...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 3-8: Balance

Ghandl's voice has become shaky and he goes quiet. Bear feels from him a sense of loss, of longing for what is now gone. But he soon begins again.

"When the Europeans arrived, nearly all of the Haida fell off the edge.

"The Haida do not blame the Europeans. Not anymore. Their game was not so different from our own. Sure, they had bigger canoes, and new weapons, but at first their numbers were small compared to ours. We were happy to negotiate, and trade.

"But Raven arrived with them, wearing a new skin, an invisible skin of mischief that brought illness and death to nearly all it touched.

"Some of the Europeans remembered and told how their own nations had suffered from the same mischief not long before. They thought that was over. They did not know they had brought it with them.

"As the Haida numbers dwindled, the European numbers grew. Traders, hunters, missionaries and colonists arrived, asserting their own desires and ideas over those of the remaining native people.

"The remaining Haida were nearly overwhelmed by this Raven-like arrogance and lack of respect, not only for the people and their historic culture but for the resources of the region. The newcomers seemingly were prepared to strip it bare and move on. There was widespread deforestation. There was also a threat to the herring fisheries. Herring, as a link in the food chain, support not only the Haida, but the salmon, seals, orcas and other whales, so a threat to them is a threat to all.

"In time the remaining Haida recovered their balance, stood firm, and now are thriving again. The Europeans are no longer newcomers. Most of them were born here. Many were born with a Haida spirit, or the spirits of other First Nation people. Whether or not they were born to women of those tribes, they too are native people now, and they respect the tribes.

"Now the Haida want to help others learn respect, not only for the people but for the land and the sea, and to help restore the balance broadly. From Raven we learn that the spirit can wear any skin. In this you are Raven, you know this well. From Eagle we learn that respect for the spirit means respect for all, that all forms of life are people under the skin. In this you are Eagle, you know this well too.

"It is this you must learn how to teach others.

"But teach and learn are trickster words. Fools presume to teach with words alone. True learning comes with experience.

"Raven has designed the world to overwhelm us with experience, so fools prefer to learn nothing. When Eagle speaks, it is to remind us to pay attention. When we pay attention, lessons are everywhere.

"The wise teacher, then, merely reminds the student to pay attention, and directs that attention to experience from which the wise student may learn."

Bear is trying his best to pay attention, but he is wise enough to know that experience does not come all at once. What Ghandl is offering is discernment, the wisdom of experience, from which a student can learn when to pay attention, and to what.

He is finding it very easy to pay attention to the things he can learn from Xayna. He promises himself to pay attention to what he can learn from Ghandl as well.