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Address by Grand Chief Dr. Ted Moses to the Saah Winn Hen Gathering ("Understanding the meaning of life") Chisasibi
Date: 2005-07-12
Elders, Chiefs, Youth Chiefs, Honorary Co-chairs, All youth gathered here, visitors and guests:
It is a great honour for me to have been invited to address you today as you begin an important week of reflection and discussions among yourselves. I am always honoured to be with the youth of the Cree Nation and quite honestly I am always a little bit in awe of the task for me in addressing our youth. This is because I know that from among you will spring the leaders of the Cree Nation tomorrow. I know that it is in the nature of youth to explore ideas, to strive for understanding, to challenge conventional wisdom and to insist on honesty. I know that you are listening to what I have to say today, and what others here will say to you, and I know that my words can make a difference in your lives. I know, therefore, that I must choose my words carefully and speak to you as truthfully as I can.
You have given yourself a truly challenging theme and a challenging task of coming to grips with the “meaning of life”. It is, however, normal and natural for youth who are just beginning their life’s journey into the world of adulthood and into the world of responsibility to be thinking about these things. I think that these kinds of issues come to be very much in the minds of youth particularly during times of change and times of transition. I think it is fair to say that the Cree Nation has been in a period of profound change for the last 30 years and it is not only the youth, but the rest of us as well who have been trying to understand that change and to understand what the best course is for our future. I applaud you for the task you have set for yourselves this week and I sincerely hope that the speakers and workshops which have been organized will be helpful to you in your journeys.
I would like to begin by saying to you that it would be extremely presumptuous and arrogant for me or for anyone to tell any other person what the meaning of life is. The meaning of life is not a specific idea, a specific concept or a specific definition. The meaning of life is what each and every person comes to understand as a result of his or her experiences in life. The meaning of life comes in the journey itself. The most that anyone could offer are things to keep in mind that might help a person in arriving at some kind of understanding of life’s events and life’s realities. It is ultimately up to each individual to arrive at an understanding of the meaning of life.
What I would like to do, therefore, is to pass along to you some suggestions and some guides that might help you in discovering for yourselves the meaning of life and some things to keep in mind for the journey.
What I have come to understand as a result of my own experiences and what my journey—full of twists and turns, ups and downs—has taught me is the importance of principles. Principles are those fundamental things that we believe that shape how we see the world, how we respond to events, how we react in situations, and how we relate to people we encounter in life. Principles are those beliefs we go to when we need to figure out which way to go and what to do. Principles are fundamentally an expression of who we basically are as individuals.
I was born in the bush on my family’s traditional hunting territory, and there is where I spent my early formative years. I was immersed in the way of life, the culture and traditions of our people. I think it must certainly be there, on the hunting grounds, watching as my parents and other family members worked, struggled, socialized and celebrated on the land that I learned the principles that are at the core of our Cree culture and which have served me well as I have grown and matured, and which I have turned to when I have had difficult decisions to make.
If I had to put a name to those principles and those values which define the Cree character and which are at the core of our worldview I would say they are as follows: 1) the importance of truthfulness, 2) respect, 3) caring and 4) sharing.
1,
2, 3,
4, 5
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