Videos
Wilfred Andrew
Today we miss so many things that our people had long time ago. The part that is missing most in our lives today as Nuu-chah-nulth people is responsibility. Responsibility in the sense of bringing up our children with the language and we expect the school system to teach the language and culture rather than the way our people did a long time ago. Language was taught right at home. Our biggest interference is the TV because we use the TV to distract the children. Rather than giving our most precious thing to our child, our time, we give it away by putting them in front of the TV. Our children are the seeds to our future and how many of us take an active role as the head of our families or the head of our communities and look at the seeds of our future? Many of us are missing out on our children but more importantly our children are missing out on our teachings. When you are there to see things you learn, maybe not consciously but sub-consciously. When you are left out, you do not have anything to give to your children and that is an observation that I have seen for many of our people today. One of my teachers would tell me that, “You have to learn to act your way into a new way of thinking.” For a long time that did not make sense to me. I had to be willing to give of myself so that I could learn and by taking risks. The teaching that I try to get across to people today, is ask questions of elders, invite elders to your place, feed them and that is how you will learn. The following video clip is a personal story of resilience and how encouragement can bring about renewal.
Instilling goals during mealtimes is a good time for encouragement and it has to begin at home. Furthermore, what we learn in workshops we have to bring home and not say they are too young to understand. Understanding begins while in the womb. Long ago when a woman became pregnant the elders would talk to the baby and told the baby what the baby was going to be and what the baby was going to do. I have had the opportunity to witness this and to this day that baby has lived up to it. It is important to understand that a baby hears through the mother, feels through the mother and reacts through the mother. An expecting mother had to be really careful about the kinds of foods she ate and the elders always knew that these babies were the seeds to the future generations. As soon as a baby was born the elders stepped up the teachings and the whole way of life was prevention. These elders used to always say that, “The slowest part of a human being is the mind and it takes awhile for it to catch up to where we really are” and they would also say that, “You can never be wise until you reach a certain age.” I have always tried to search for what is wisdom. It has to do with walking and upholding the teachings and sharing the teachings and it is my responsibility to pass it on, it is not mine. What prevents us from moving forward as nations is focussing on the word “we”. What about me? That is where it will start one person at a time, one word at a time. This is where change will happen. If I am going to change the world, I need to change me before I can change my nation. Every one of us has to take the responsibility to make a difference also every one needs to slow down because we are missing a lot and the ones that are paying the price of this is our children. Also remember that happiness comes from within.
