Status Updates From Namwayut―We Are All One: A ...

Apologies are not etched in stone, but they can serve as fertile ground to be catalysts for change and transformation.

When I think about all the different visions we have of a God, and so many great men and women who don’t agree with each other, I recognize that we can remember to do what we’ve always done. Care for the poor. Advocate for justice. Love people. No matter what spiritual tradition we follow, we are always following the same path.

Love is the foundation of everything. Love for the universe, for the world around us, for family, for self.

The trauma experienced by women must all be confronted. We must bring this message home to our friends and neighbours; we must talk about it in our homes, around kitchen tables, and in our schools. We must address it where we live, work, and play. It requires everyone’s effort and support.

Trauma must be addressed mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
That's why I vigorously support the Moose Hide Campaign, a grassroots movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and boys who are standing up against violence toward women and all children.
–To learn more, visit https://moosehidecampaign.ca/

We must break the silence about the lived experiences of women. We must empower women and girls to speak their truths. When we do this, we can confront our unresolved grief and trauma just as my own family has had to do. When we do this, we can begin to break our bonds to chronic sadness. Without breaking the silence, unresolved trauma, including historic, intergenerational trauma, will continue to impact us all.

Women and girls are precious. They are love personified.
They must be loved.
They must be honoured.
They must be revered as leaders.
Women are the great cornerstones & foundations of who we are, together. Without them, there is no future. Without women, who will build and hold our families together? Who will build our relationships in our communities? Who are we without the leadership of women? Why are we even here?

Unless we put a stop to this violence, we will be caught in an unrelenting cycle of trauma that will continue to destroy individuals, families, and nations. The violence must stop. The violence must end.
So where do we start? We start by acknowledging the problem. We start by educating each other about it. We start by taking responsibility. We do this by taking action.

They [women] are the instincts that manifest unconditional love, unconditional life. They are the caregivers. They teach, mentor, and lead our younger generations by example. They are the truest of role models.
It is time to restore women and girls to their dignified status, rightful status, and the rightful place and space they should hold in our communities.

All women face incredible, overlapping challenges, as have my wife and my daughters. Many of these challenges are unseen, not listened to, disrespected.
And yet women simply carry on in their strengths.
Women and girls are the very Cradle of Life. Women are our civilizations. They are the life givers, whether or not they bear children. They are the nurturers of ideas, values, and people.

The situation when it comes to Indigenous communities is untenable. The climate situation is untenable. The hate we carry is untenable. The big auto industries and oil companies, in their current practices, are untenable.

Integrity is real. It is the only thing that I own. Nobody else owns it, my integrity, and there might be some days when it’s all I’ve got. I knew then that I could not surrender it or compromise it or give it up because it was my last stand against whatever would become of me without it. Integrity was and is the last little voice inside that tells you that you’re crossing a line.

Community development had to be done in a way that empowers people to be in their own power, to control their own future, to do their own work.

You have to respect people. You have to treat them well. You have to learn to listen. And, always, you’ve got to be paying attention. Because if you’re not paying attention, you’re not going to learn anything. Be respectful of people, and they will teach you.

We are all small, we are all mortal, and we are all caught up in the frenzy of feeling alone in the woods. But when we can think of ourselves as being part of this wonderful, magical universe, we can't get much bigger...We must acknowledge the universe, our own power, and our influence when we connect with the whole. When we acknowledge this, we know that we have the power to elicit the changes we seek.

Our cultures, our languages, the values that we share with each other and with the world around us are incredible gifts. Every word, every discussion, every story we share facilitates change.

The rising anti-Asian sentiment, the need for Black Lives Matter, and the fact that Indigenous Peoples, of course, have been under the gun since the first European arrival on the shores of America—all of these issues can be connected back to a lack of compassion. We have to speak up and we have to make it right.

It is the interconnectedness that is missing when we don’t aim to live as our highest selves, and we become singularly focused on just our own well-being, our own lives, our own businesses. We lose the prevailing need for care and compassion for each other.

“Don’t let the big noise bother you,” she would say to me. “Be your authentic self, where and whenever you can. Hold on to those things that are of value to you. Truth, love, respect, humility—those are values that apply to any time, any culture.”

Love is the foundation of everything, Granny taught me. Love for the universe, for the world around us, for family, for self.

Tears are, in many ways, the key to moving forward. Tears mean that we have touched each other’s hearts.