The Bible tells of the Jewish nation during the Babylonian captivity and their suffering. We have a record of how they were taught about a different culture and yet they prospered in captivity awaiting their return to their homeland.
The Indian were in the same plight with their children removed from their homes. They were also forced to learn a strange language, customs.
Some lost their language which is the most important part in retaining your culture. While others became bi-lingual thereby helping them navigate the complexities of language. This didn’t destroy culture but helped preserve it.
How others ask? Well think about it with no written language the most we would all have would be oral history. Writing it down helps immensely plus new ideas came come forth in the form of stories. A tribes’ history could be passed onto the next generation.
Still not all was good with the rapid changes forced upon them! There are pictures of young men with their haircut and wearing suits and the girls in dresses.
Clothes alone does not change a person nor does a haircut. In the pictures you can still distinguish the Indian features something clothes do not change! There were abuses and didn’t come to light until decades later. There were well meaning people but most times we only remember the bad ones.
My time at boarding school wasn’t the worst experience. It was nothing like that of the experiences of the first boarding schools and of those that were sent there.
I had a creative writing class which I blew off, coming in late, skipping class, and not doing nary a writing. At least nothing worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. One day with 15 minutes left my teacher said “that I could work off all my tardies and absences if I could write three stories each three pages long.” I thought why didn’t you say this before now I only have fifteen minutes! I got pencil and paper and wrote those three stories and turned them in with three minutes left. She looked up and asked” what are these?” I told her the three stories you asked for. She looked at them and asked me “where did you copy these from?”
I said” I didn’t copy them I wrote them.” She looked bewildered and asked me” what the word in one of the stories was?” I said” I know what it is, it is used right, right?” She looked up at me and again she asked “where did you get these?” I calmly told her “I wrote them right there at my desk”!
My desk sat right in front of hers! She looked at them and then proceeded to tear them up while saying “F” and threw them into the wastebasket!
I never did go back to her class guess she didn’t think I could write worth a darn! That was my worst experience with boarding school. That and getting beat up once. Doesn’t pay to get drunk!
My experiences aren’t even close to what the kids dealt with and those that are still alive deal with to this day.
Why did I mention the Jews at the beginning you wonder? I heard a song by Boney M entitled “by the rivers of Babylon.” It talks about the captivity and being forced to sing a song about Zion! How they couldn’t because they were in captivity and in a strange land. How could they sing about Zion and praise their Lord?”
It just felt like a good song that the children in the first boarding schools might have sung. Trauma I hear is hard to deal with and forgiveness is even harder. It is very hard for me to comprehend it. I write about it and hope it gives clarity to some.
It is the best I can do.
Time for deliverance and time for a new song. As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 to everything there is a season.
Look up the song “By the rivers of Babylon.”
It will change your thinking I’m sure of it.