 |
Antoine Mountain
Guest columnist
Monday, October 01, 2007
Well, my schooling here in the Big City of Toronto is off to a good start. Despite a few bouts of lateness due to getting lost, and miss-placing house keys I am proving to be a good pupil. But, I have also just received the sad news of another suicide amongst the Youth of our Sahtu area. I have to ask myself, 'Just what is it that would make a young man with his whole life ahead of him want to do such a drastic and final thing, and put an end to it all?!'
These days young people have absolutely everything going for them.
When I was their age, we didn't have these same advantages. In our bush camp out there in the mountains we didn't even have paper, nor a pencil, for me to start off my art career with.
Students at the schools I make my presentations to sit there in their seats with a look of wonder on their faces when I tell them that I started out drawing on blocks of wood, using charcoal from the fire! Eventually, my earliest masterpieces ended up keeping us warm.
This is pretty well the way my generation of the Dene grew up. We were born right on the land and learned early that you were expected to listen carefully to any elder, and to listen with the intention of doing something real about what you were being told, and without any back-talk either.
Today, I have no problem with finishing whatever it is I start. I begin each day with a short prayer which includes the fact that I am already thankful for whatever the day might bring.
Now, when I think of the Youth in our schools I find that these youngsters have no reason at all to fail, period. They sit in pre-heated buildings with the most modern of computers to use.
So, what could have possibly gone so wrong to make a young man want to end his life?
Is it at all possible that with everything that money could buy, a good stereo set, and an MP3 player and the finest and most up-to-date clothes that a young person could in reality be missing the human touch?
In spite of all of the hardships we had to face in our young lives, including the traumas of the residential schools, my generation learned and eventually kept our Dene language and the ways of life that goes with it.
We were taught to respect our elders and our relatives, and to believe in the basic goodness of life itself.
Well, and, of course, so much of this has been lost over the years, but I still do believe that there is more than enough love in our world today to help our youth along, to make the young people feel good about themselves again.
- Antoine Mountain is a Dene artist and writer originally from Radilih Koe'/Fort Good Hope. He can be reached at www.amountainarts.com