(Exposition) Aspen, a famous author, was on his way to pick up his new book. He looked down at the copy he got, he felt great. 

Suddenly he got a phone call. 

“Hello? Aspen?”

“Hi Mom, guess what, I just got a copy of the new book I was writing.”

“That’s amazing honey, but I need to tell you something, your cousin Calvin just passed away.”

Aspen was sad but he wasn’t crying. He realized he only had very few memories with him like when he was younger he would go to his house just to play video games. He didn’t know his cousin well enough but agreed to attend his funeral.

(Conflict Introduced) On the day of his cousin Calvin’s funeral, he went to say hello to his mother. 

“Hi Aunty Carrie. It’s been awhile, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. ”

She paused.

“I had a favor to ask you, Aspen.”

“Anything.”

“I was wondering if you were willing to write a memoir about your cousin. With you being a famous author, I’m sure that’s no problem.”

Aspen smiled. 

“No problem at all.”

“Thank you sweetheart,” and Carrie walked off. 

Aspen pulled out a small notebook he had in his pocket and started writing. His pen stopped. He did not know anything about his cousin. He started pacing back and forth. What should I do? 

He bumped into someone, his sister.

“Hey Noah, it’s been awhile.”

“Yeah it has, I saw you were walking back and forth. What’s up?”

“It’s just…I don’t know anything about your brother. How am I supposed to write about him?” 

“You know, I am his sister, I could help.”

(Rising Action) 

“Really? That would be amazing.”

Someone walked by. “Calvin was a great person. Nice, kind, funny, religious, and respectful. All around a great guy,” then walked off. 

Aspen turned to Noah.

“Religious?”

“Uh…he was Christian? He went to church, sang songs. Just church stuff. He learned a lot from it though.”

“Big fan of Jesus huh,” Aspen laughed.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. He was an extremely forgiving person, always forgiving those who wronged him” (“What is Christianity”). 

“Really?” Aspen looked up from his notebook. “How so?”

“Well in church they teach you to be nice to others. As Jesus can bring hope into our lives, holding grudges is not something you should spend time on (Denova). He would follow Jesus’ example of being kind to others. Christianity affected my brother’s live by giving him a path, a sense of belonging, and a source of comfort" (Denova).

Christianity: be kind to others

Jesus teaches you to forgive

“It was nice talking to you Noah, thank you so much for your help.”

“If you need anything else just let me know," said Noah. 

Aspen walked away. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the back. 

“You.”

“Excuse me?”
He was an old man. Bushy eyebrows, bald…cranky. 

“I can’t believe you’re writing the memoir. You barely know him.”

“I’m sorry I was just–”

“Just what?”

The old man tore the sheet of paper he was writing on. Ripping each piece bit by bit.

“What is your problem?” yelled a young man who walked in. He looked around his cousin’s age. He picked up the pieces of paper and put them back together. He looked over at Aspen. 

“Hey I’m sorry about this, here let me help.”

He smiled, “The name is Vinny by the way.”

"I'm Aspen."

“Nice to meet you, Aspen.”

They both picked up the pieces, putting them back together.

“Christianity? This paper was about Christianity? I thought you were writing about him,” Vinny said.

“Yeah I am. He was Christian, his sister was, his whole family was."

Vinny was shocked.

“I THOUGHT HE WAS A BUDDHIST?”

“Huh?”

They both sat down. 

“I’m Vinny, his best friend. For the twenty long years I have known him, he never told me he was Christian.”

“You said he was Buddhist? Why did you think that?”

“Well, you see, he would go with me to the temples, participated in cultural activities, and followed many principles of the Eightfold Path.”

“The Eightfold Path? What is that?”

“It’s a set of rules that help people achieve freedom from suffering. There are eight paths: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness” ("The Eightfold Path").

“No way! Any specific paths he loved?”

“Right Action and Right Speech. He followed these paths like his life was based on it.”

“How so?”

“Well because of right action he was always honest, didn’t cheat, and never wanted to hurt anyone” (Hanson). 

Aspen thought to himself. Right action was probably the reason why everyone said he was a nice guy. 

Buddhism: Eightfold Path

Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness.

Thanks for all your help.”

“You’re welcome.”

There was no way that my cousin could be in both religions.

“You’re Aspen right?”

“Yeah I am.”

“Nice to meet you. I'm Ivan, a big fan of your work.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“So what are you doing here?”
“Well I’m trying to learn about my cousin, could you help me?”

“Yeah of course, I’m his coworker. Calvin was a smart man I must say. Always loved to study and was also a shaman. I think that is why we became friends so quickly.”

“Shaman?”

“Well I’m a Siberian shaman. I come from a long line of shamans so I kind of just fell into it.”

“Wait…is he not Christian? Or even Buddhist?”

“That’s the first time I have heard of that. But he knew all aspects of shamanism such as animism, rituals, and healings. Shamans also have animal familiars" (Vadala).

“What is familiar?”

“It is when as part of talking with the spirit world, a shaman could transform into an animal" (Açıkgöz).

“Oh, alright, thank you so much for your help.”

Siberian Shamanism 

Animism

Rituals and Practices

Healing and medicine

Siberian Shamanism 

Animism

Rituals and Practices

Healing and medicine

Buddhism: Eightfold Path

Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness.