Focus and Canada’s Lord of the Rings

I was re-watching one of my favourite movie series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the other day. One of the things I had noted in the story was the focus various characters kept and how that impacted them personally.

Merry and Pippin, the two younger Hobbits, only focused on the here and now. Their goals were simple; stay alive, eat, drink, and take joy in whatever comforts they can find wherever their journey would take them. Frodo was focused on the long term goal of bringing the ring to Mount Doom and could endure present hardships in light of his far off goal. Samwise was purely focused on protecting and helping Frodo complete his task and, more importantly, the journey home.

Most of the heroic characters (Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli) were focused very much on protecting the Hobbits at all costs. Those who failed Frodo, such as when Boromir tried to take the ring, failed because they were not focused on protection or the journey of the Hobbits, but on the power of the ring and how it might be a useful tool in their war against Sauron.

Gandalf had always kept his focus on protection and guidance of the Hobbits. In particular, he imparted much wisdom upon Frodo – wisdom that would later prove critical to Frodo’s success. With this focus, Gandalf remained true and dedicated to loyalty.

These characters, who had never faltered from their paths, kept a vision of the goal – the victory – in mind at all times. It enabled them to keep perspective no matter how dark things looked at various times in their journeys.

Interestingly though, was the results for those characters in the story who did not keep a vision of their desired goals fixed in mind. Saruman The White, described as the head of good wizards and greatest among them, had studied deep into “ways” of the enemy. He had even used a seeing stone, which allowed him to see the workings of the enemy. It was this focus on the details of all the dark tidings and challenges before him and his allies that his focus began to blur. Rather than seeing a vision of the victory he hoped to achieve, he became lost in the despair of all the day to day evils and the enormity of the full breadth of the challenge before him. As a result, he lost his hope and any vision of an alternative to failing against the challenges of Sauron.

The Steward of Gondor had also used a seeing stone. His city, bearing the full brunt of the Sauron’s armies and incursions in the lands of men and elves, had seen the evils and challenges of Sauron daily. Just as Saruman lost his hope, the Steward of Gondor lost his. He became mad with despair, unable to even properly lead the people to defend the city.

Even Frodo, at one point began to lose sight of the goal. He declared to Sam that he could no longer go on. Sam responded:

“I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something... That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.”

It was the focus of the characters that influenced their behaviours and their successes or failures. Focus and balance in what they focused on also played a role. Although it did not get displayed particularly prominently in the films, the books make it very clear how important celebrations and laughter were to giving the Hobbits the strength to continue their journey.

1.       Tom Bombadil and Goldberry encouraged the Hobbits early in their adventure – feasting and giving them a few evenings of merriment and laughter

2.       In the Inn of the Prancing Pony, the Hobbits (mostly the younger two) celebrated in the tavern

3.       In the valley of the elves, the Hobbits rested, feasted and had times to enjoy life

4.       Before entering the mines of Moria, the whole party of 9 (the fellowship of the ring) had some laughter and good times during their encampments

5.       On and on throughout the story, at various times, the characters took time to find some enjoyment in life regardless of the dangers and evil around them

For those of us working in the realm of Indigenous economic development, our challenges are no less daunting. Indigenous peoples are the most impoverished in Canada, kept at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder by the racist apartheid Indian Act. We face the highest suicide rates, drug and alcohol abuse, spirits broken from residential schools and Canadian cultural genocide policies, highest school drop out rates, lowest funding levels for child welfare, education, health, remote communities with food costing as much as 10 times what Canadians pay for, communities without running water, without heat, housing chronically underfunded resulting in overcrowding and mould, diabetes, the lowest unemployment, etc.

Our communities also face funding cuts, and threats from the Government of Canada (ie. Federal response to Attawapiskat state of emergency was to cut funding and place them under third party management in an arrangement that would force the community to pay $1,300 to a white consultant appointed by PM Harper). Our communities face energy and resource companies encroaching on lands to profit from natural resources – often without including our communities or only giving us a pittance for compensation then leaving our communities with environmental disasters and chronic health problems.

