I am an elder of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and a native storyteller. In these uncertain times a story comes to mind that is pertinent to our situation around the world.

Three Sisters:

Once there were three sisters walking by a river. All at once they noticed something very strange and upsetting. In the river there were babies floating in the water and struggling. The sisters saw many babies floating in the river and not doing well, as babies would do.

The first sister ran right into the river and started to pick up as many babies as she could and bring them to the shore. But there were too many babies to pick up and she cried out to her other sisters, “Sisters come help me there are too many for me!”

The second sister ran into the river and started to teach the babies to dog paddle and get close to shore and crawl out. She called out to the third sister “Sister come help there are too many for me to help!”

The third sister started to run up the river on the bank to find out who was throwing babies in the river.

Which sister did the right thing and which sister was in the wrong?

— Mark Pullam, Siletz