Over the last two months I've read four of Joseph Boyden's books (Three Day Road, Through Black Spruce, The Orenda and Wenjack).
He's an amazing storyteller who pulls you into the world he's created. He's also done a painstaking amount of research to ensure that this world rings true to the times he has set them in. It's great reading and especially timely to help Canadians better understand the impact European settlers have had on Indigenous People's in Canada over the last number of centuries.
The books contain a lot of wisdom. One comment that has stuck with me is from Gosling in The Orenda. She comments how dependent humans are on everything in the world and how nothing in the broader natural world is dependent on humans. Therefore showing the place of humanity to be a servant to the larger earth and not its ruler.
I've always known that things work best when there is balance and that being of service to something is our greatest calling. I have never thought about this as simply as Joseph Boyden and Indigenous wisdom and philosophy have presented it here. There's something very profound in this statement and I know it will be one that I revisit in the future.
Being a Force for Good 