Rumours of Grace: Call home

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Whether or not you are living away from home, turning to your family can be a great way to solve problems; they have an abundance of knowledge and have "been there done that".

There are many insights that people who are not of aboriginal decent can pick up from Canada’s native American communities. One of them is to value our elders.

The Seabird Island Band in B.C. has been hoping that a renewal of interest in native elders will help lower the number of aboriginal youths taking their lives. The CBC reported that Seabird member Summer Kelly lost her brother to suicide in 2015. His family did not know what he was going through leading up to him taking his life. He was 17, the same age as some first year college and university students.

However as of this past April, there has not been a suicide in the Seabird community for a year. The article posted by the CBC suggested that this is due to the band using a pilot project that encourages elders to influence young people in the community.

“The idea behind the project is to build personal strength in youth by connecting them to the land and traditional culture that has been lost during decades of colonialism, to build an identity that gives young people a feeling of meaning and place in the community,” the CBC reported.

When it comes to the concept of ‘elders’ most of us have a hard time relating. We tend to value youth, not age. Senior’s residences are places for humanely storing the aged until they die; we do not typically see them as houses of wisdom for children and grandchildren.

But if you have spent any time in a church community, or even if you haven’t, you probably know of the importance of parents and grandparents. A Christian picture of society and family has this key truth in common with the perspectives of traditional native cultures, the elders are important; parents and grandparents matter.

They matter a lot. In some of the earlier parts of the Bible, for example, elders warn youth to stay away from people who are into gossip, manipulation, intoxication, showing off, lying and crime. Later parts of the Bible tell parents to raise their children to live by the good things of God and of Christ.

None of this is to say that any parents or elders are without faults. We’ve all noticed that they have some. However, it is to say that life experience has often taught them things that perhaps elude us in the first couple of decades of life.

So, if you are living away from parents, guardians or family, and if they generally have your back, call home or Skype from time to time. Once a week may work nicely for you. If you are living at home, regular face-to-face time can be a good way to help sort things out. (They will, by the way, probably love you for it).

Some do not have parents or family members they can count on. What can be helpful there is to think about adults who you see as being insightful and wise. It can help to imagine what they might say about one personal issue or another that you are encountering.

What would the people you trust think about a particular course of study or a career plan? Might they have something to say that would be helpful to you concerning alcohol or the use of other “recreational” drugs? Is there some insight they have that could help you consider possible housemates or who you might hang out with? Would they have some view into the character of a person you are considering having a relationship with?

None of us need to be dictated to or told how to live every part of our lives. But at the same time, it usually doesn’t hurt to consider what people who have “been there and done that” would like to share with us. Often, considering what they have to offer can keep us from making small and big mistakes. And if they are careful themselves with what they say, they can be a great encouragement.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.