Who Are Your Teachers?

How They Influence Your Identity

Issue 182, October 17, 2024

Several years ago, we attended a thought leadership conference that explored emerging trends. At the end of a session on sustainability (not just climate change, but resilience and prosperity) Chief Oren Lyons, the Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper of the Onondaga and Seneca Nations of the Six Nations of the Grand River, looked straight at the audience and asked us, “Who are your teachers?” It was one of those moments in time when a profoundly provocative and unexpected question caught a room full of adults off guard.

Wisdom Lifeline

It reminded us at the time that teachers transcend the sixth grade.  If we are paying attention and actively listening, we have teachers our entire lives. Chief Lyons went on to explain that in the Native Peoples culture there is a natural progression of leadership based on age and wisdom. The next generations in his culture definitely want their voices heard along with their peers worldwide, but they are brought up to have respect for th…