Alternative Breaks a life- changing experience

March 26, 2007 —

I thought I was missing out when the majority of college students were tanning on the beach at their Spring Break destinations. But I now know that I was wrong. At the beginning of March I participated in my first Alternative Break. I learned that a beach isn't the only thing able to give me an experience of a lifetime.

However, while focusing on literacy and education, the only detail I knew was certain about this trip was that I would be traveling to the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Although I had been meeting with my group once a week, I still felt a little nervous about driving twenty hours with eleven other SVSU students to an unknown place.

Now, don't get me wrong - I was looking forward to the experience. However, my knowledge about Oklahoma was very limited and before this trip, interest in the Cherokee Nation never once crossed my mind. What I have learned now, though, is that the Cherokee people are amazing. My outlook on life has been impacted greatly by them.

Before leaving, my group understood the people at our site might resent the fact that we were traveling from Saginaw to try and "fix" their problems. The truth, however, was just the opposite. They welcomed us with open arms and were there to answer any questions we had, even if we worried we could offend them.

As the week went on, we learned that our view of the Cherokees and their goals was incorrect. They were not "savages," and they were anything but uneducated. What they do feel strongly about is keeping their Cherokee traditions and culture alive.

The experience made me rethink my own life. These people don't care about how much money they make. They don't care if one day they become the CEO of a large company. And they don't care how others view their lives. What they do care about is their families.

Cherokee people believe that family is the best way of staying in touch with who you really are. You can learn where you came from, why you are the way you are, and ultimately learn about the stories of the past.

These stories provide details about culture, history and hardships. And, through each story there is a lesson to be learned- from one generation to the next.

Nothing of the Cherokee culture has been written down. This includes their language and traditions. I found out that this is done with good reason. The Cherokee people hold these things sacred, and feel that keeping them within their family is what makes the families special.

After learning these things, I began to ask myself how much I really know about my heritage, and if I have my priorities straight in life.

Here are these people who want nothing more but to live in their homeland and live in a way different from the rest of the world.

What is so wrong with that? Nothing. They have done nothing wrong to deserve the bad treatment from our ancestors, and yet still continue to give to the white population.

The Cherokee people, in my opinion, should be our role models. I will be the first to admit how ignorant I was before taking this trip to Oklahoma. I didn't think outside my own culture and I felt that the Native Americans had a strange way of living their lives.

I now have a strong appreciation for the Cherokee people. They have been extremely strong-willed to make it as far as they have while striving to keep any piece of their culture they can. It makes me angry to think that I once judged these people with no basis.

As I look back a few weeks later, I have realized my week-long trip to Tahlequah allowed me to focus on the education of the children and on myself as well.

I will now be less likely to stay in my little world, and more eager to learn about the lives of others. I would like to urge you to take the initiative and do the same.