Putting the man and the world back together

Page 4

Tansi, ahnee and hello. It's been a long time since we have shared this morning coffee at the start of a new day. As a writer my career has taken me to astounding heights these last few years. The price to be paid for that sometimes is the loss of the simple and uncomplicated things like sharing this space with you.

However, it's nice to be back. Because despite any mainstream or professional success in the outside world I still believe that my duty in this reality is that of the storyteller. So what better way to start again than with a story.

It seems there was a young Native man who had left his reserve for the promise of the city. He entered university, graduated, met a young woman, married, had a son, got a promising job with a big future and big salary and settled down into a comfortable enough big city lifestyle.

But he always felt as though there was something missing. Try as he might he was unable to get much satisfaction out of all the fancy things in his life.

Soon he began to drink more often than he normally did. The small arguments with his wife became more common and he found himself becoming extremely frustrated with his little son. The boy was a very curious, energetic child with a question for everything.

The man's frustrations and anger mounted. He tried working harder, tried to earn more money, tried changing friends, changing routines but nothing seemed to relieve his dissatisfaction with his life and the world.

Finally, one morning his son was bouncing around the kitchen table as his dad tried to read his newspaper. He peppered his father with questions about anything and everything while the man grew more and more angry and frustrated.

The man came upon a big picture of the globe in the colored comics. He began to tear it into a thousand tiny pieces which he finally offered to the small boy.

"Here. It's a puzzle," he told him. "If you can put this thing back together again, I will take you anywhere you want to go this weekend.":

The little boy was thrilled and raced off into the living room to tackle the new game. His father settled back on his chair feeling certain that he would have at least an hour of uninterrupted peace. He was surprised when his son returned five short minutes later with the puzzle completed.

"How in the world did you ever manage to do that so fast?" he asked the boy.

"Well, daddy, it was easy," the boy said. "There was a picture of a man on the other side and I recognized that better than I did this picture. So I put the man together first and the world came together just fine."

Later than day, the man thought about what his son had said. I put the man together first and the world came together just fine.

And that is what he did. He returned to the ceremony and ritual of his people. he focused on reconnecting to the will of the Creator, he worked at solving his anger and frustration, spent more real time with his family, and soon, in the space of a few short months, his world had settled into a place he was happy to be again.

He put the man together first and the world came together just fine.

There's a big lesson for me in this short story. So many times through the years I have abandoned myself in pursuit of those things which I thought were important. The worldly things like money, prestige, fame and honors. The funny thing is that when I got there I never really felt all that thrilled with my world.

By going back inside myself and finding the true nature of my wants and desires and reconnecting to the spiritual I was able to put myself back together. And I, like the man in this story, was able to find that the world around me came together just fine once I'd put me back together first.

So it's good to be back where it all started four short years ago. There was a casualness and simplicity to my world back then before the world interfered. The returning has been a very rewarding and entertaining journey.

I found parts of myself along the way. And I found parts of mysef that no longer fit or worked and I had to let them go.

It's a stunning world this morning. There's a huge yellow sun rising in the east as the birds and squirrels begin their noisy greetings to it. There's people around me who love and cherish me. There's the magic of possibility in everything I choose to do this day and there's the release of responsibility that comes with an earnest prayer to the Creator for his guidance, strength and direction.

That's putting the man together first today. Walking out into that world now, I'll find it a happy place to inhabit.

Nice to be home. Meegwetch.