Turtle Island is my home too. I call it that even though my ancestors are not first nations, because I like it. It speaks to me.
I have learned much of first nations traditions since my teen years, so I don’t appreciate it when I’m lumped in with others of my race or heritage who do not know or understand other cultures. In fact, I think it’s a bad idea to paint all people of any race or cultural heritage with the same wide brush, no matter who you or they are.
If you wish to divide people, start by dividing them this way: there are those who seek knowledge, understanding and enlightenment amongst all peoples, and celebrate cultural diversity. Then there those who are ignorant and fearful of anything that differs from the narrow confines of the comfortable world with which they are intimately familiar. This division is not racial or cultural, it is spiritual.
There are many ways in which all peoples are the same: we all want peace, prosperity, and love. And there are many ways we differ, because we have grown up in different cultures, with different beliefs, different foods and habits because of differing climates and different life experiences. We do not need to be divided. This is a choice; most often the choice of those who fear differences.
There are good and bad people in every race and culture in the world. Racism is not the purview of one race. I have heard it uttered from the mouths of haters of several races, including first nations people, like the ones who call those interested in their culture "wannabes." You know, just because someone tries to learn something about other cultures does not mean they are attempting to change who they are. As I said at the outset, I have learned a lot about native culture. It interests me because there are many similarities with the culture of my Celtic ancestors. I am proud of my heritage and I would trade it for no other. But see, the sacred circle isn’t unique to native American culture. Have you ever heard of Stonehenge? That was my people.I don’t understand why some people guard their culture so jealously. Out of one side of their mouths, they may say they want people to learn more about them. But out of the other, they accuse people of plagiarism if they have learned something they wish to embrace in their own lives. Ok, I get how annoying it is when the important symbols of a culture are cheaply copied and misused, like those dream-catchers that are made in China and sold in dollar stores. But see, neither the manufacturers of those, nor the people who buy those, have any spirit. At least, they haven't found theirs. And that is their problem. The rest of us who know better need to keep moving ahead. So really, you can’t have it both ways. Either you want to be appreciated, or you want to hide yourself away. Leadership is about sharing and guiding, not about controlling and dividing others.
I come from a culture that was doing very well until another culture invaded from the south. Adopting the ways of these new people was not a matter of learning and choice, it was forced upon my ancestors. And then along came a new religion, also from the south, and my ancestors were told that their beliefs, talismans, observance of the earth’s seasons, was somehow wrong. Bishop Desmond Tutu has been quoted as saying, "When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land."
The same thing happened to my ancestors too. The first nations people of Turtle Island are not unique in this. There has been much suffering all over the world because one culture has oppressed and/or enslaved others, sometimes in the name of prophets who were actually all about peace and love.
Choice. It’s something most of us have. We can embrace each other as brothers and sisters and celebrate our samenesses and our differences, or we can be ill-informed, fearful, jealous and hateful. Choice.
Leadership. It’s about caring. I would be living now near a great ugly garbage dump built on farm land over an aquifer of pure water, were it not for the leadership of the local first nations people who took up the fight against this travesty with spirit and determination and carried the protest to a successful conclusion. That’s leadership.
I choose the way of enlightenment. I do not fear other cultures. I learn all I can because there are many things the same that all our ancestors have gone through, and there are exciting, fascinating, and dare I say, delicious differences to celebrate. I do not care what other people believe or who or what they worship, it is their choice. But my choice is to go unlabelled through this life, unburdened by the yoke of a religion whose followers often twist the words and image of their prophets into something they were not, just to further their own selfish agendas. I take joy in observing the seasons of this great gift of Earth and I have a deep, unshakable faith that all things are possible. My spirit soars when I am in the moment of observing the beauty around me. I am saddened that some people are blind to it, or in fact, choose to spread ugliness.
The problem is not cultural diversity. The problem is ignorance. Only when we abandon that will people of all cultures rise to celebrate together.
Post Script:
The above was written in response to a specific post, but while I'm on the subject of cultural diversity, I wish to express my sadness toward those who insist upon blaming all of Islam for the actions of a relative few Islamic terrorists. Islamic terrorists are to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity. Fear and hatred can only stop with YOU. Credit to The West Wing for the analogy.
