Keeper'n Me by Richard Wagamese Page B

all off and never put nothin’ there to replace it but a bunch of fear and hurt. Seen lotsa kids walkin’ around like old people after a while. Them schools were the beginning of how we started losin’ our way as a people
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    Then they came with their Children’s Aid Society. Said our way was wrong and kids weren’t gettin’ what they needed, so they took ’em away. Put ’em in homes that weren’t Indyun. Some got shipped off long ways. Never made it back yet. Disappeared. Got raised up all white but still carryin’ brown skin. Hmmpfh. See, us we know you can’t make a beaver from a bear. Nature don’t work that way. Always gotta be what the Creator made you to be. Biggest right we all got as human bein’s is the right to know who we are. Right to be who we are. But them they never see that. Always thinkin’ they know what’s best for people. But it’s not their fault. When you quit lookin’ around at nature you quit learnin’ the natural way. The world gets to be somethin’ you gotta control so you’re always fightin’ it. Us we never fight the world. We look around lots, find its rhythm, its heartbeat, and learn to walk that way. Concrete ain’t got no
rhythm, and steel never learned to breathe. You spend time in the bush and on the land, you learn the way of the bush and the way of the land. The natural way. Way of the universe. Spend time surrounded by concrete and steel, you learn their way too, I guess
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    Back when I was a boy there was still a strong bunch of us livin’ the old way. Lot of us crossed over since then and with those of us who’s left maybe only a handful still practicin’ the old way. Rest are Catholic and some other whiteman way. S’okay though. They’re still our people no matter how they pray on accounta prayin’s the most important thing anyway. Long as there’s some kinda prayer there’s some kinda hope. But there’s not many of us old traditional people left walkin’ around. Not many for the young ones to come to no more. That’s why you hear more English than Anishanabe around here. Some other places too. Other tribes, other Indyuns. S’why it’s so important for old guys like me to be passin’ on what we know. I’m not talkin’ about bringin’ back the buffalo hunt or goin’ back to the wigwam. I’m talkin’ about passin’ on the
spirit
of all those things. If you got the spirit of the old way in you, well, you can handle most anythin’ this new world got to throw around. The spirit of that life’s our traditions. Things like respect, honesty, kindness and sharin’. Those are our traditions. Livin’ that old tribal way taught people those things. That they needed each other just to survive. Same as now. Lookin’ around at nature taught the old ones that. Nature’s fulla respect, honesty, kindness and sharin’. S’way of the world, I guess
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    But lotsa our people think that just learnin’ the culture’s gonna be their salvation. Gonna make ’em Indyun. Lotsa
young ones out there learnin’ how to beat the pow-wow drum and sing songs. Learnin’ the dances and movin’ around on the pow-wow trail ev’ry summer. Lotsa people growin’ hair and goin’ to see ceremony. Think they’re more Indyun that way. S’good to see. But there’s still lotsa people out there still drinkin’, beatin’ each other up, raisin’ their kids mean. All kindsa things. That’s not our way. So just doin’ the culture things don’t make you no Indyun. Lotsa white people doin’ our culture too now and they’re never gonna be Indyun. Always just gonna be lookin’ like people that can’t dance. Heh, heh, heh
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    What I’m tryin’ to say is tradition gives strength to the culture. Makes it alive. Gotta know why you dance ’steada just