Critters Help the Helpless

(time 14:00)

Big Ideas:

Educators are encouraged to focus on four dominant themes throughout their planning and study of the story Critters Help the Helpless. The themes integral to the story are 1) responsibility, 2) gratitude, 3) protocols, and 4) inclusion. The following are suggestions and information that will assist educators in meeting their learning objectives for their students.

Backgrounder:

Teachers are encouraged to read the summaries and reflections found in the book Not Extinct: Keeping the Sinixt Way that reference and relate to this story. Several important topics and concepts are mentioned, such as:

• Parental responsibility – teaching children to respond, feel gratitude, and be responsible (accept responsibility);

• Educating yourself, learning – it’s a job, a responsibility;

• Judging others by looks;

• Colonial oppression;

• Sinixt responsibility/commitment – to provide a Sinixt perspective; to uphold cultural laws;

• Active participation betters your life – helps you to know better, get better, do better and survive in a good way;

• Settler responsibility – to be respectful of cultural laws; to speak truth;

• Relevant artwork.

Language:
An introduction to some of the following words and phrases may be needed for younger students prior to, or after, listening to the story:

physically challenged, productive community members, embrace their limitations, choice berries and meats, winter provisions, take up residence, replenish, abandoned, impediment, resigned herself to perishing, big contingent, rejoicing.

The Story:

Some consideration could be given to the following:

• The man and woman in the story have physical challenges. What evidence shows us they were appreciated by their tribal community? – i.e. actively participated, enthusiastic, enjoyed the gathering camps, children included and loved them.

• List some of the son’s schemes and the reasoning behind them.

• He made his mother and father place choice berries and meats close to him so he could enjoy them with little or no effort.

• He insisted his wife move to his village rather than following the protocol of living at his wife’s village.

• He refused to join any of the groups who were leaving the gathering camp in the fall and returning to their village to prepare for winter.

• He told his mother at the gathering camp to leave the baby behind when she went to gather wood.

• He told the members of his community his mother had died and they were in ḿpaʔpaʔsίlx.

• He ran after the young warriors when they went to look for his mother.

• He pleaded with his mother to save him.

• Did the son really think no one would notice his scheming and laziness? Recall the members of the community did not like him very much and he was sent away for a while.

• Being abandoned in the mountains is normally a death sentence for someone who is not only elderly but has physical challenges. Explain how the old woman survived.

• The ending to this story is abrupt but deeply meaningful. Why were there no obvious consequences for the son who begs his mother to save him? His mother tells him to get up so they could go home. What do you think could happen next? What changes may occur?

• Why do you think the story is called Critters Help the Helpless?

Responsibility

For balance and survival to occur in the community, the members of the village needed to commit to sharing and helping each other with important tasks, i.e. fishing, hunting, berry-picking, gathering bark for basket-making or tule mats, medicine gathering, root digging, wood gathering, and so on. Parenting involves teaching a child how to be an independent, hard-working citizen. While raising a child to become a supportive member of the family as well as a contributing member of the community is a valid and realistic goal, it is also the responsibility of the child to learn.

• The son’s parents were so loving and giving but seemed to expect very little in return. How do children learn responsibility? – i.e. through instruction, mentoring, modeling, practise, experiencing consequences.

• List age-related chores and responsibilities that might be undertaken in a village situation by younger members, i.e. gathering sticks for the fire; being a good audience member during storytelling; taking care of younger siblings; observing, learning, and developing new skills; showing respect and patience during ceremony and ritual; assisting with controlled burns; practising cultivation and caretaking protocols within one’s homeland; assisting with preparation of meat and fish for storage; gathering foods such as berries and nuts; welcoming visitors and helping them feel comfortable, and so on. What chores and responsibilities do the students have (or should have) within their own family, their school, and their community?

• A little girl named Julie was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth. Doctors said she would probably never walk or talk. Julie’s mother was viewed as mean, ruthless, and abusive as she pushed her daughter to defy the doctor’s predictions. At 9 years old, Julie entered grade two with a trained teaching assistant by her side, walked the short distance from her home to the school, used signing to communicate with her classmates, and participated to the best of her ability in her community. The other children loved her, were very careful to not bump into her by accident, and offered assistance when needed. Her laughter was infectious as she watched the movie Born To Be Wild with her classmates and was able to understand sign language used by Katie the gorilla. What do you think of this mother’s so-called abusive treatment of her daughter? What encouragement or advice could Julie’s mother give to the mother in the story?

• Is there an unwritten social contract that governs membership in a society? Older students could research the ‘social contract’ theory where members of a society enjoy benefits of a society by cooperating within that society. Charles Mills in his book entitled The Racial Contract critiques the traditional social contract theory. He includes comments by such philosophers as Kant, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, et al who denied that any other race than the white race had produced a civilization. Hegel denied that Africa even had any history and strongly supported slavery.

• Research the concept of entitlement and discuss its connection to the story.

