by Peter Twitchell
There was a time our tribes in Alaska were healthy, strong, always helping one another with love, respect, honor for each other – and we still are.
Because that is who we are, we are all, except for a few who have lost their way in life, trying hard to be someone they are not.
I know native men and women who still light up their woodstoves every morning. Go out and gather their subsistence foods from the land, sea, and river each year. They do not wait for the government to give them cash to feed their families. Strong and traditional families work hard to provide for their families!
These families have not forgotten their traditional ways. Strong men and women always put their families first, not alcohol and drugs.
I was instructed by my mom Sarah Pitka Twitchell when I was a boy and we saw inebriated men and women. She would say, “When you become a man, don’t drink. Drinking is just a waste of money.”
Ain’t that the truth?
Mom was God’s gift from above, a real unselfish love. In Mom’s eyes and voice she planted the truth in my mind. It’s never too late to change our negative way of thinking and behaving.
