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05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0088. Imported source record; individual Elder status and tribal affiliation are not inferred.
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Interview transcript
One of the great things about our society, our culture, our way of life, is our people, our ancestors, were very forgiving of society ways. In terms of…historically, if someone did something to cross your path or did something to affect you in a negative way, there was always ways to handle that. And there were no questions asked. I’ve always heard from my grandparents that there were no words for “please”...things were done in a way that you knew it was important to fulfill that role. There were never any questions asked when a student or a child had to help…or a relative had to help pitch in, step up, do things like that. There was never any question about it. It was just the way things were done, historically. So there were no words to do that because our society was set up differently. But today, the struggle and challenge is how to reincorporate that into our society that we live in today…with all of the technology…with all of the things that take our time. Our people are spending more time doing things such as drugs and alcohol and addictions that helped them get through some of the last ways… and maybe some of the stuff their ancestors passed onto them. Whereas, if you can find a place of healing within yourself, it’s easier to go back to our traditional values. So I think…we’re still in that stage of how do we stop the drugs and alcohol…the impact of all of this…and then reintroduce and recreate our way of life.