Today, I had a long drive in the car by myself. I had the radio on tuned into a well known Canadian news station a lot like NPR. They are always running special interest pieces. Some fun, some controversial. It was good to loose myself in the intellectual thoughts.
The one piece that caused me to write this blog was about the news of a newly appointed governmental position. The article found at cbc.ca starts by saying the following.
An aboriginal judge with Ontario's Court of Appeal has been appointed to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining the legacy of decades of abuse at Indian residential schools.
The piece continues by telling the reader (or listener for those of us who heard it on the radio) of the terrible living and schooling conditions that the Native Canadians (known as First Nations) were subject to years ago. The government took young children from their families and they were placed in institution-type schools. These schools were not closely regulated and many of them became havens for unspeakable situations.
The article says . . .
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced Monday in Ottawa that Justice Harry LaForme, a member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation in southern Ontario, will chair the commission that the federal government promised as part of an out-of-court settlement with former students of residential schools.
The commission, which will formally be established on June 1 following the appointment of two panel members to work with LaForme, will move all Canadians closer to the "shared goal of healing and reconciliation," Strahl said.
"Ultimately, we all want to make sure we achieve a fair and lasting resolution to the sad legacy of residential schools," he said.
LaForme has a daunting job ahead of him. There are about 90,000 survivors of these schools. You can read the rest of the article at the following site http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/28/laforme-appointment.html
I listened to this report as I drove this beautiful countryside. I am a newcomer to this land. An outsider. Looking at this place with a different perspective. I began to realize the every place you go you will find some sort of skeletons hidden in the closets. Things that no one likes to talk about. I got thinking about my homeland and all the mistakes the government made over the generations. Not one country is immune to these parts of history. Everyone has dealt with issues that people wished could be swept under the rug.
Who's to blame?
My wife and I are currently dieting. In the course of choosing which one we were each going to do the observation came out that all diets tend to be fads. What we thought was the sure fire way to loose weight 5-10 years ago has been replaced by the next sure thing. We find that there is some aspect of the last fad that most people didn't take in account . . . aspects that made it lose favor in the eyes of the popular opinion.
I remember hearing a drastic example. There was this one woman who was very overweight and who desperately wanted to lose the pounds. She enrolled in this highly controversial and experimental surgery where the doctors actually bypassed the majority of her intestines. Basically her digestive tract went from her stomach to her colin. The idea was that if you send you food on this fast track then your body wouldn't have the time to extract all the fat and bad stuff into your system.
Well, it worked. The woman was able to eat when and what she wanted and the pounds fell off. The food literally went right through her. She was thin and happy and the doctors thought they had found the next great diet.
After about a year the woman started to have complications. You see, not only was there no time to have the fat and bad things in food to make it into her system, but there was no time for the good things to get absorbed either. The much needed vitamins and minerals passed straight through as well. Her bones became brittle. Her skin became blotchy. Her hair started to fall out. She became skin and skeleton.
The diet seemed to be a great idea at the time. But the doctors could not foresee the long-term effects.
I tell that long and involved story because it helped me understand the "who's to blame" question. My theory is that the residential schools that were set up here in Canada were done so with the best of intentions in mind. There were concerns about the education of these children. The government made the best decision with the understanding and resources they had at the time. Decisions that were made without the understanding of what the ill effects might be.
I don't want to sound like I am belittling the tragic circumstances that a generation of First Nations had to endure. There are many things that need to be reconciled. I am saying we need to be careful of how we point our fingers in situations like this. The human race is fallible. It doesn't matter what the decision is, there is no way of having all the information of what is or what will be. The best that we can do is to deal with the consequences and remember the past in order not to make the same mistakes again. I believe that Canada is doing in this situation.
The bottom line is this. Just like governments and kingdoms can make bad calls with good intentions, we as individuals can do the same. So if we point our fingers, cluck our tongues and act "holier than thou" when certain organizations make mistakes then we make ourselves out to be liars. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
My humble opinion? If we all realize that we are all capable of making mistakes (which we all do) then we can extend grace to everyone else when mistake happen. And the sooner we extend that grace the sooner we can all get closer to the "shared goal of healing and reconciliation" in all areas. Don't get me wrong, consequences need to be met. But let's spend our energy on dealing with those consequences instead of looking for, and down on, those who are to blame.
For what its worth.
Take it . . .
