Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

WUN FEATHER -- My message today is ... as Elders and parents, or grandparents ... we need to get back to doing our jobs

Today is a day off for me. On my days off, weekends and vacation days, I am always up a lot earlier than on the days that I go to work.

You might think that is kinda backwards, but let me tell you why that is.

When I was three, my Grandpa Alex had a logging company; A & A Logging out of Laidlaw BC.

As a child, I can distinctly remember how he and my uncles would smell when they came home after a long day falling, bucking and limbing old growth timber up on Harrison Lake.

The smell of their sweat was worse than bigfoot! But there was another smell that grabbed me. The smell of the Hemlock, and cypress, and freshly turned dirt!

I always asked my grandpa if I could come along and "work" with him. The first dozen times that I asked him, he just laughed.

But my Grandma Annie could see the look of determination on my face, and she began packing an extra sandwich in my grandpa’s lunch box. Each night when he would come home, I would rush out to greet him, and I would carry his lunch kit back to the house for him.

I would watch him and my uncles wash the days grime and sweat off their bodies, and I would open up my grand dad’s lunch box to see what was left. And the treasure I would find was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!!!

WOW. Score! 

The old timer would tell me that he couldn't eat all his lunch and ask me to get rid of the sandwich before gramma found out he did not eat it. Ha-ha. Done!

Well my friends, one night my dream came true.

Grandpa had been teaching me how to run his little bulldozer in the yard, and that one night, he said to me "Hey Wunfeather! If you are up and at it, and ready to go by 4:30 in the morning, you can come along."

"You can take that old bulldozer and keep the log landing clear so the trucks can turn around"

Wholly suffering suckatash!! I can tell you that I was on cloud nine! I slept really fast!

I was up before everyone else, and sitting at the breakfast table by the time my grandpa and uncles made their way into the dining room.

That was the beginning of a new life for me! 

Grandpa knew that he could not afford to pay a grown man to play around on the bulldozer all day keeping the roads and landings clear, but having a kid do it for free made sense. And what the old guy did was build a dream inside of me that no amount of money could buy.

Every single chance I got when I wasn't in school, I was helping out. I would mix gas for the chainsaws. I would fill the saws with gas and oil, and within a short amount of time, I could sharpen the chains and change the spark plugs.

As I grew older, we moved away, to another reserve at Good Hope Lake, and I can remember sleeping in for the first time.

The dream was gone. I had no motivation whatsoever, and it showed in the way I walked and talked. I was becoming a lazy 9-year-old.

My mum and dad noticed that, and my dad sat me down and asked me if I felt capable of being his janitor at the school? Was I old enough to sweep the floors and mop them? Could I empty the garbage cans and burn the paper waste?

Wow. Almost instantly, I came back to life! I was up and at it each morning, and I was busy each day.

What my message today is, as Elders and parents, or grandparents, we need to get back to doing our jobs.

We need to carefully study our children or grandchildren and come up with chores and responsibilities that motivate them.

Children only think that work is a bad thing if they are told that is so.

If we speak about daily tasks that need to be done in a way that gives each task an honor, our children will realize that each and everything we do has a value! Children need a sense of accomplishment and pride in the things that they do.

Here I am, a 62-year-old guy who went to sleep last night thinking about my tasks for today. I have a ton of work to do in the shop, have some cutting and welding to do on the Rubicon, and I need to clear some trapline trails and get some sweetgrass.

So, you can see that even though today is a day off work, today is a day that I am not working for my boss.

I am not working for wages; No. Today, I am working for ME!

So why wouldn't I work a lot harder for me than I do for my boss?

The motivation that my Grandpa Alex built inside of me when I was a child is still here today ...59 years later.

They say that it takes a community to raise a child. Well, a community is made up of Elders and family members too.

Let's all get back to doing our jobs and raise some great children!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PEATS: I am writing with a critical concern regarding the imminent closure of the Eljen Medical Clinic, a vital healthcare facility in our community

The following is a copy of a letter sent to me, which was sent to BC’s Minister of Health Adrian Dix. It is with regards to the impending closure of the Eljen Medical Clinic in Dawson Creek.   Dear Minister,   I am writing to you today with a critical concern regarding the imminent closure of the Eljen Medical Clinic, a vital healthcare facility in our community. The closure, scheduled for the summer of 2024, is a result of the utterly burdensome terms and conditions imposed by the bureaucratic Northern Health. As a result, Dawson Creek stands to lose four doctors who have made this city their home, and who wish to continue serving the people of our community.   The impending closure of the Eljen Medical Clinic is a significant blow to our city. Not only will it result in the loss of highly qualified and dedicated healthcare professionals, but it will also deprive thousands of Dawson Creek residents of access to their primary physicians. At a time when healthcare se

Selina Robinson: "You broke my heart . . ." (The Real Story)

The mildly Zionist, innocuously leftish and now ousted advanced education minister’s letter to her New Democratic Party caucus colleagues, explaining why she has resigned the caucus to sit as an independent. The letter is an historic document, an artifact of the disgraceful cultural moment we’re living through. It’s important. It’s also a scorcher. It’s gathering a heck of a lot of attention . I’m printing it in full here. I’ve been insisting that what happened to Robinson is a much bigger deal and a completely different story than the one we’d all been led to believe. The necessary background: My piece in the National Post: The despicable untruths behind Selina Robinson's political lynching . More importantly , a Real Story investigation: The Problem With The Selina Robinson Story. . . It wasn't true. What follows is the story of what really happened. Let’s just get into it. Apart from punctuation and spelling I replicate the letter faithfully, with some further comm

Long-time former BC Liberal supporter says, I am definitely not hanging in there with BC United

                              BC United leader Kevin Falcon I recently asked a political acquaintance of mine, about their current involvement with BC United.   I was much surprised with the response given the BC Liberals had been the recipient of a lot of their time and energy in the past. By request, their comments are posted anonymously : I am definitely not hanging in there with BC United. Kevin’s poor judgement in ousting John Rustad from Caucus, and then publicly humiliating him, might be the most inept thing I have seen in BC politics ... and I’ve been involved in BC politics for a number of years! I still think the impetus was John‘s involvement in the Ellis Ross leadership campaign for the BC Liberal Party, and how successful and respected (despite not winning) it was. I am uncertain about the tenor of the current Conservative movement in North America. The once proud Republican Party in the United States has allowed itself to be led by a person who is morally, intell

Labels

Show more