"I realize we all face challenges to our faith. At times, faith can be as beautiful yet delicate as a drop of rain on a wildflower - easily loosened and lost.

It is faith when the elders say there is a tie, a ribbon of prayer, beliefs and understanding, that leads like the arc of a rainbow to a third world. In that world, our link to our ancestors is visible. It isn't easy to see the tie to the past and the ancient ones. Yet, we believe we contain some of their spirit. We are what they were.

A longtime friend, who spent most of his life walking the Red Road (as the Native path is called) told me that he didn't need faith to know about the world of the ancestors. "I have been there," he said. During one of his ceremonies, Grandfathers or the Ancients Ones took him there, he said.

At this point, it would be proper for the scientists to end their studies and let the tribes bury Kennewick Man. And I know how difficult it would be for scientists to do that, because their lives are steeped in the tenets of science. They do not have the same vision of the world as Native people.

Yet after questioning my own beliefs and spirituality for days and nights, I have come full circle through considerations of science and logic versus spirituality and faith. And I've concluded that Kennewick Man needs to be put to rest peacefully."

Get the Story:
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: This time, faith triumphs over science (The Grand Forks Herald 7/16)

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