Webs of connection heal and nurture. Human and nonhuman connections must be pursued and nurtured to work their magic. Humility and compassion foster understanding, learning and healing.
In the words of a coast Salish elder…
“When a visitor comes to your home you praise your visitor. They become like a ‘God’, a “Spirit’ to you. They are special because they have sacrificed their time to see you, to come and visit you and to encourage you. So, you listen to them first and they talk about themselves, what they know and everything. Then after a while, when it feels right—it might be an hour, two hours, a day, two days, three days, depending on how it feels then you share what you know—if they ask you.
My grandmother could never figure this out. When she’d tell him: “Gee, I really don’t know,” (to the visiting anthropologists) she was just following the tradition and the person would just take off and leave. A lot of the people who came to our villages did not understand the customs of the people so there were a lot of funny stories about misunderstandings. You know when you learn another language (for those of you who speak another language) it opens a doorway or a window to another way of thinking or being, just like going to another country when you travel. Different cultures and traditions are like that –- like traveling to another way of thinking, of being. J. Moses.
