It is time, now, to close down Nortontranscanada.
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If you want to read the trip blog, do note that it is in reverse order - thefirst entry is the most recent. Also please let me remind you that blogs from earlier months can also be found in the "Archive" section. (When you open the blog, look at the words that appear on the right hand side of the screen and follow them down to the bottom for "archive"). In fact this Canada trip starts with the May archive.
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And now, as a gesture of farewell, and at the risk of being accused of preaching, I would like to copy you with some timeless wisdom. This is "The Medicine Wheel", given to us by David Mowat of Alderville First Nations, Rice Lake, Southern Ontario.
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THE MEDICINE WHEEL
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Of all the teachings we receive this one is the most important.
Nothing belongs to you, of what there is, and of what you take, you must share.
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If the legends fall silent, who will teach our children our ways?
If the very old remember, the very young will listen.
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The environment is forever growing and is forever giving
and is not for us to own or manipulate.
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The word is like a stone, when you throw it into a lake:
it has a ripple effect through the whole of creation.
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Three principal teachings that the creator gave us to know:
to be kind above all, to be honest in all things, to share what we have,
and if we do these things correctly, then that is where we gain our strength.
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I think of the centre of the medicine wheel as the circle of children,
because they are the centre of our world and everything we do
with them is going to reflect back to us because they are going to
grow up one day and will take care of us.
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The teachings of sweetgrass: every blade of grass on its own isn't strong,
like people, every one of us working on his own isn't as strong as when we work together,
so when we bring those blades of grass together and put them in a braid,
we have something very strong, a rope that cannot be broken.
That is what happens when we work together: we have a strong community.
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The three parts of the sweetgrass braid represent love, respect and honour.
These are the ways that we are taught to treat other people,
and those are the ways that we are taught to treat ourselves,
that we can give those ways to those outside of ourselves too.
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Sweetgrass represents the braid of mother earth. Each section is kindness,
the sharing and the honesty, and these you braid together.
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If I want love, respect and honour to be extended in the world around me,
it has to start at home. If I show these, the next group affected is my family, and
as they see my example, they can follow, and show love, respect and honour too.
As we have more families in the community living this way
we move toward having a nation, and beyond a nation,
a place where love, respect and honour can be extended one to another.
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The medicine wheel teaches us that mind, body, spirit and emotions
are the whole person that we are.
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We are spritually-based, natural people of the earth, and in order for our children to know where they are going, they must know who they are as aboriginal people.
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People cannot maintain their spiritual roots and connections with the past
if the physical world they live in does not also sustain these roots.
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Take a line an bend it and it becomes a circle
complete by itself with no beginning and no end
where the ancient and the emerging
the real and the imagined curve into one direction
to form a whole.
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A little time, just enough, not everything.
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In the midst of a land without silence
you have to make a place for yourself.
Be ready to see, listen, to understand.
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The wisdom and eloquence of my father I pass on to my children
so they too acquire faith, courage, generosity, understanding
and knowledge in the proper way of life.
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AND, FINALLY, ANOTHER PRINCIPLE OF THESE PEOPLE,
WHICH WAS PASSED ON TO US.
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When considering your plans or deeds, do not just think how they will affect you or your children, who are the first generation .
Consider also the seventh generation, whose rights are as great as yours.
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And with that, to our readers, thank you for staying with us during our ride.
Nortontranscanada is now closing down.