Responsibility

Responsibility. To me, responsibility means the ability to respond. If something bad (or good) happens, and we are responsible for it, we must be ready to respond as a part of the consequences. President George W said that he was responsible for bad intelligence for starting the war in Iraq. He also said that he was responsible for failures in dealing with hurricane Katrina. But beyond saying he was responsible, his office as president was little affected by the consequences.

I am impressed by all that the Band does for its members. We have good housing. There are programs for just about everything. However, I also believe the adage that with great privilege comes great responsibility. That is why I think mandatory service to the tribe should be a part of every Red Lakers responsibility to the Band.

It would cement our sense of identity, self esteem, pride, and respect for other Band members.

Imagine 50 Red Lakers descending on a deserted housing site with a burned out house sitting on it, via Red Lake transit. They are accompanied by a couple of trucks with large dumpsters from the Red Lake transfer station. Poof! In an hour ( or so), the house is gone, the site is clean, and mandatory service fulfilled for that week or month. Everyone leaves with the satisfaction of a job well done. Then every time one of those Red Lakers who worked there goes by that nice clean place, they can think, “I did that”.