Sandi L Boucher reflects on how a typo sparked a realization about two different worldviews: Indigenous culture emphasizes gathering and receiving lessons, while mainstream culture prioritizes creating and building. She argues that recognizing these differences, not just commonalities, is what builds sustainable bridges between people.
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Everyone's always looking for commonalities, the things we have in common, so we can build a bridge. You know what fascinates me? The differences. What makes you a unique individual. What's important to you. Because I need to know that stuff if we're going to build a sustainable bridge. So let's talk about differences today. Sakopaganon, Quain and Dishnakas Mundodam. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And today we're looking at the August 1st blog post which was called One Letter Difference. Ever have done a typo? I'm sure you have. If you've spent any time texting or typing on your computer or laptop or tablet, whatever the case may be, and be willing to bet you've made a typo or two. I've actually told my friends for years not to worry about it. I speak fluent typoes. They don't need to stress. But as Anishinaabe Kwe, as an indigenous woman, I was taught that there is a lesson in everything. So I am nothing if not observant, even of the little typos. And as I mentioned in the intro to this video, I'm all about differences. Not out of judgment, not out of condemnation, and not out of superiority. Because you know what? White supremacy is very problematic. So is Indigenous supremacy. Supremacy, wow. See, it's so problematic I can't even pronounce it. The medicine wheel shows that all the colors have value. So we're going to get past this. My system's better than your system. Having said that, we also got to save the planet. So let's get real on that. But what happened was I was actually typing and I wanted to. I was typing a blog post entry that was called Gathering the lessons and I created a typo. Instead of the G, I hit the F and it became fathering the lessons. And I can honestly say I stopped dead in my tracks because I instantly saw the difference between indigenous and non indigenous. And if you're indigenous, I would love to hear your take on this. But as an indigenous woman, it's not so much about creating as it is about receiving. Receiving the lessons, receiving the messages creators trying to send you, receiving the lessons in this day, in this weather, in this event, in this conversation you overheard, whatever the case may be, you're gathering. But from my indigenous perspective, and I own it's from my perspective, mainstream is all about creating that we have to create this bigger building or create this project, or create this work, or create this. And I always go back to no one has created a system as epic as the environment, the planet, and how interconnected it is. Secondly would be our bodies and how interconnected everything is and how amazing it works. So why would we disregard what is here? Why would we get lost in ego, busy creating things? Maybe it's not about newer or bigger. Maybe it's about reflection and seeing what worked and what didn't and recreating which should have been so. I always speak about the fact that every indigenous person is different, just like every non indigenous person is. And some are more assimilated than others. Some are more traditional than others. Some have their language, some don't. Some are mainstream educated, some aren't. Some are more traditional and educated in those sacred ways and some aren't. All of that is fine. Each to their own path. But I couldn't help thinking some people are definitely focused on gathering and some people are focused on creating. And then there's people like me who create seminars and videos to talk about the gathering. Guess I'm right smack in the middle. So don't run away from the differences. Find out what's important to your counterpart, to your colleague, to your co worker, to your partner. See if you can meet them in the middle because that bridge is worth building. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
