A short Facebook Live teaching by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt) that urges listeners to actively learn from everyone they meet by asking “What did I learn?” She draws on personal examples—family lessons, attending Catholic Mass, and cross-community activism—to show how core teachings can be applied across cultural boundaries without appropriation. The talk concludes with advice to practice reflective learning, teach it to children, and a brief sign-off noting a short break from live sessions.
Chapters
Hi, everybody. It's Sandy Boucher here once again. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Northern Ontario Treaty 3 territory. And I'm here today to share with you a teaching, a philosophy, a rule to live by, a principle, whatever way you want to call it. Something that has helped me time and time again, and I honestly would not be the woman I am without this teaching. And of course, it comes directly from my mom, and it was rooted in her habit of asking me on a regular basis, well, what did you learn? Hello, Tammy. So no matter whether I had attended school, hung out with my girlfriend, you know, played one for a bike ride, whatever it is, the response or the result of that when I got back home was her asking, what did you learn? I have met many, many people who will tell you that their philosophy is the teachers are everywhere, or they will tell you that they learn from everyone they meet. But I'm honestly challenging that today by asking, do you really? And here's what I mean by that. I've met so many people who listen to other people. They may hear the words, even people that are not like them, but they never go as far as asking, what did I learn? What can I take from this? How does it apply to me? I see it all the time with indigenous people or other marginalized groups where. Where they think they can only learn from people who belong to their marginalized group. And I get that. I totally understand that when your existence, your experience is so different from the general mainstream experience, you seek out people who understand. But I'm going to tell you categorically that a marginalized experience is a marginalized experience. I can listen to many an activist that works in diversity and inclusion, who works in Black Lives Matter, and all of that amazing work, and find teachings and examples that help me, not because what they're saying directly applies to me, but because the teaching inside of what they're saying does. Now, I've been doing this for so long, I've been on the planet for 57 years that I do it automatically. Years ago, I had a partner who was Catholic, Roman Catholic, a practicing Christian, and I would attend Mass with him every Sunday, not because I'm a practicing Catholic, but because it was important to my partner, and supporting my partner was important to me. But the priest, when he shared the gospel for that week, there was always a teaching in there. It reminded me of something an elder had said or something that would just share with me how to be a better person. I Didn't have to be a Christian or follow that line of teachings to receive the value from it. My point, we close ourselves off when we stay superficial, when we listen to just the literal message. And don't go deeper and ask how does this help me? What is the lesson here? I do learn from everyone I meet. Either it's a reminder of the way I used to be and how I now have to be compassionate with this person so I can help them move on and level up, or it's an example of some other challenge that I need to understand, or it's necessarily a success story and I can learn from their journey. Don't dismiss who's talking. Don't sit in judgment. How often have you heard me say judgment burns bridges? We are never coming together as long as we continue to judge each other. And maybe the entire message doesn't apply to you, but I guarantee you there is a lesson hidden in there if you only go deep enough. For all the non indigenous people here listening to me, you're already doing it. Because our journeys are different. And if you can take something from the words I share, kudos to you for going deeper and finding a way to apply my teachings to your life without adopting them. You're not going to become indigenous. This is not about cultural appropriation. This is about learning from everyone we meet. It's about picking up puzzle pieces, deciding how the puzzle piece fits into your puzzle, which parts do, which parts don't. Leave behind the ones that don't, but make sure to pick up the ones that do. Because as long as you're adding puzzle pieces, your picture, your future, who you're meant to be is becoming clearer with every single day, with every single encounter, with every single lesson you learn. So there you have it, my friend. I hope that resonated with you. I hope you take the time to start consciously living, to not only be unpacking, making, you know, paying attention to the feelings you have, but talking to yourself and not in some negative, I'm going to judge myself way, but asking, okay, what did I learn from this? That's how you build your wisdom. That's how you build your confidence. You have to start practicing that and teaching the people you love to practice that. Have a child that you wish. Realize how much more amazing they are than what they think. Teach them to build their wisdom. Now the weekend is coming. I'm taking the weekend off. It's actually a long weekend, so there won't be a Facebook Live until Tuesday. So I hope you have an absolutely amazing long weekend and I'll see you next week. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
