Graduation Speech: We Are First Nations Peoples

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I am honored to stand and speak to you this evening. I am very proud to be a part of the first graduating class for the Gaylord Heritage school. We thank the staff at the Heritage school, the Gaylord Tribes, our families and our community.

I thought about what I would say for a long time and than I remembered what my grandparents taught me about life.

My grandparents and family talked to me about education. My dad told me a story about an elder who was very proud of his new toolbox filled with tools. Every day his children would ask to use the tools in his box and he said: "No, not today, I am saving these for a special occasion." As his children grew older they continued to ask for the tools but again he said: "these tools were being saved for the right occasion." Finally the children gave up asking for the tools. One day many years later, the grandfather thought that it was time to open the box of tools and use them. As he opened the box, with children and now grandchildren looking on, he saw that the tools were rusty. He picked up the wrench but it crumbled in his hands.

This story symbolizes to me a lesson: of how if we don't share our knowledge -our tools - and pass that knowledge on, then we have all lost the gift in our hearts. And the tools will rust and crumble in our own hands, never to see the light of day again.

So let's share all of our tools and pass them on to the next generation so they can work on our house when we get old, and maybe even pay the rent.

There are prophecies from many different tribes that speak of the seventh generation. This prophecy states "from the time of the coming of the non-natives, the seventh generation will be the ones that will see the big changes that are coming. This is the seventh generation coming up, and these are the people we must teach so that they do things right this time, so they will keep in mind what they will leave for the next seven generations that will follow them. This is how we are taught to live on this earth: we should look to how our decision and actions will affect the seventh generation to come.

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