The changing seasons provide important lessons for dealing with changing times.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
“Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”
— Black Elk, Medicine Man of the Oglala Sioux, 1863-1950
A season of change is arriving once again in Alberta.
Morning frost crunches underfoot as treetops shed their golden foliage.
Doorways will discard their pumpkins for boughs of holly soon enough.
Leadership is changing hands in many communities across our province, including our own.
And there is hope, always hope, that we might gather together this coming Holiday Season to lean into a new year that will welcome new beginnings: new jobs, new relationships, new births and any number of precious joys worth celebrating in a time of such uncertainty.
Change is always uncertain. It is an act of faith to leave our comfortable places for the unknown, but that is how we grow. Like a seedling bursting forth from its shell, we reach out of the dark toward the light to become something beautiful and new.
There exists a Native legend that tells about how the seasons were created.
Originally our world knew only Summer. It was a time of long days, golden sunshine and a bountiful harvest year-round so that no one wanted for anything. Earth provided all that was needed.
In time the People grew selfish, and hoarded Earth’s riches each for their own, and no longer shared their abundance. Creator saw their greed, and sent a cold wind to wither the harvest.
To survive, the People gathered together once more to share what little they had, and in this way learned to co-operate and care for one another. Creator turned the Sun to the Earth once more to bring warmth and life back to the Earth, and the People thrived anew.
From that time forward, Autumn followed Summer to remind the People to prepare for times of strife. Winter followed Autumn to remind the People that co-operation means survival. Then Spring followed Winter to show the People that difficult times do not last forever. Soon enough, Summer returned so the People could rejoice for all they had overcome together.
The cycle of seasons exists all around us: spring, summer, fall and winter. Another is the cycle of life: infant, child, adult, elder. On an individual level, the four directions of human growth are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
For us to live healthy, harmonious lives, we must flow with the continually changing world around us. Let us open our minds and hearts to growth. Let us work together to care for our environment, for the Earth is our home and provides us with our physical needs of shelter and nourishment.
As much as we are able, let us reach out to one another in the spirit of co-operation, to make emotional connections, so we may make it through this time of great collective strife to a new season of abundance and good health. Let us lean on each other to ease our mental burdens. And may we all give thanks to Creator for all we have collectively endured, so the spirit of our people remains resilient throughout all the seasons of our lives.
JoLynn Parenteau is a Metis writer out of Miywasin Friendship Centre. Column feedback can be sent to jolynn.parenteau@gmail.com
