REMEMBERING MOMENTS RATHER THAN DAYS
March 21, 2016
Some of my thoughts today. My siblings are on my thoughts lately, what are they doing, how are they, what are they feeling, where have they travelled to and so much more. I have come to realize that family is something that should not be taken granted for. I see so many young people today that seem lost, like they don’t have a purpose and this concerns me. I know that growing up in today’s technological age is somewhat overwhelming even for me sometimes, I can’t even imagine how intertwined and overwhelming it is for our young people. They have cell phones at their disposal, wifi in their homes, satellite tv, smart TV’s, access to thousands of apps, kitchen appliances that calculate & have features galore, vehicles that practically drive themselves, home alarm systems, gardens that water themselves, debit/credit cards, computers with 1 terabyte, live streaming, OMG the list is endless. No wonder our young people are confused and distracted from what’s most important and to me that is FAMILY. How do parents parent in 2016? Is knowing your family history, as important, as it was 20 years ago? Learning how we are related to one another and introducing each others and referencing our family status is a vital part of knowing who we are and how we belong. When I introduce my daughters to some one that we are related to, even by 3 generations, is so important. This is your grandmother, your grandmothers younger sister or this is your auntie, your dads first cousins older sister. I want my daughters and my grandchildren to know where they belong and how they belong. That learning has to come from family and cannot be found on a cell phone. I want my daughters to know that their great great great grandfather was Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Nation. We come from a rich vibrant culture this is shared and taught from those who know, from our grandmothers & grandfathers, our aunties & uncles, and from all our descendant’s who have move to spirit world. Knowing my relations is what gives me that feeling of being connected, that I am a part of a whole, the bigger picture. I strongly believe that knowing where I come from is what has given me the foundation of who I am today. That I have a place and this is where I belong.
Flora Jackson
Eva Favel
As I sit and watch our younger generation at the mall, I see them sitting and looking down at their cell phones. They barely look up at each other or even look around. It’s 10:30 in the morning, should they not be in school? So many thoughts run through my head. Then I thought about the boy who has nothing to eat because his mother is in a bad way. Addiction is a whole another inner battle.
Peaches I Canned in 2015
When I was growing up, I had chores to do. During the winter I would have to go outside with gunny sacks and find a fresh area of snow and fill up my gunny sacks with snow. My mom would then melt the snow to use for cooking, washing, and cleaning. I would have to go down to the creek to open up the watering hole for the cows and on my way back toss hay over the fence for the cows to eat when they returned from the creek, this all done before I walked about 1 km to the road to catch the bus at 7:00am. When I returned home after school, I would have to chop wood for the wood stove, help with household chores and make sure the lanterns were ready and filled. All this work, was to ensure we would be warm, have some light and be able to cook. What I do today, is walk down the hallway and turn up the furnace to stay warm, flip a switch to have light and turn a knob on the stove to eat. We received power between 1965-1968 and it was so amazing. I remember when we got a stove and a fridge that used electricity, holy man that was something. I can’t even imagine what could be so amazing as electricity today. Probably nothing. It’s seems it’s all been done and even though something came out last week, this week it’s old. If I did not grow up when I did, I would not know how vital my role was within my family. It gave me that feeling of belonging and that what my chores meant to our basic survival. Today, I still carry on with my vegetable and raspberry garden, canning in the fall so that we have fresh vegetables and fruit in the winter, hanging my clothes out on the cloths line in the summer to conserve on power, lighting candles in the evening in remembrance and praying morning and night. Yes indeed, it so different today than it was back 45 years ago. Anyway, those were my thoughts last night and felt like sharing with you all.
Stay tuned for more Short Stories by
Beauty Native Style
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