I Don't Like Your Lodge!

There is so much divisiveness of late, so many people at odds with each other. But the reality is we have met challenging people at every stage of our journey. I have a question for you. Have you ever met someone who from the first second was like nails on a chalkboard? Or maybe you thought they were great. At first this seemed like a really interesting individual and then you started to hear what they had to say and your thoughts were just no. Hard pass. No. Well, I have a new saying that I'm going to use when I meet these people and it's just how I'm going to end the conversation. I'm simply going to say, you know what? I don't like your lodge. Let's talk about it. Foreign. 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 ages ago, yes, I have my handy Dandy index card. I had to look up his name, which makes me feel bad. But ages ago I went to a concert at our local auditorium and it was the Huron Carol. And if you're Canadian or maybe if you're indigenous, both, you probably heard of it. If you've never heard Tom Jackson sing the Huron Carol, you need to google that because I dare you to listen to that and not be affected by it. Actually, if you can listen to that and not be affected by it, you're probably one of the people I'm going to use this phrase with. So why I'm mentioning Tom Jackson is when he first came out on the stage at that concert, the first thing he said was welcome to my lodge. Which caught me off guard because not that I'm not familiar with lodges, sweat lodges, healing lodges, this is something I know as Anishna be kwe, but I was sitting in a community auditorium in front of a stage and he was on a stage. I didn't understand the reference and I'd be willing to bet for Canadians or non indigenous, it was even more confusing. So Tom went on to explain how traditionally we gathered in lodges. We didn't sit in staff rooms, we didn't gather around boardroom tables. We gathered in lodges and our circles inside our teaching lodges, healing lodges, meeting lodges, whatever the case may be and the way he was using it. He believes that every single time he interacts with someone, even from the stage, that he's welcoming them into his lodge. And with that he has the responsibility to govern the experience they're going to have in his lodge. If he comes across as really arrogant, rude or whatever, that is their experience. And that's on him, right? That, that he's made this lodge and unsafe and very unwelcome place. And that kind of blew me away because I'm, I went to the other side of the feather and thought, I have to remember that. I have to remember that every single time I speak to someone, including on YouTube, then I'm inviting you into my lodge and I have to make sure that you're safe here and that you feel welcome here and that you feel valued here. Not to the extent that I'm going to let you disrespect my lodge any more than I'd let you disrespect my home with, you know, ignorance or racism or sexism or any of those ickies. But I want you to feel welcome and safe here until you show me that I'm not safe around you. That's what I'm referring to when I said I'm going to start using this phrase when I run into that person that wants to spit out, you know, misogynistic, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic garbage. I can just say, you know, now I'm not comfy in your lodge and I'm gonna leave. Or how did I phrase it? Yeah, I, I don't like your lodge. I don't like being in your lodge. And I think I'm gonna leave now. And, and that's not an option. That wouldn't be a choice. They can't talk me out of it. I'm just extricating myself from either their presence or the conversation. And I love that idea. Only because, well, not only because, but for one reason, because it's centered on me. I am not saying that you do not have the right to believe what you believe. I am saying I don't have any desire to sit in this lodge with you. If that's the things you believe, then in the same way as you would say, I don't need you in my inner circle, well, I don't need to be sitting in your lodge. The other thing, of course, I love about it is the decolonization aspect. The fact that we're trying to figure out how to swim between the lanes of the two row wampum, that we're trying to figure out ways to work together as indigenous and non indigenous. And that no longer means that we just use mainstream phrasing that not to. I don't want non indigenous, you know, appropriating our teachings. But if we start using Terms that it doesn't have to resonate or originate in mainstream. It can originate in our communities and it can be something, for example, going to a meeting. True story. I went to an event recently where they ordered lunch and the participants ate. And then I was invited to join. So from a cultural perspective, that would never happen. You sit and to use a Christian term, you break bread first. I have come across many, many cultures. They realize that sharing a meal together is a really good way to know each other. And I was kind of taken aback that like show up after the meal. So because I didn't take it to heart, I mean, because of the topic I was talking about, reconciliation, it makes people uncomfortable. This was definitely a non indigenous audience. So maybe they wouldn't have been very comfy enjoying their meal if I was there. But it did make me stop and think. So what do you think? For one, a little self reflection time here. What kind of lodge do you invite people into? Are you that per. Seriously, there are so many angry people out there. Like when a complete stranger in a grocery store lines up, turn lineup, turns to me and starts complaining about something. Hair in my. There we go. In my lip gloss again. I always just like, really like, thank you so much for sharing all that negativity with me. Like, no thanks, I don't like your lunch. No thanks. Just keep that to yourself. I don't need to carry that and I don't want to share it. So what are you putting out there? Because we all want a healthy work environments. We want a healthy country, we want a healthy community. It's made up of the people that are in it. You are the ingredients to this dish. And whether it turns out to be tasty or disgusting depends on you. We can point fingers at other people, but what are we doing? That's where the power is. So I'm gonna, on one side, do my best to make sure my lodge is always welcoming. And two, yeah, I. I gotta really extricate myself faster from those launches that I'm just not comfy sitting in. So I hope you're comfy in my lodge until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye. I promised in the opening I was gonna review the latest draw. Is this thing not amazing now? I should have called this up before I turned on the video, but I want to see. I have. It's not going to be a messenger, is it? No, it's going to be in Facebook. That's where it's going to be. My son, who made this amazing, amazing, amazing thing, sent me the Measurements. And I do want to give those to you because people are always interested. What the heck happened? Oh, I know what happened. I know what happened. I went into Facebook and I was on my business page, and that's not going to work. I need to be in my personal page so I can get the information. Okay, here we are. Okay. Level Up Presents is my son's Facebook page. That's also his website that's under construction. Now I just got to wait for a Facebook messenger to load so I can scroll back. And it is four by six inches. So four inches. That's not right. Oh, that's six inches. Duh. That's the six inches side. Four inches side. And it's three inches wide. And how do you do this? Look at this. Look at this. Oh, my God, it smells amazing. As always. It's made from reclaimed wood, so it's got all of the little nuances I just love. And it just slides in. So if I line it up properly, it's like it slides in so easily. I love it. I mean, this is a perfect gift. This is a perfect little keepsake. There's so many things you can have in here. And by the way, I got to show this. He probably doesn't want me to, but whatever. There's another one for sale. My God. He treats these with linseed oil. My God, they smell amazing. So this one's going up for sale on his Facebook page. $50 plus shipping. TA da. To get your own. So if you want it as a gift and you don't want to take the chance of the. The draw. There you go. This one is in the draw. They're both. Well, they're both the same design, obviously, again, because of reclaimed wood. Every single one of them is unique and one of a kind. I love this. $10 a ticket. 3 for 20. Send them to the address below, which is my son. I love this one. You're gonna love this one. Get your tickets today.