The
Land was Their Dictionary
The source I chose
to review was the radio piece entitled “In one Life journey, The Modern History
of the Cree”. This is a spoken account by Tom Jolly.
Tom was raised in
the Bush, where he and his parents brought only some essentials (flour, sugar,
tea, etc), and everything else they needed was provided by the land. This way
of life was his foundation, as he states “The land was their dictionary”. As
Tom got older, he attended residential schools where he was the victim of
multiple types of abuse. Tom saw a
different way of life in the suburbs, and the cities. Growing up, he had first
hand comparisons of the different lifestyles that were possible. Tom went from a very traditional Cree
lifestyle to experiencing modern culture. The abuse and experiences along the
way brought him back to his traditional Cree upbringing.
His strong words “The
land was their dictionary”, suggest that, although having fewer connections,
they were the most valuable ones. The
connections of the land and few necessities made for deeper and meaningful relations
among people and nature. Once Tom started to integrate into the more modern
lifestyle, he was exposed to negative experiences, abuse, and ultimately poor
connections to others, and possible losing such a strong connection with
nature.
I found this
source to be personally meaningful. It reminded me of how I often feel when I
am too integrated into society. When we spend too much energy on meaningless
connections, and less energy on the most valuable ones; we are not fully
developing ourselves. Then we go back out into society with our underdeveloped
selves and share only a part of what we could be offering to the world.
Tom came full
circle, from living in the Bush, suburbs and cities, and back to his Cree
community.
Source Reviewed:
EXCELLET POST!!!!!!!!! I love! This made me think of our day and age, and raising children in the age technology. Today we are all slaves to our phones, computers, tablets and TV's. We don't even realize how Social Media is a killer! Since we just came back from Memorial Day Weekend which is serious family time, this post made me immediately flash back to the past weekend and how amazing it felt to be at a disconnect with the world. Being integrated into society, and appreciating our surroundings rather than focusing on wanting to "post" about it, is excellent. Thank you for this fab post!
ReplyDeleteNice job. I'm with Ilana as I raise my kids I think constantly about their disconnect from the land and try to remedy this. You see the world different when connected to the land & seasons.
ReplyDelete