Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
MEETING SWEETGRASS
As young people you are much closer to remembering than adults Remember a time when you felt connected to all living beings not only the humans in your life but also the plants animals and the earth herself It would bring me such joy to know that perhaps you have never forgotten that connection
AN INVITATION ΤΟ REMEMBER We are in the time of the Seventh Fire a time prophesied by my Anishinaabe ancestors A sacred time when our shared remembering transforms the world A dark time and a time filled with light We can choose to live in the dark or in the light We remember the oft used words of resistance They tried to bury us but they didn't know we were seeds I invite you to remember another way of being in the world in kinship To be in a relationship with all living beings our relatives relatives Often in the Western world kinship is thought of only as human relatives but in many Indigenous worldviews kinship includes plants and animals To remember what may have been buried by the noise of the world and by the commodification of nature A remembering of knowing you can be good medicine for the land And I hope a remembering of or an understanding of your gifts something that is unique to you and how to share them to contribute to the well being of the world The land is the real teacher All we need as students of the land is mindfulness mindfulness Paying attention is a form of reciprocity reciprocity with the living world and receiving receiving the teachings with open eyes open mind and an open heart reciprocity a mutual exchange or dependence that benefits both each and all but also includes mutual responsibilities BRAIDING SWEETGRASS FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Imagine how less lonely the world would be if we knew and believed that we didn't have to figure everything out by ourselves I have heard elders give advice like Go among the standing people or Go spend time with deer people They remind us that plants and animals can be our caretakers our healers our teachers and our guides They remind us there are intelligences other than our own Imagine how less lonely the world would be if we knew and believed that we didn't have to figure everything out by ourselves BEFORE YOU BEGIN GRAMMAR OF ANIMACY The English language is noun based which feels somehow appropriate appropriate for a culture so obsessed with things In English we would never refer to our friends or family as it Imagine seeing your best AN INVITATION TO REMEMBER
