Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

I am writing to comment on Lydia Andriesen’s essay printed in the May 6, 2021 issue of the CVN. My purpose in this letter to the editor is not to acknowledge what a well-written essay it is, but rather to give a public thank you to Ms. Andriesen. I have been struggling, for a while now, with the concepts of: ‘What is a ‘fact?’,” “Where do you find facts?” “How do you know if it’s fact or fiction?” “Who’s right and who’s wrong?” and “At what point do we know that we’ve got it right?” There was a time in my life that fact finding did not seem so complicated, but it’s Ms. Andriesen’s final sentence that caused me to take pause, consider what might be more important than “facts” (although that is not to say facts are unimportant), and helped me feel consoled. Thank you, Ms. Andriesen, for your words: “Even if the facts in our minds aren’t right, our hearts and morals can be aligned to help others in pursuit of truth and wisdom.”

Patti Carlson