by Peter Twitchell
All our Elders are going home, now we are the Elders. Yes – baby boomers. It was wonderful to grow up from kids to adults being fed a daily diet of words of wisdom from our parents and grandparents. We must carry on the torch of wisdom for our younger generation from our children to our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
If we don’t, our younger generation will be lost in the technical world without the true history of who they are and where they came from. Our grandparents and parents taught us baby boomers there is no other person. Natives are one and the same as indigenous people. We share the same DNA of our ancestors of the northern hemisphere.
The COVID Delta 19 virus invaded our bodies and the virus infected some of us. Many of us have lost our sense of smell and taste, we cannot enjoy the delicious taste of fish and berries of our tundra and waters. We can still encourage our children and grandchildren to keep practicing our gift of a subsistence life of working hard to put salmon on our tables and freezers and berries rich in vitamins and natural nutrients from our land and tundra.
Since time immemorial we must strive to keep that memory alive and keep practice health-filled life as long as we are able. Practicing carrying out our subsistence life so that our descendants can taste with pleasure our Native food and to enjoy it all their lives. That is a goal worth working towards as leaders of our families. To lead our younger generation to live life to the fullest.
This is also good medicine for the minds of young people developing into adulthood and elder hood as a Native Alaskan People.
As our children go forward and upward we must lead them to a life filled with promising hope for youth everywhere.
