It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know. -RWE

The other day in class we were confronted with the question of what we have learned so far throughout the course. Off the top of my head I went blank, had I learned nothing so far? It took a couple minutes to start piecing things together throughout the course. The course requires me to think further into the blatant and more into the undefined. Reflecting upon the material studied made me realize how much I had truely learned about the Native American culture and life in general.

First of all I realized that prejudiced is still happening everywhere. I never thought of how often it occured because it is not as blatantly stated as it used to be, but it is still there. I also never realized the extent to which it could affect a person. How much of our past do we let define and effect our future.

A began to realize these thoughts when learning about Sherman Alexie. He would display his feelings and troubles through his writings and his fellow people did not understand why he would display his awaful past. He was filled with hurt and pain but allowed himself to reveal these thoughts through his works which made them easier to deal with and keep going in life. He stood up to his past and did not allow it to affect him too much.

People would also use Trickster tales to seperate themselves from a traumatic past. The tales would be a way of displaying their feelings, but in a way that would make them humorous and easier to deal with. Coyote would deal with bad event but the story would be twisted to make it funny and resonate with the pain easier. People still do that to this day. Laughter is the best medicine.

Even after dealing with it though how do you confront these troubles? You separate yourself away from the hurt and pain, do you forget it completely or confront the pain and make it be known that your ok with it and that you have learned from it?