The importance of showing you care for other people

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"Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another."

- George Eliot

How many times have you been told how wonderful, unique or talented you are? How many times have you complimented a loved one with these words? Probably if you're like most people, not that often, if ever.

Yet these are exactly the words we need to hear, and thoughts that we need to believe about ourselves.

When I was about 15 years old, I was lucky enough to persuade my father to come to a self-esteem class with me at the local community college. It changed our lives.

I went in a young, shy Native woman who thought she wasn't worth much, and who couldn't do much either. My 50-something father had been brought up to believe that most things for folks like us were impossible.

Less than 10 weeks later, I started on my dream path - to become a respected Canadian journalist, and my father learned to let go of his fear and support his children's dreams whole-heartedly.

Today, that's how I try to live my life, without fear, and with lots of love. It hasn't always been an easy path. Like many young Native people, I had lots of baggage passed onto me that I had to sort through and deal with.

I had to learn a lot of lessons. Among them the need to accept responsibility, the freedom forgiveness can bring, and that I'd have to love myself before I could truly love another.

Fortunately, I've had a few wonderful people touch and enrich my life; mostly Native and mostly family, but sometimes from people with roots from far off lands who were genuine in their friendship and support.

But I've also learned to value the lessons of those not so wonderful people we meet in life. Like how to remain true to myself in the face of prejudice and jealousy, why it's so important to defend myself. It's not only my rights and dignity that I'm fighting for, but for those of my unborn child and all the younger ones coming up behind me.

One of the survival tools that's helped keep me on track in my work of black and white, often pessimistic world news, is to always come back to the positive teachings I learned back in that self-esteem class.

Everyone is unique, and is born with a gift for the world. We can all change. We can all forgive. We can all love, and be loved. We all have something in our history and lives we can be proud of. Living life with these beliefs just takes a little work, faith, time and patience.

Another tool that helps me stay grounded is remembering the down to earth stories of the many funny, loving, and spiritual Native people I've come across in life. While a few of these people were Elders or healers, most were just ordinary people, getting through life with humor and a few grains of salt. They are the true survivors.

So for those of you wondering why should we be positive in this seemingly unfair world? It's that if you love and believe in yourself, and pass that faith onto others, it can make a world of difference.

Carla Robinson is the weekend evening news anchor, CBC Newsworld