In the Spirit of Medicine

These men are in prison with the expectation from society that they are going to change for the better. They should be able to expect the same from us in return.

   When I make my maple syrup, it’s the only time I find any peace. My dog stays by the fire and I can hear the popping and the cracking of the trees and sometimes I can hear deer walking in the snow out in the woods.  

I look up at the moon and I watch the clouds go past and it’s the same moon that kid in Vietnam would have looked at. I make my syrup for him, Dr. Vainio. I always make my syrup for him.

“This insulation and caulking are for my daughter’s house. She left home when she was seventeen and she was never coming back. She has a daughter who’s just going in to the fourth grade. I have so much to make up for and I want her and my granddaughter to have a warm house. I want them to remember I’m the one who gave that to them.”

  “I always think about Genevieve and you’d think I would be better by now. It’s been almost three years since she died and when the clouds are out it seems like the sun will never shine again.”

We come into this world through a doorway and travel this circle and hopefully make it through all four stages of life before we cross that threshold again. 

We are told the very young and the very old hold hands across that doorway.

  Those boys jumping from the snow bank are the future suicides in our communities, but only if we allow it. What we tell our children and what we say to each other makes a difference.

This week: do you believe in second chances?

In the Spirit of Medicine features the essays of Dr. Arne Vainio, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs  Band of Ojibwe and a family practice doctor on the Fond Du Lac reservation in Cloquet.

This week: honor, service, and keeping a promise.

In the Spirit of Medicine features the essays of Dr. Arne Vainio, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs  Band of Ojibwe and a family practice doctor on the Fond Du Lac reservation in Cloquet.

  This week: what do you want to be when you grow up?

In the Spirit of Medicine features the essays of Dr. Arne Vainio, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs  Band of Ojibwe and a family practice doctor on the Fond Du Lac reservation in Cloquet.

This week: who really deserves dignity and respect?

In the Spirit of Medicine features the essays of Dr. Arne Vainio, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs  Band of Ojibwe and a family practice doctor on the Fond Du Lac reservation in Cloquet.

This week: this big world can be a lonely place if you’re just waiting for it to end.

This week: when you know there's no place on earth you would rather be.

This week, what happens when you believe in someone ... even someone you don't know?

This week, what tools do we have when we run out of time?