“Post Grad (Of Preparations And Training)”
Long years ago, on starting out this way,
“Post-graduate” – best training, I would say
I got from church, who sent me into bush –
Naïve, just wed, strange tasks we undertook.Had not a clue re: task laid out for me;
First Nations elders could more clearly see
Their task in Higher-Ed laid out for me,
First Nations style – “autodidactic-ly”.“Come stop a while, your task has just begun –
Quite simple, “Learn”, and do that on the run;
Of what to learn (“fancy curriculum”)?
That’s up to you, for that part’s half the fun!“We will not speak in ways white people speak;
We’re honest folks (that’s most of us you’ll meet);
And we’re direct, we’ll talk direct with you;
But stories soften all we say and do.“Will slip them in, without the clarity
The white folks use, when meaning’s plain to see;
For you must work, dig out your truth from yarns
We share most days – effecting far less harm.“That’s how we raise our kids here in the woods –
We’ve axes, knives, fire, lake – it’s understood
That kids must learn to safety-conscious be,
Not ‘told by us’ – experientially.“They feel so good, when they find out their way
To use God’s gifts a safer, better way
Than first appears when they’re naïve, just wed,
Or undertake strange tasks before they’re dead”.“Post-grad”, indeed – informal just like life!
Amazing stretch for self and for my wife;
I in the church, she in the “white folks’ school”
Both learned the most informally – so cool!So thank-you folks, four years, so blessed to me;
All words (above) not stated – hard to see,
Make sense, apply, adjust what served me best –
“Leave all the rest, relax, engage what’s next”.Thanks Holy Spirit for this.
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