Op-ed: Much to be grateful for this season
- John Lagimodiere | December 21, 2017
Christmas, the season of giving and gratitude has begun. This year I am grateful for many different things.
Once you go see the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre Companies annual Rez Christmas play, the season begins. This year they reprised the Vegas Vacation. Zula, Clare and Sihkos are determined to have a Christmas vacation this year and head off to Vegas to hopefully catch a glimpse of Tom Jones and play the biggest game of bingo ever. This show is a hilarious comedy and it is a must see during the Christmas Season.
A great cast including Mitchell Poundmaker, Corey Dallas Standing, Allana Dorian and Dalton Lightfoot brings the story to life with physical and over the top comedy that hits you right in the gut…mostly it hurts because you are laughing. The troupe is touring the province north to south and it included a sold out run at the Broadway in Saskatoon.
No one leaves that play without a smile on their face and some perspective on live, love and relationships. Sure, those characters fight and tease each other, but it is all filled with love, just like in a real family. The gift of laughter these actors give us always send people into the Christmas season in the right frame of mind. Curtis Peeteetuce, the brilliant playwright behind the Rez Christmas series should be repeatedly thanked for sharing the gift of his genius and wit with us each Yule Tide season. It makes me grateful every year for that laughter and good feeling.
The paly reminds us of the power of family and of giving. But sometimes Christmas can be a challenge and gifts can mean more than a toy. It can mean life. A Saskatoon family understands the impact of family and giving. Everett Bear, a young man barely into his 30’s, recently passed away after a slip and fall that gave him a traumatic brain injury.
The family, in their most challenging of times, decided to give the ultimate gift and donated his organs so that others could live. His aunt Francine Bear said it would have been what Everett wanted. “This was Everett’s choice. He always said if anything happened to him he would gift a part of himself to help another,” she told me. “It comforts me knowing he gave the gift of life with his own. He would have been 32 December 10th. So, the family is having a balloon release in his honour. My grandchildren want to attach a note on the balloons so he can read it in heaven.”
Everett donated his liver and both kidneys. Those organs are going to go to three people and it will change their lives forever. About 70 people in Saskatchewan are currently waiting for a kidney transplant. On average, they will wait 2.8 years for a kidney - that's 437 dialysis treatments per person. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and one tissue donor can enhance the lives of 75 people. What an amazing gift for those those families in one last final gesture of giving.
Others give through leadership like a couple of our news makers. Over one hundred thousand people will be grateful for the work of Senator Lillian Dyck for her gift of leadership and advocacy to change the Indian Act to allow women to have equal access to getting their Indian Status back. Nothing like equality in governance.
And we also have leaders like Mike Linklater who has taken his culture, skill and determination and turned himself into a world leader in the sport of basketball. He uses that platform to inspire young and old about the power of culture and perseverance.
If you ask the GTNT cast of kohkums, the Bear family and Mike and Senator Dyck, bar none they will tell you that family made them what they are today. They are your roots and your guidance and you should be grateful for them and gift them with your time and thanks every single day. Trinkets and pretty things are nice gifts, but there is nothing better than time with family during this Christmas season. Hold them close and cherish them. That’s when I feel most grateful. And that’s the best gift I can get. Merry Christmas.