Writer's Digest blog - Promptly

Writer's Digest blog - Promptly

Dreams

By: Christine McFarlane

Dreams
They tend to come
In fragments and pieces

As if they know innately
I can only handle bits
At a time

Dreams
They tend to come
In fragments and pieces

Giving me the chance
To act on them
Or let them go

Everything is within my reach
Because I have chosen
To believe

Dreams
They tend to come
In fragments and pieces

As if they know innately
I can only handle bits at a time

Dreams
They make me smile
Give me a sense of pride
And a reason to keep on moving
Forward

Dreams
They tend to come
In bits and pieces

I  know now
My dreams are within
My reach

Because I have
Chosen to believe

You can too

In Memory of Our 500 Missing and Murdered Sisters

By: Christine McFarlane

500 missing
500 murdered
Sisters

Too many to count
Their faces embedded
On photograph paper
One of the last things we have
To remind us that
They were once
Alive

500 missing
500 murdered
Sisters

Too many to count
But we will not forget
As we as First Nations people
March in solidarity

Our tears
Mingling with the rain
As we hear your names
Whispered in the winds

(In memory of our 500 Missing Sisters)

Reconciliation: What it Means to Me By: Christine McFarlane

Reconciliation and how it is defined really has me intrigued, because reconciliation is different for everyone. In my reflection I would like to state that for me, reconciliation is a part of a personal journey. A journey that I am still on in terms of dealing with the hurt, shame and anger I feel towards my familial background and the words and actions that were said and done to me and my people as a whole.

            While contemplating what to write for this reflection piece, I was going through some readings and came across a definition of how reconciliation is defined by a fellow First Nations individual in the book “From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools,” that was prepared for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Fred Kelly, an Ojibway of Onigaming and a citizen of the Anishnaabe Nation in Treaty Number Three defined reconciliation as a process and states “Reconciliation processes can be personal and societal. In the personal sense, reconciliation is the means by which one regains peace with oneself.” (11)

            I am not afraid to admit that I struggle with both the societal and personal process of reconciliation because of the life experiences I have been through and have also bore witness to. I have been unable to ‘regain a certain peace’ with myself, though I am better than what I used to be. The anger I carry is at the emotional damage that was done not only to myself but also towards my people, and how the fight to get better and to heal is a constant work in progress. The struggle also comes in the form of questions like “Will I ever be able to achieve a certain peace within myself? Or “be able to forgive and move past the pain I feel towards those who hurt me in the past? I no longer want to walk with the heavy burden of having such anger, but saying it is one thing, action is the scary part.

            This brings me to the concept of words, and how I believe words play an integral role in the reconciliation process, and how after words are said, actions need to follow in order for non-Indigenous and Indigenous people to be able to reconcile with each other. As a writer, words are important to me and I was intrigued by the reading “Words” written by Jeannette Armstrong in which she states “Words have been used to destroy, to cause pain, to cause the kinds of things that we see happening all over the world between people, between individuals, between races, between sexes, even between fat and skinny people. Many words do that.” (29)

            I believe that words in the reconciliation process are all good but when it is not followed by action that is where the societal process of reconciliation goes awry. Armstrong sums up the impact of words by saying, “Everything we say affects someone, someone is hearing it, someone is understanding it, someone is going to take it and it becomes memory. We are all powerful, each one of us individually. We are able to make things change, to make things happen differently. We all are able to heal.” (29)

            In conclusion I hope that through the course of the year participating in The Politics and Process of Reconciliation in Canada course, I can change my personal process of reconciliation so that I can continue to move forward in my healing journey and bear witness to a change that is much needed-being able to reconcile within and realize that I can be more of an agent for change, instead of staying stagnant and stuck in a place of anger that I no longer need to be in.

Works Cited:

Jeannette Armstrong, “Words,” 29, Telling It: Women and Language Across Cultures (Vancouver: Press Gang, 1990), ISBN: 0889740275, 207pgs.

Marlene Brant Castellano, Linda Archibald, Mike DeGagne, “From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools.”  11, (Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2008) ISBN: 978-1-897285-59-6

ah! the beauty of this bird!

Favorite Picture from Taronga Zoo Sydney Australia

Looking right at me!

I Walk

By: Christine McFarlane

I walk
And I hear your name
As though it is being whispered
In my ear

I walk
And I see your smile
I remember your laugh
And the good times we had

I walk
And I remember your words
"Christine, never let things get you down"
because it is when you are being positive
That you will go places

I walk
And I hear your name
As though it is being whispered
In my ear

My tears flow
Because I miss you so
Even though you have been gone
For almost seven years now

I walk
and as I walk
I remember you

A smile
Is on my face
Because I know inside
That you are not that far away

You are here
In spirit
Walking beside me now

(In memory of a very dear friend C.A)