A Mile in your Moccasins

September 7th, 2011.

First time on her own, building a life in a city not much larger in size nor in openness of mind than from where she came.

Young. Innocent.

She hears about the problems. She sees them in the streets. But what can she do?

She moves on.

January 14th, 2012.

She takes the bus to the store. The weather is frigid; she pulls on her gloves.

“Spare change?”

Her bleeding-heart thrusts her towards a man who throws around the word ‘recidivist’. His friend pulls her into the bus shelter just as the wind gives a gust of warning.

She runs.

The word is trapped in her mind on repeat.

Recidivist.

She is a broken record player; always trying to move forward.

Always getting stuck.

Stuck.

Stuck.

Recidivist.

June 22nd, 2013, an intoxicated woman approaches her at the bus stop.

Her bloody face, a frightening experience.

Recidivist.

She falls prey to the small-town culture and how can we blame her? In a place where it was all she was told, it’s hard to push back.

But she is determined.

September 6th, 2019. She begins her journey to understanding.

January 7th. She allows herself to feel the pent-up anger. She questions the previously unquestionable.

January 10th. She is put in her place, and is grateful for it.

January 14th. The issue of colonization is examined more fully and she is angry, she is angry at the way the problems are so easily dismissed by the world.

Her fire burns bright.

January 16th. She learns more about the culture and applies it to her own family tree. She discovers a new ancestor, now feels linked to the larger picture.

Her DNA is woven into the circle, catching dreams of her great-great-great-grandmother and who she might have been.

January 21st, 28th. She brings up the issue of trust. She wants to know how we can move forward when so much of it has been broken? What would her grandmother tell her?

February 4th. She is privileged to hear a beautiful song. Goosebumps break out on her skin. Her grandmother is near.

February 6th. She is learning. She thinks back to the problems she encountered in the past, now with a new perspective. She has grown.

Time has come full circle.