Loss Thought

What an interesting and powerful activity, if not profoundly depressing.

I have an understanding of the societal and communal loss when someone from the community who was a Native first language speaker passes on. I have seen the sadness and loss in those left behind when the person who held all that language and cultural knowledge ceases to be with us.

This is why I understand the immense beauty of a child being born and the power of creation, especially when a new born seems to possess the gifts or character of a loved one passed. For we are never quite whole again when a teacher/guider/loved one leaves us. We can only hope for something or someone to come along and fill that void.

The only source of solace that comes with the statistics of loss that have occurred in the last 500 years is the resurgence of birth and youth we are currently experiencing in First Nation communities. We have a duty to ensure they inherit a better place than what they came into, and in turn, they have a duty to keep alive the gifts and teachings of those that passed before them.

We can not expect our teachers and loved ones to live forever, but we can ensure that they live on in the stories and teachings we retell and remember forever.