For a long time, the world was a very busy place. Lots of people rushed around and drove from here to there. They got on big planes and went all over the world. They went shopping and dancing. They went to piano lessons and sports games–and on and on and on!

Then one day, it totally stopped. Out of nowhere! Everything just stopped.

The cars stayed off the roads and the planes stayed out of the sky and many things became quieter outside. The birds were always there but suddenly all their great songs could be heard as though they were holding microphones!

With so many people all around the world staying inside, the water started getting clearer and the air did, too! It was amazing. It was like magic! But there were some other things happening as well.

Some people became really sick. Not everyone had a home to stay safe in. Not everyone had enough food to eat or clean water to drink. Some people didn’t have anyone to hug. A lot of people really missed their friends. The musicians didn’t have anyone to play for. And the teachers started trying to do everything online, but not everybody could meet them there and a lot of kids really wanted to play outside.

Yet the oceans and the animals and the lakes and the air were all so happy! How could that be? Didn’t they know what was happening to everyone and everything?

The world is amazing because it holds so many different feelings and experiences at the same time. And the world is strange for those very reasons, too! The world holds happiness and sadness and cities and wilderness and empty bellies and full bellies and everything in between.

When the cities got quiet, and more and more people stayed home, the world became something that many people lived in online. For people who have the Internet, it can seem a bit like the air, something we don’t think about because it seems like it’s always there. It can help us have fun, and connect and learn. It can also teach us what to buy and look like and show about our lives. It may be hard for you to see, but when you look very closely you will notice that the Internet is a place with many worlds inside. And this is what makes it so similar to the world offline!

One world, the one you can see most clearly, is the Internet as a shopping mall. It is a place that follows what you look at and click on as though you have left a trail behind you like footprints in the snow. It meets you in different places as you travel around online, and it interrupts you to tell you about things you might like and could buy.

Another Internet is one where you can learn new things, where people share videos and information and help you do what you are trying to do. On this Internet, you can learn how to bake cookies or build a snow fort. You can even learn about the history of the land your home is on, and the first promises made to share with one another and not take more than we need.

Another Internet is one where friends and people with shared dreams meet together, and connect and support one another. On this Internet, people find ways to give hugs, trade ideas, and offer each other support across big distances.

It is something you might forget, but how you use the Internet can make you feel good ways and bad ways––and silly ways, too! It can help you connect to people in places outside of your home, but sometimes it can make you forget about the people right in front of you!

The Internet can seem like an entire world but it is really only a tool. Like a shovel you use to dig in the garden, or a spoon to eat your food! Shovels and spoons aren’t entire worlds, are they? That is why you get to think about how you want to use the Internet and what it’s really for. Just like you put your shovel and spoon away when you’re done with them, you can put the Internet away, too.

Forgetting is such a funny thing, but it happens all the time!

As we grow, we forget a lot of things. One of the biggest things we forget is about what it is we really need in life. With the Internet following us around and telling us what to buy all the time, it’s really easy to want so many things. But what do we need anyway?

When we are babies our needs are very simple and we cry out to have them met. We need hugs! And food! We want to play! And to laugh! And we need to have a bath sometimes.

As adults, we learn to hold our needs in. We become very serious and get quiet sometimes as we try to take care of all our needs by ourselves. But nobody can meet all their needs on their own. Our needs are like helpers that connect us with others.

As we grow we learn that we are different from others in many ways. At school we learn that being different is a problem, that if we want to make friends, then we should look and be the same as them. We learn about all the things we need to do or have in order to fit in.

We grow older, but these ideas don’t really change. We think our life needs to match everyone else’s. That to feel good about ourselves, we should become a person who has the most friends, the nicest house, the best car, and maybe even some kids!

We become so forgetful when we grow up!. The main thing we forget is what it feels like to have enough. There are really only a few things we need, no matter how different we think––or are told––we are.

And the things we need are possible for all of us to have, as long as we remember to not take too much.

We all need hugs sometimes, especially now with so many things happening online and offline.

We all need a safe home to live in and sleep in at night.

We need food to eat and clean water to drink.

We need clothes on our backs and shoes on our feet.

We need the Earth beneath us and the soil to grow all the things.

We need the oceans and the lakes and the rivers and seas.

We need plants and animals, insects, fishes, birds and worms and trees.

We need the air in the sky to be clean so everything can breathe.

We need each other to listen to and learn from, to share with, and to help create new things.

We all need the Internet so we can talk to each other and help make a new world on and offline.

If these are the needs, then how do we meet them? It’s not so difficult as long as you start. A lot of things that seem hard are easier when we begin with questions. Like, “How are you doing? What do you need today?” and quietly listening so to really hear.

You can ask these questions to the birds in the sky and the squirrels in the yard. To your family and your friends. To the water in the lake, to the big, bright moon at night. You can also ask these questions to yourself when you greet the day!

When we ask questions to ourselves and others and even the world, we can start to create together by listening to what everyone has to say, knowing that words are one of many ways we communicate.

If you ask and listen throughout the day. If you notice and remember your needs and other’s. If you do what you can to create a world around you where everyone’s needs are met, you will find that you have loving people in your life. Lots of happiness in your heart. Beautiful things to notice every day. And you will feel safe in your bed and dream easily at night.

And so will the earth, and the animals, and the oceans. All the lakes, the rivers, the moon and the sky. The friends who are close to you and the people in the world you haven’t met and can’t see. When we want what we all need, it will be as though all the world is dreaming together, while sleeping peacefully.

The end

Afterword:

Information and Resources for Settler Families to learn more about the land we live on:

https://www.whose.land/en/

https://native-land.ca/

https://ogimaamikana.tumblr.com./

Information and Resources on the Digital Divide:

https://tlp-lpa.ca/digital-citizenship/digital-divide

Contributors

Designers: Marica Diaz, Roelle Santa Maria

Copyeditor: Amanda Ghazale Aziz