An excerpt of writing in response to the forum: Harold Johnson – Rights, Responsibilities & Relationships written in ECS 101
Harold taught on the power of stories and that we see the stories that we tell ourselves. The narratives that we hold in our minds carry the power to change the outcome of the stories that we see. In the lecture a quote that really stood out to me that Harold said was: “You are seeing the story that you tell yourself, created by all of the stories that you have heard.” This is significant information that is relative to the storyline and stereotypes that mainstream society has taught us about Indigenous people and alcohol consumption. The true story as Harold explained is that 35% of Aboriginal people do not drink in comparison to 18% of Canadians that do not drink. As an educator, it is important to consider what our own minds and eyes are showing us in relation to what the true facts really are. As a future educator something significant that I learned from Harold was that our minds have power – they have the power to create stories that can hurt us or heal us. As an educator it is always important to be continuously checking the story that our minds and eyes are showing us because if we just believe what we immediately see, our minds might be misleading us and instead showing us a lie. We must be diligent to ask ourselves whether we are seeing a true story or a false story to ensure fair treatment of our students and that we are passing forward factual information to them. If not then we will be contributing to the bigger problem and the negative wheel of trauma. Checking our stories is one way that as educators we can enact change and become part of the solution.
“You are seeing the story that you tell yourself, created by all of the stories that you have heard.” – Harold Johnson