Instruction to live by

by Peter Twitchell

When I was a boy in Bethel, I was told one thing constantly by Mom and my Grandma Hannah. Each and every time I was heading out to play or explore the world around me, I was told, “Okay son, as you go about your day, love everybody.” This was engraved into my mind, until I got a little older and forgot to practice it.

What I didn’t realize at a tender age of 5 and 6 years old was that this specific instruction was for me to carry through my lifetime, from adolescence, young man, adulthood through my Elder years. I didn’t understand that, and that was the reason for going through some pretty dark and rough times in my life. If I had practiced loving everybody from the get go I would have been fine.

As a result of my misunderstanding of my instruction to “love everybody” as I went about my day(s) from 5 to 60 years of age, I carried hatred, resentments, anger, jealousy, envy, feelings that I didn’t quite measure up to society’s standards, forgetting who I was and therefore becoming meaner in my dealings with people.

There are actually people in the world who are mean. Maybe they were never taught about being kind. A friend sold his house and moved to the east coast, after a year living there he sold his house, he packed up and moved back to Alaska. He commented, “I almost forgot how kind Alaskan’s are, they really care about each other.”

There was someone else who moved down south and settled in a warm state. He bought a condominium in a gated village. He was told that if he left the gate after 6 o’clock, he was on his own to deal with all the violence in that area. He didn’t dwell there very long either, he came home, back to Alaska.

Alaska’s indigenous people’s need to practice being kinder to each other. We’ve forgotten who we are. We’ve forgotten we are Eskimo’s, the Yup’iks, the Real People who once taught love for one another.

Today we don’t practice that, and tend to look down on each other, judging each other (putting down) raising ourselves up above our brothers and sisters within our tribes. Remember our Ancestor’s authorized us to practice our values of love, caring, sharing, respect and honor for each other. How many of us have celebrated our people lately?