“Always remember you are Native - do things to make your people proud.”
-Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE
All our choices and decisions will reflect on our people. We need to assume the accountability of honoring people. We must remember to conduct ourselves in a sacred way. Sometimes this is hard. But we must remember we have the assistance of the Spirit World, and we have the principles and values by which we should live, written in our hearts. The Creator will help us develop into a strong people if we just learn to depend upon Him.
Our ability to survive as a fellowship and to reach others depends on our unity.
We bring all our old beliefs with us when we come to the Fellowship. Being intolerant and even hostile to people from different backgrounds may have been part of our identity when we were struggling. Some of us held prejudices based on race, ethnicity, or culture. Others held negative views about certain religious or nonreligious beliefs or sexual and gender identities. Our judgments about age, disability, income, and even what neighborhoods people lived in influenced how we felt about them. It takes time to realize that our old ways of thinking may not serve us in this new life. And it takes even more time to change our thinking and behavior. We often encounter opportunities for growth as we do service in the Fellowship. One member shared about bumping heads with a fellow home-group member. “He was so rigid and seemed to be against anything I was for,” the member grumbled. Many of us have found ourselves similarly frustrated. Especially in early recovery, it’s almost a reflex to assume that our way is best and they—whoever “they” may be—must be wrong. Fortunately, our sponsors can talk us down from that tree. They help us see that we’ve taken it for granted that others should think, feel, and communicate as we do. As we get to know people from a variety of backgrounds, we start to see the value of our inclusivity. Life is more interesting when viewed from multiple perspectives. We adopt a mindset of goodwill, and unity shows us how to put we before me as we focus on our common welfare. United by the ties that bind us together, we let go of our prejudices and embrace diversity as an asset.
We need the Fellowship to thrive, so today we will choose to practice the principle of unity by letting go of our old ideas and accepting all our fellow members. We must always remember to honor our Native roots and conduct ourselves in a sacred way, relying on the Creator to help us develop into a strong and unified people.