Fort Francis, Ontario
Melissa saw me last week near Thunder Bay, and now she saw me again. The Boston Pizza employee was so wanting to know, so she stopped and asked, "What do you believe? What is your concept of sin?" I recall our guru, Srila Prabhupada, having looked at that word "sin". It is traced back to an old German word "upsunder" meaning to break away. Sin then, means to break away from dharma, the path, or turning away from God. Pulling out of grace, or in other words, acting irresponsibly.
"We look at the damage done to the environment. That's sin isn't it?" She had to agree. "Greed is sin. Ghandi, spoke of need and greed - two different things. And these days we are full of greed." As a global race, we have definitely shifted from the need to the greed.
Melissa is a Christian believer, she also believes in being open-minded. That was so much appreciated.
I walked through Couchiching, Fort Francis and Alberton. At Couchiching, where I took a break, a cultural Native event took place. People were really smoking away. In the Rainy Lake area, wild rice grows in abundance. Now, under the bright Indian summer sun, Daruka and I watched the traditional method of husking the wild rice and roasting the kernels. It was definitely a labour-intensive program. In my opinion, wild rice is the best tasting rice. This social event opened the doors to new opportunities for Daruka and I, as we mingled with the Ojibwe and the whites. One great moment came from reading a statement on Alex's T-shirt. It read: "If you want to know the land, then you walk it."
30 Km
Fort Frances campground- home for the night
The Walking Monk, Daruka + Billie entering fort
Frances, Ontario
Wild rice preparation the traditional Ojibway way at
Couchiching Reserve by Fort Frances
Couchiching council member Alex's shirt rings a bell
with the Walking Monk
Alex's mother Dorothy + the Walking Monk inspect the
wild rice
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