Lost Luggage = Big Problems. . . Or does it?

Matt Doherty's account of his delayed bag and how it changed the way he thinks:


Matt Doherty listening to an evening
speaker

"Enter the immersion trip with an open and flexible attitude" were the words our chaperones, Mr. Saulle and Mr. Sudnik, chimed instructively to us before our departure. Dressed in my navy blue sweat suit and winter jacket, ready to brave the Montana cold,  I met my group at the airport, went through the laborious process of checking in, and took off en route to Denver. "Flexible, Matt, Flexible", is what I thought as we waited in the airport and got dinner after landing in Denver. Everything was going smoothly as we boarded our flight to

Spokane, Washington.

We touched down smoothly  although amidst inclement weather. Our group filed out of the plane, down the walkway, and towards the baggage claim area. We all patiently waited as bags came out on the conveyor belt, one by one. After ten minutes all of the bags had been brought out, but no one in our group had received their bags. "Could they have really lost all of our bags?", I thought. Then, in an irritatingly loud voice that had a slight twinge of an electric sound to it that was added through the use of a microphone-like apparatus, an airline representative that was around 50 meters away alerted us that we had gone to the wrong gate and our bags could be found at the United Airline gate where she was stationed. I sighed in relief because the reoccurring and subconscious fear of losing my luggage had been quelled as we walked toward the gate. We reached the gate and all of my comrades picked up their luggage. I stood in silent horror upon the realization that my luggage was missing. My fellow immersion student, James, was also missing the bag he had checked. We spoke to the airline representative and learned that our bags had been delayed, were left in Denver, and would be shipped to an address of our choosing in Montana, when possible. Not in the best of moods, but still flexible, I left the airport with the group. After a 10 minute taxi ride, we arrived at a rather seedy train station in Spokane, Washington. By the time we boarded the train, I was beginning to cope with the idea of not having baggage while assuring myself that all would go as planned, and I would receive it the next afternoon when we arrived in Montana.

Four days passed since I checked my bag at the airport, and I was in Browning, Montana wearing the same blue jumpsuit that I had arrived in. I had worn it to sleep, to meet the kids at the school, to gym class, to cook dinner, and to see the kids again. The group had made quite the spectacle of my repetitious wardrobe. Although I was having incredible experiences being exposed to Native American culture and the contemporary culture of economic desolation in Browning, my mood just wasn't at the level I wanted it to be. I had yet to have attached to the teaming Spirit that filled Browning. I could have attributed this declining attitude of mine to the fact that I had worn the same clothes for four days, but I began to think of my mood on a deeper level. I reminisced about the night my friend Rob and I had cooked dinner for the group.

That night we had a special guest over to speak to the group.The guest was Joe "Big Crow" Bremner, a Native American spiritualist. He told us of Native American traditions and songs that have carried on through oral tradition for thousands of years. He performed a ceremony that involved the placement of sweet grass, an herb that is commonly used by the Blackfeet, on a hot coal in order to induce smoke that one would smudge on themself for a type of aura-purifictation. His conversation with us spanned a world of fascinating history, tradition, and ceremony. Then he began to speak of a tribal initiation into manhood called "Sitting Holy," which he had done some years back. He told us how he had gone four days without water and food all while sitting in the same place. On the fifth day, the ceremony follows that the person who has undergone this fast is given the right to have a tiny piece of meat, a small drop of water, and to stand up once again. He recalled how this meat and water were the greatest things he had ever consumed and that due to the deprivation of these essentials and of standing, he had learned how precious they were. They were truly rights.

On Tuesday my baggage arrived in the middle of the school day. I left the classroom and jubilantly put on a fresh pair of clothes in the changing room of the school. This was the best pair of clothes I had ever put on. From the socks to the shirt, everything was smooth and fresh. I used to waste clothes, in fact I over-packed for this trip. My parents would reprimand me weekly for the the mass amounts of laundry that emanated from my room. I now will cherish every item of apparel that sits on my body. In my own little way I had a "Sitting Holy" experience. It wasn't nearly as intense as the tribal initiation experience, but for a private school kid from the suburbs it really changed my perspective.


Matt Doherty helping a student with an essay

 

The more I think about it the more this idea of having the "right to wear clothing", the more the idea expands. It expands to food, to water, to shelter, until it envelops a much broader idea spanning all of earth's resources. So much is wasted in the modern world. Joe "Big Crow" Bremner referred to how conservation and balance with Nature is so important to Native American culture and how some scientists were even looking towards old ways of Native American living to find solutions to environmental problems that are  induced by depletion of resources. This made me recall learning in my sophomore history class that a population of Native Americans could use a fraction of the amount of land that a population of white settlers would need to survive.



While mulling around in my thoughts and a fresh pair of pants these last days, my view of the use of resources, weather clothing, and food has completely changed. I respect that while I have a right to everything on earth, it is a privilege that should not be abused. This trip has reinvigorated my belief in conservation and has given me a new appreciation for life. It's funny how a simple delay of luggage that would usually be viewed as an annoyance by most could lead to a change in one's perspective.

Matt Doherty '12