Our communities face unilateral decisions by the Conservative Government of Canada that erode rights and safeguards of community lands and resources. Programs, organizations, communities are all facing continual funding cuts under the current government, all while emergency states and third world conditions are ignored.

The challenges before us are great. However, we can learn something from the characters I described above.

1.       We must fix in our minds a vision of what success looks like. What are we trying to achieve in our communities?

2.       We must hang on to that vision and find people who will support and encourage us – surround ourselves with those people.

3.       While it is important to be aware of the challenges before us and the tactics of the “Saurons” we face, we must not lose ourselves, our hope, and our vision, by meditating too deeply on them.

a.       Thinking of the entirety of the challenge can be discouraging and cause us to lose focus. Be aware of the overall challenge, but begin to determine the immediate legs of the journey before you.

b.      What can you tangibly do today, to bring you one step closer to the vision you hold onto?

4.       We need to ensure we balance ourselves between focusing on the challenges and on finding enjoyment where we can in this life.

5.       We need to remember the words of Samwise: “there's some good in this world... and it's worth fighting for.”

So as we proceed to apply our skills and minds and hands to raising up Indigenous communities, we need to fix a vision of what the end goal is. The smile of a healthy child, a well-maintained home, a family playing and spending quality time together, a community cleaned up of debris and litter, community events filled with laughter and joy, a beaming graduate holding their diploma, a smiling tradesperson holding their Red Seal certificate, etc.

I leave you with a real life example of someone who has exemplified much of these thoughts: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/this-teacher-is-on-a-mission-to-educate-first-nations/article2289480/

Michelle Durant-Dudley, a teacher who kept a vision of success fixed in her mind. Even endured hardships, personal sacrifice, and physical assault could not deter her from her focus and her hope and vision.

Let us resolve this year to have the same dedication to a future vision full of hope.

Indigenous balance

As Indigenous people in the economy, it can be a real challenge to find the balance between activism and development.

First, let's be sure we're on the same page here. By "in the economy" I mean either working for someone, running your own business, or even living off the land. To be honest, unless we are sitting on our behinds and literally doing nothing productive, we are all in the economy - it just might not be recognized by the mainstream, somewhat short-sighted economists.

By activism, I am referring to the inevitable calling, we as Indigenous people, have to stand up for our peoples, our rights, and the environment (aka all creation).

By development, I mean the processes by which we harness the gifts of the Creator (be those gifts of the land, gifts of knowledge or skill, etc.) in ways that maintain integrity and honour (aka "sustainability"). This can be developing these gifts and includes our career development too.

So the question is, how do we maintain balance when we see injustices again our people? Do we quit our jobs and make a stand at a blockade? Do we ignore the plights of our people for the sake of some form of socio-economic stability?

As many have shared with me, it's not an either/or situation. However, this is precisely where the challenge comes in. How much activism do I engage in?

Our lives are complex intersections of so many factors, each of which take time. We have to juggle business or career, family, education, community, physical and spiritual development, etc. This, of course, is common to all, including non-Indigenous people. For Indigenous people, though, we add to that the quest for our own identity, our fight for our rights to even exist, and of course our struggle against racism, discrimination, colonialism, assimilation, seemingly unending injustices and a whole host of challenges.

I am not going to say that this or that way is the right balance. Each of us must find our own balance, our own path with this regard. One thing for certain, there will be a cost. If there is no cost at all, then we must ask ourselves if we are standing for anything. We must ask if we are even holding on to our identity, or simply succumbing to assimilation.

The weight of the cost will depend on what we are willing to pay and what we must balance in providing for our children &families and standing for our people. The cost might mean losing a job or simply not being able to work for certain employers (their position on Indigenous issues might be irreconcilable with your own belief or identity). The cost may mean the breaking of brotherhood or friendship with those whose hearts are so hardened against our people that they will hear no reason. The cost may be our time, dedicated to the struggle on a specific issue.

Whatever the cost you deem willing to pay, count it well as you run with the rat race towards the cliff of integrity. Will you stop and hold fast to integrity? Or will you, like so many in the western society, leap off the cliff of integrity into the depths of injustice?