My friend Lisa sent me a note the other day. Often she will sign off with an Ucwalmícwts word or phrase, which makes me feel special, that she is sharing something so precious to her, with me. In this note, she shared that, in one of the paper language dictionaries (as distinct from the wonderful First Voices site), it says that the literal translation of “kúkwstum̓ckacw”, the word for “thank you”, is “you saved me.”

I pulled out my paper dictionary, and saw that “kúkwstum̓ckacw” starts with the word kukws, which means to help someone, and I thought: there is such wisdom embodied in this language. For giving thanks and helping someone to be interconnected in the very word, for the idea of helping someone out, being the equivalent of saving them, reminds us of our deep profound interconnectedness and interdependence.

What a beautiful word to have. And to give expression to.

Kúkwstum̓ckalap. Let us keep on saving each other, over and over, until we remember how truly we belong to one another. And this place. And all its beings.