn, prosper and make our land a better place for our children. You have my respect and I do not want to see us stand apart, we need to learn the value that each of us can bring to the table. It is through grassroots sharing that people can see the everyday goodness of the people and dispel the travesties of the past from destroying the possibilities of now and our future sharing this land. It is important to know the history but like a very great man I admire very much said-

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” 
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

May we teach each other, may we learn to love.