Real-Life Decision Making
When Calvin Pompana steps into a hotel room, the first thing he does after setting down his luggage is conduct a smudge.
This purification ritual, which can incorporate sweet grass, cedar, bear root and sage, involves bundling up different grasses and burning them like incense. The purpose is to neutralize the positive and negative energy in the room.
"You never know what might have happened in a hotel room," Pompana says.
Pompana is the resident elder at a correctional center.
One of the duties of an elder is to administer medicines. Traditional aboriginal medicines include sage, bear root, cedar and sweet grass. Often, they are culled directly from the land.
You are an elder. A man comes to you seeking advice about whether he should be taking prescription painkillers. He has had no physical injury.
He has been lying to the doctor about his back pain in order to get his prescription for the painkillers. But the doctor is starting to get suspicious.
The man is asking you to tell the doctor that he needs the pills.
What do you do?