Preserving the past

As I sit here writing this I am listening to the Rankin Family sing a song in a language much, much older and French or English.  On Monday, the class will participate in a caribou camp celebrating the life-giving force of the caribou and what it has meant, both physically and spiritually, to the North's Dene peoples for millenia.  The students are currently working on a project about either an ancestor, a community, or an immigrant group to which they are historically connected.  So what's it all about...well, we are connected to our past. 

The past is sometimes treated as something full of hardships, politically incorrect people, and atrocities better left forgotten.  I disagree.  The past is what supports and sustains us.  We are better for knowing the past, better yet, understanding our past.  We are stronger when we have that foundation to support us, traditions to carry on, and understandings about the universe that need not be so quickly dismissed. Sure there were mistakes made in the past, but we are to move forward taking the best of our heritage with us.  The best of our heritage demands an understanding of what has come before, because, afterall, if you don't know what went into the recipe, you'll never know what you are eating.  By the way, I don't know what the Rankin Family is singing about, but the tune sure sounds familiar...