The afternoon was pleasantly spent in the sun at a dock outside Dockside Green, pleasantly chatting to folks who had heard about our boat and its location that day including the occasional cyclist, runner, and walker who spied it from the conveniently placed path. Late in the afternoon we receive the Blessing from The Esquimalt and Songhess First Nations. I expected to find it moving, but not as much as it was.
In spite of the boarders that have been carved over the past two hundred years the first people of the Northwest do not draw the lines that we do today. The water that flows from the inside passage through the San Juans, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, up and down its mouth through Vancouver island, north and south along the coast and back through the sound and all the way to Olympia has no ancient borders. There are many peoples, but they are related, and the water that flows through these places did not separate, but provided means to of connection and exchange.
The first people in this area were water people and their canoes, powered by muscle were their lines of communications. Our ocean crossing may involve a different style of boat, but our journey across the ocean hopes to bring a similar human connection using our own means of locomotion. We support Right to Play because we believe in their mission of connecting children with the power of play and empowering their communities with the tools to make this right a self-sustaining reality within their community. Rowing across the ocean proves that human will we can use the crude strength of our bodies to connect two places. If, at such a basic level we have the power to do this, then what more are we capable of?
The Esquimalt and Songhess nations recognized this and believed in this journey enough to bless our boat and us for a safe journey. It was a tremendous honor, amplified by the gift of two eagle feathers; an adult directional feather and a young eagle. This was unexpected and I was caught off guard. Eagle feathers are very sacred to first nations and as the symbol of the United States are extremely protected. I had never held an eagle feather before. This was a rare gift in many First Nations across North America and to receive it as non-first nations such as us was a gift that I hardly felt worthy to receive.
Because it spends so much time in flight the eagle was given the privilege of massager of prayers between earth and heaven. For its ability to fly so high it was able to see the past, present and future. An eagle means power, honor, bravery and friendship. Qualities the four of us must share to complete this task, ones we hope, and believe we possess but as of yet unproven in our combination of four. To have been bestowed two eagle feathers preemptively is a mandate to live up to the character we strive for in our actions.
It was, I may say for myself at least, one of the greatest privileges I have had as a part of OAR Northwest. I felt truly humbled, its weight and meaning so much more than this singular example of natural wonder divinely crafted in keratin – strong and by definition light as a feather.