Written by Bellan Dye

The word that continues to be the first thing I tell people about the experience in BC was that it was validating. The ways we were looked after, the way we looked after one another and the outlook I, for one, had was one where people are first. We were cared for and welcomed immediately in ways I’ve only ever felt with close family and friends that are family. There was thought put into every part of the experience for each person. We all would have taken it in in our own way, but universally it was a human experience.

Morning and night views from the Pier near where we stayed. It was a comfort to go there and reflect the beginning and end of each day in this place.

Joe Strummer has a quote where he says, “Without people you’re nothing.” Our day-to-day we each have our own jobs to do. The tasks that keep the machine running. What I found in this trip was that by doing this, or this as a sole focus, what is needed in our lives is more people. Now, for some that can be overwhelming to think about, but what I mean is that we need more connection to one another. To know the human beings in our lives. To know what they need as human beings. I have always felt that sitting with someone and maybe saying nothing was worth more than anything else.

The Pier on my first morning walk. It set a very good mood with a blank start. Light and life would emerge through the day.

In our lives and at work we get into performing and like a Broadway play. The show must go on day after day, but the catch is we don’t have an understudy for ourselves. Sure, the position can be filled, but the person cannot. Ever. Something I took away was the need for connections between human beings. Not job titles. Again, yes, we need to perform our jobs and do them well, but the subjective lived experiences of ‘people’ must be a part of why we do.

As an EDI Catalyst in the Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing area of focus, I wondered how I would be impacted by this experience. As I said at the start it was validating. It validated ways I’d always felt and wanted to be like, but it can be hard to apply it in an academic setting. I’ve been in the library world for nearly 25 years and it’s not always the most flexible profession. It’s a world where stats are necessary for an institution’s survival. This life-changing experience was the opposite of that.

In this space we sat in solitude for nearly an hour only listening to the sounds that were given to us by Mother nature.
Getting up close with a tree to see its beautiful detail.

It’s not to say that everything we do in our day-to-day is wrong, but it needs more people in it. Some of what we learned was that absolutely everything is connected. We to each other. Each of us to the Earth. To the animals. To the stars. Deep down as we went along this was something that came out of everyone without it being taught. It was already known, but at some point, it has been suppressed. To each of us, perhaps a different amount.

We can all lose that child in ourselves. The one who forgets to pick up a rock and love everything about it. The child who forgot to laugh. The child who forgot to just sit and admire the world around themselves in complete awe. Get up close to that tree. Give it a hug, sniff it, stare at it, say hello and thank you for what it is giving.

I write like I talk. If you’ve had the pleasure to engage in a good chinwag with me, you know how I am. I feel things deeply and with passion. I can brighten up when something I love or enjoy comes up in conversation. I can feel all the mood of something sad. I can also stop, listen, and let the other person have their time. I mentioned earlier that sometimes silence, or just being present, is worth more than anything in the world. It takes some real work, but if this trip taught me anything it’s that being present in the moments, listening to the world and all that’s in it can be all the teaching you need.

Try to find what you could do to contribute to lifting others up. You are likely already a pro at your special way of knowing, being and doing. There are people in your life that already know it. I struggled with my place in all of this, wondering how I fit. This experience was validating in knowing that, even in my own unknown specialties, I mattered and was doing something right. If I can aim to be able to help or support anyone else, I need to make sure I’m listening to and experiencing the river of life. That I’m working on myself to be able to have my own humanity intact.

Never forget to look up! The sheer magnitude of the trees in BC was something I only feel at home up in North Western Ontario near Thunder Bay.

I think about the people and the experiences I got to take part in every day. It was something I will carry with me forever. I am a better, perhaps more open, person than I was before I left.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming…