Lessons of Betrayal, Courage and Survival from Two Alaskan Women
This month features the novel Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis. Velma, born and raised in Alaska, relates this story first told to her by her mother.
Ch’idzigyaak, 75, and Sa’, 80, are two elderly Athabaskan women who are left alone during a particularly hard winter when their tribe feels they can no longer care for them without jeopardizing the survival of the group. Certainly this is a harsh solution to a difficult problem, and the tribe’s chief is not heartless; he struggles with the decision.
I am amazed that sometimes what seems the cruelest thing actually becomes a blessing and answer to an unknown need, since in the end these women become the salvation for their people.
Betrayal
Initially the two women feel that they are, indeed, condemned to a death sentence. But their people had left them with all their possessions, instead of stealing them. The women recognize that this good deed was probably the influence of the chief. They have warm fur and skin clothing, and a grandson has left them a hatchet. But they have no food.
Uncomfortable thoughts invade their minds. Sa’ and Ch’idzigyaak slowly realize that they were not only betrayed by their tribe, they have betrayed themselves as well. Sa’ says, “‘We have learned much during our long lives. Yet there we were in our old age, thinking that we had done our share in life. So we stopped, just like that. No more working like we used to, even though our bodies are still healthy enough to do a little more than we expect of ourselves’” (Wallis 26-27).
She continues, “‘Now, because we have spent so many years convincing the younger people that we are helpless, they believe that we are no longer of use to this world’” (Wallis 28). By overcoming this enervating attitude, these women are able to reach into the past and begin to use the skills they used so long ago.
Personal Application: What limits do you place on yourself? Too old, too young, not enough money, enough time, enough energy? In what ways do you hold yourself back? Also, how are you blaming others for what you lack? Or how do you expect others to help you, especially with what you can do for yourself?
Courage
Instead of waiting in the abandoned camp for death to come to them, the two women decide to find an old summer camp that they had not been to for many years. There they will be able to fish and trap and find a safe home. Sa’, the emotionally stronger of the two, valiantly states, “‘I say if we are going to die, my friend, let us die trying, not sitting’” (Wallis 16). Indeed, they know that they will “‘die if we just sit here and wait. This would prove them right about our helplessness’” (Wallis 15). Ch’idzigyaak, “more in desperation than in determination,” echoes the words, “‘Let us die trying’” (Wallis 18).
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