Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway

School

David gets very sick before the snow comes. Minuk takes him breakfast that his mother made, but he doesn’t want to eat. Minuk stays to talk to him. He takes his job of teaching Minuk English very seriously, and he asks her to tell him the names of everything on his breakfast tray.

After David was sick for a week, Grandma and the other women say they should call for the shaman from the next village. Mrs. Hoff gets very upset at this. Shamans are evil and they should have nothing to do with them. Cakayak’s grandmother ensures her that the shaman can help David. The shaman will pull out the evil spirits that make him sick. Mrs. Hoff says they have enough medicine there to help him.

The women, shrugging, silently agree to not talk to Mrs. Hoff again about shamans. The same way they don’t talk to her about names. They just do whatever they want without telling her.

The Hoffs do have lots of medicine. Some Yup’ik have been going to them for cough medicine because it feels good. Grandpa feels that maybe if the Hoffs are right about medicine, they may be right about other things, too.

By late fall, the workers have finished the big schoolroom and the room where the boys will live. Mr. Hoff uses paint to cover the inside of the classroom. The classroom is beautiful when it’s finished, and the walls are so white that it hurts the eyes when the sun shines into the school.

One wall is made of slate which can be written on, and there’s a clock with numbers. Mr. Hoff tells Minuk how it divides the day into parts. It tells them how to split their day. Minuk feels tight all over when he explains it to her. She doesn’t think she likes the clock at all.

On the wall is a sign that reads “God is Love.” Minuk asks Mr. Hoff why his god makes people burn in hell if he’s also love. Mr. Hoff answers that it’s the punishment for not believing. Minuk responds that burning someone doesn’t seem to be love. Then, she states that in Yup’ik, they are taught to be kind to animals, plants, and trees. Mr. Hoff says there’s nothing about that written in the Bible. In fact, there’s many things about life which aren’t explained in the Bible. But they must have faith and believe that everything is for the best.

What Minuk sees of faith is that it’s not asking hard questions or looking at things too closely. It’s hard to believe things people are supposed to believe, so they need help from other people. That’s why people want others to believe what they believe, and why they don’t want them to ask questions. And the more people that believe something, the easier it is to make others believe it, too. And if you want to believe, you have to pretend a little. You must agree in your mind not to see what really is.

That’s how both Mr. Hoff and the Yup’ik elders have faith.