Look at the Whole Picture!!

Our gang was playing outside on a cold winters day. We were sort of daring each other to place our tongue piece of frozen steel pipe. The kind that playground equipment was made of.  You see all five of us got together and said, "Let's pretend that we are sticking our tongues on the pole."  In our minds, we all knew without verbalizing it that our nemesis Spidey would soon show up. Sure enough he showed  and wanted to try. We showed him, indirectly, that we placed our tongues on the cold frozen pipe and pretended to pull them  off. With very little prompting Spidey stuck out his tongue out. All eyes riveted on the spectacle that was about to unfold and he placed his tongue on the pole. There was a delight in his eyes that he did what we all did -sort of.  The delight soon turned to a horrifying squeal when he looked at us and said, "My tongue ith thuck. My tongue ith thuck." By then we were all laughing because we knew he wasn't going anywhere. At that moment the  bell rang. Recess was over and all of us, except for Spidey, ran for the door.


I have been thinking about the Idle No More (INM) Movement that has catapulted into the National spot light, here in Canada, since Nov '12 to the present.  As I read about the events that had unfolded and even hear about it from both side of the table I can't help but wonder where this will lead.  People all over are getting mad at someone.  Whites, well non-Aboriginals getting mad that the Indians, Indians are getting made at each other, Indians getting mad at the government. At first the media were loving us now they are getting mad at us. What really gets me is that people are getting mad at us Indians for INM happenings and they really have no clue as to why they are. They base their facts on a media that likes to turn things around for its own political agenda. Indians are getting mad at each other because of the same scenario - they have not a clue as to what really is going on!

 Everyone who does not understand what this all means are looking at this from a one sided perspective.
What they are really doing is sticking their tongues on that frozen piece of pipe and realizing that they are stuck. Why? Because they chose not to look at things carefully and do a little research for themselves. Now, I know that I only get a very few people who read this blog of mine. That is okaay because I like to think I write this for my own self. If you do come across this and read it, please by all means do yourself a favour and start doing your own research as to why the INM movement began in the first place. Educate yourself!   See for yourself how your neighbours, co-workers, friends, can be lured by what they hear and what they thing and by the media. Let's face it, our own uneducated opinions and those of others, particularly the media can take something that is supposed to be a good thing and turn it around to be a bad thing. What power uneducated biased opinions have.

I guess it is a human triggering mechanism that what one does not understand one will fear. It would be a little overwhelming to see 100's of Native people dressed in their regalia dancing to the singing and beating drums in a public place. It would be a little unnerving and even irritable to be held up on a major highway as 100's of Native people show their support for each other, in protest. If only, a few of those people who are non-Aboriginal would educated themselves, maybe just maybe they would see what the fuss is all about. And they would not find their tongue stuck to that frozen pipe.

In case you are wondering what happened to Spidey. He was discovered after 10-15 minutes when his teacher realized he had not returned from recess. He never did tell what actually happened. He knew better.

Until next time,

Chi-Meegwetch
and
Baamaapii


Here are 2 links to get you started in your education:

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2013/01/what-is-idle-no-more-movement-really.html

http://wabkinew.ca/idle-indian-thing/