Mother Earth Shelters our Shadows
The Sorrow of a Nation
The children of the dreadful Canadian Residential school system that never left the grounds, the children who were taken/snatched up from their parents, from their families, and their communities. Taken from their support systems of love and guidance that would have nourished them throughout their lives. Snatched away from their ancestors who would have taught their souls to sore with Hope and wisdom for a life spent honouring Mother Earth. Their way of life was stripped from their beings destroying their ability to live fully in who they are. They had no idea who they were. Their shinning vibrant spirits had been shattered into shards of broken glass never to be put back together.
Their identities had been destroyed by the very people who should have protected them – adults. The adults abused and broke them in the insane belief that the children’s culture needed to be eliminated by reason of inferiority, and that the indigenous peoples be assimilated into the great white entitled unloving mass. The true disgust of that is so hard to comprehend.
Where we, as so called decent loving human beings failed miserably to protect these beautiful vulnerable children who could have offered so much goodness to the world, our great guardian Angel Mother Earth stepped in. She took many of these children into her being and wrapped them in her blanket of thick rich nourishing soil, sheltering them from the outside world and allowing their souls to rest and heal until they were ready to be heard! When the time was right for them, and possibly for us too, they gently emerged from the safety of their earthly cocoon with the quiet presence of grace to bring forth a time of reckoning to all.
Mother Earth too provided relief and healing for the many others that were abused by the Residential School System. Their breathing bodies with broken spirits walked upon the great loving mother, lost and abandoned in humanity, their souls crushed and unable to cope with the damage. Sadly to escape the agony of oppression they turned to abuse of themselves to numb and block the pain. Mother Earth has and would gladly have helped to heal them with the sanctuary of her lush green forests, cold and cleansing waters, soft sandy beaches and high mountain peaks to seek refuge in. She has been there all along to embrace the lost and sad souls who were broken by the events of history, wanting to heal and bring them back to her worship the way they were meant to be.
Now as a country we must come to terms with this shameful history that we have never fully accepted or embraced. The shadow of this darkness will haunt us forever. The knowledge that we as a country tried to destroy a culture that was not only inhabiting this land first before we the white suppressor arrived, but that the indigenous peoples were also stewards of the land, worshiping Mother Earth as the giver of life that she is. They understood that we live because of the earth, and honoured her always by living with what was provided naturally. And with the lessoning of the indigenous culture that had celebrated the planet, we have also aided in the deterioration of Mother Earth. Instead of learning from and embracing a culture that knew of the importance of nature for sustaining life, physically and emotionally, we chose to devastate it and never learn the importance of respect for the planet we live on. Then we wonder why the indigenous people have hard time embracing us and our society – utterly shameful.
My heart is heavy with the injustice of the circumstances that we find ourselves in now. The collective grief and shame of the nation, and the anger and frustration of the indigenous people. All wanting to feel what they feel and be heard.
To be able to hold space for one another through this time of sadness and uncertainty is what is warranted. Opening our hearts to all that has been lost and to all that can be gained from healing together.