A Deafening Silence

For a government to legally connect and interact with a tribal group, that tribal group must officially and legally exist….on paper. Since the Sinixt do not ‘legally’ exist in the country we now call Canada, no legal connection is required of the government and no legal agreements can be signed, for how can you connect with something or someone who does not exist. The dilemma here is jarring for the Sinixt People who do physically exist and yet are shrouded in a ghost status imposed upon them. The Sinixt voice is silenced. (See the Lemon Creek story for more on this topic.)

• Marilyn James is a Sinixt Elder and Matriarch. As explained in the book, Marilyn has a responsibility, a commitment, and a duty, but for what and to whom? Her responsibilities include the following:

• …uphold Sinixt cultural laws;

• …provide a Sinixt perspective;

• …reference and elaborate on Sinixt existence/extinction;

• …talk about what is relevant to Sinixt people;

• …advocate for the land, the water, the trees, the animals, all of it;

• …repatriate, rebury, and protect Sinixt ancestral remains;

• …educate members of the settler culture. (Students could elaborate on what this might entail.)

• What is colonial oppression? In what ways are the Sinixt as a tribal group experiencing colonial oppression?

• Is there a ‘deafening silence’ in the story? Explain.

Inclusion/accessibility

As explained above, Julie had cerebral palsy but, from a distance, was seen as crippled, limited, not physically whole, and her potential was grossly underestimated. On the other hand, the son in the story was seen as ‘the most perfect son, no challenges whatsoever’ when he was born and his potential was overestimated.

• Explain the following statement in relation to the son in the story: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

• List examples of how people with disabilities are included in society? – i.e. Special Olympics; bigger parking stalls and roomier bathroom stalls with handles; sounds at traffic lights; allowances for therapy or guide dogs to accompany those who need them; ramps and elevators; signage for special parking; special seating and accommodation on public transit and in waiting areas; wheelchairs or motorized carts available at airports, large stores, and malls; wider aisles; assistance carrying items to a vehicle; etc.

• Older students could research and debate the needs for affirmative action and equal opportunity.

• How is the education and survival of a child dependent on ‘inclusion’? Life skills and cultural laws were not learned sitting at a desk or under strict authoritarian and controlled environments. They were exampled by mature members of the group. As far as children were concerned, their ‘inclusion’ in daily village life was of utmost importance. They learned through experience, by doing, by observing, through storytelling, and through ritual, ceremony, and spiritual practise. Inclusion was the key.

Protocols

Several protocols are referenced in the story. Some are more obvious than others.

• Name some of the protocols referenced in the story. For example:

• A man moves to the wife’s village after they are married.

• ḿpaʔpaʔsίlx is a ritually observed year of grieving after the death of a close family member. The community must help and provide for the family as they do not hunt, fish, or gather for their year of grieving.

• A community member must actively participate in community life. Each member participates to the best of their ability to help ease the burden of survival for the group. Recall the second cultural law smum iem: Live a life of service. Take care of your own responsibilities first, and then contribute to the community by helping and taking care of others.

• Community members actively participate and meet at the gathering camps each year. Gathering camps were a time to share, to celebrate, and to catch up on news.

• Returning to the village in plenty of time to prepare for winter was essential.

• Elders must be respected.

• What is a protocol and why are protocols needed?

Gratitude

Gratitude is an emotion where one is greatly appreciative of a benefit that has occurred. It would seem that two steps are potentially involved in feeling gratitude. Firstly, one is aware and acknowledges that a benefit, or a good outcome, has been received. Secondly, there is some awareness that the benefit or good outcome has come from a source outside of oneself.

• Gratitude is a learned behaviour and can be taught. One of the best ways to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in young people is by modeling thankfulness. There are several websites that provide suggestions and activities for educators on this topic.

• What are some barriers or impediments to feeling gratitude?

1. a feeling we are owed things (entitlement);

2. self-absorption or preoccupation with oneself;

3. a lack of modeling of thankfulness.

• Consider the following quote by R. Braathe: “Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices.” In the story, the son of the old woman shows no gratitude for the benefits he received as a member of a family and of a community. His mother had modeled active participation in the community as well as thankfulness. Discuss the possible reasons for his attitude. – include the terms expectations, social contract commitments (see the section on responsibility above), consequences, programming.

• Aesop said “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” How does this quote relate to the old woman’s winter survival experience in the mountains?

• What might be some of the benefits of gratitude? – contentment, thankfulness, satisfaction, not constantly wanting more, mindfulness, being a nicer person, having more friends, being more social, and so on.

• Shel Silverstein’s book called The Giving Tree was declared the most disgusting book ever by one parent. Students could read, research, and critique the pros and cons of the story. Was the tree weak or strong for giving all it had to a boy who gave nothing in return but kept asking for more?

Curricular Competency: (developed by the teacher creating the lesson plan in collaboration with the student(s) receiving the knowledge)

Communication:

Creative Thinking:

Critical Thinking:

Positive Personal & Cultural Identity:

Personal Awareness & Responsibility:

Social Responsibility: