Part of what I learned from teaching, working and being with First Nations people is the value of storytelling.
First Nations elders do not admonish their children for misbehaving. They tell them a
story and give the children the opportunity to learn for themselves the pervasive meaning of their own being. The value of the story is that it has no boundaries. Everyone, regardless of their age, gender or cultural designation, can learn from it.
Here is a story: two old men carried with them the ultimate respect from their community. One was future oriented. He had only to close his eyes and he could predict events that were likely to happen. The other old man dwelt in the past. When he closed his eyes, he could recall previous events that happened in the village.
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Community people consulted with the old men frequently. The visions the old men had gave the people the opportunity to learn from their past mistakes, and to do so while they were planning their future activities.
Unfortunately they consulted with the old men too frequently, the two old men closed their eyes too many times, and one morning they were not able to open them when they awoke. Both men were blind.
The story continues with various misadventures the old
men had while they were
blind. You can imagine how
difficult it was for them to cook their meals or fetch water from the creek nearby.
So it happened that on a cool day in the fall, both of the men fell into the lake. The fresh lake water cleared the dried tears from the men’s eyes and they were able to see again.
The story of the two old men speaks directly to problems we all experience. The old man who foretold the future is anxiety. When we get anxious, we worry about whether or not that person sitting on the opposite side of the room will notice us, we worry about precipitation levels for the rest of the summer, we worry about international price subsidies, and we top it off by worrying whether our grandchildren will have an opportunity to grow in a healthy world.
The old man who recounted the past is
depression. When we are depressed, we are
letting past experiences dictate gloom and doom to us. The light is out at the end of the tunnel, we have no future.
Often as not, the hurt and pain we endured during some part of our lives becomes overwhelming, and we cannot see beyond that to the possibility of a more rewarding life.
The trick, of course, is to have some kind of balance between our memories of the past and our thoughts for the future. We have to live for today, but we do so more effectively
if we can learn from the successes and
challenges we had. Our successes point to our strengths; our challenges highlight areas on which we need to work.
We also maintain some sense of inner sanctity if we have a direction for our lives. Having goals gives our lives meaning and purpose. All of this is easier said than done. We get derailed at times, suffer from pain and disappointment and have to change our goals.
For some people, hurt and disappointment are more than phases through which they must pass. They last for long periods, sometimes months, sometimes years. About 10 percent of the people living in North America are suffering from a major depressive illness.
For others, the problem is anxiety. Some people live in fear much of their lives.
Sometimes life is just not as easy as it was for the two blind men who fell into a lake.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor, living and working in west-central Saskatchewan who has taught social work for two universities. Mail correspondence in care of Western Producer, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or e-mail jandrews@producer.com.
