Special friend lost to 'greatest enemy'

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Tansi, ahnee and hello. This is the morning. Quiet. All around you is the evidence of the hand of the Creator. There is much in this world to connect you to who you really are. This city and its patterns can completely disappear when the eyes are opened to subtler motions.

The smoke rising off those chimneys bring memories of drums on distant hills. The wail and chant of singers. Dancers shuffling steps. Sound and motion praising the Earth and the spirit of its dominion. There is much around you to bring you back to who you really are. There is much around you to reaffirm yourself if you only take the time to try.

A friend of mine has gone away. She left the world very suddenly and there is an emptiness. An emptiness in my life and an emptiness in the middle of my chest that I have not felt

for a long time. I loved her. Loved her in that special way that only friends can love. Loved her in that way which tells me that it's going to take a long, long time for the telling to go down inside.

We shared disaster. Separately but together we staggered down a lonely road. We followed the glittering promise of the world offered by alcohol and drugs. The tricksters. The very nature of the trickster is to mask reality behind the falsehoods involved in whatever the game might be. The nature f the trickster is in teaching through humiliation. And we followed.

Separately, but together we followed. Separately, but together we discovered that the glow wears off. Separately, but together we discovered that behind the laughter, passion and

camaraderie lies a bleak world of isolation, pain and misery. Separately, but together we fell to our depths and then by the grace of the Creator of all things we had the chance to

recover. Separately, but together.

There is much pain in recovery. But it is the kind of pain that leads to growth and development as opposed to the kind of pain that destroys. It is the kind of pain that has the ability

to bring people together. It is the kind of pain that transcends all differences. The kind of pain that leads us back to who we really are.

I don't know why my friend went back. I don't know what devices the trickster may have used to lure her back to chasing after that glittering promise. I don't know where the point was in our togetherness when I might have been able to help here. And I don't know who to blame.

But perhaps there is no blame. Perhaps the Creator in his infinite wisdom sent my friend here to help me. Perhaps he sent her here t help us all. The only real pain in departure is in having left nor memory. Not having lived and stood for something. This pain I feel is real and indeed my friend did stand For something.

There are many of us in Indian country who have lost friends or relatives to untimely deaths due to alcohol or drugs. There are many of us who have felt the burn of wounds which take so long to heal. Many who have felt anger. Many who have felt cheated. Many who have felt the never ending why of it all.

The old ones tell us that to live a good life we need to be in balance. In balance with every element of our being. Mind, body, spirit and emotion. To be in balance means to be centered. Anything that takes you away from your center has no place in your life.

It is more than time for us to realize finally that alcohol and drugs represent not only the greatest enemy of our people, but also the greatest enemy of our peoples' future. It is more than time for us to take this pain that we fee separately but together and turn it into a force that removes the enemy from our camps. It is more than time.

My point in all of this, is this. If we really believe that we are trying to live as close to traditional lives as these times allow, if we really believe that we choose to live this way because we want to preserve and protect our culture, if we really believe that our long hair, braids, languages, powwows and ceremonies reflect our desire to continue being who we are as a peole, then why continue to put those things into our bodies, homes and communities which will eventually take it all away?

A friend of mine has gone away. In her early departure she has left me more firmly fixed on this path I've chosen. More willing to work with others who choose this path. Separately, but together we heal ourselves. Separately, but together we face the future with the true spirit of the warrior. We move into the coming years with dignity and grace.

Until next week Meegwetch.