The secret untold story of the cultural revolution in China in the 1960s came as just that \u2013 a huge surprise to me. I had no awareness of the atrocities of Mao and his youthful army. That’s a little embarrassing. It’s a part of the world of which I am quite unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
Jung Chang is another courageous warrior, with an unbelievable ability to tell her story and the stories of her contemporaries and the horrific trauma they experienced during the time of Mao’s revolution. What is it with these men through the ages – one after another after another after another?!<\/p>\n
The story of Jung\u2019s family \u2013 her father\u2019s experience of torture and death, and her mother\u2019s experience of public torture and humiliation \u2013all of these things witnessed by not just a young daughter, but thousands of young people –taught to attack their teachers\u2013 it is yet another story of the capacity of large-scale evil in the world, and the capacity of human beings to find present-day redemption in this life by the even-greater large-scale power of God and God\u2019s realm of love.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what to say about this book or Jung\u2019s story. Partly it is because I am yet again stunned and overwhelmed and just not ready to process what I am still absorbing. This on top of Jackie\u2019s story in the drug dens in Hong Kong \u2013it\u2019s emotional overload. I would like to call it compassion-fatigue but compassion by definition includes action, and I haven\u2019t done anything in response to these books that would warrant a claim of compassion fatigue. So I think it\u2019s emotional overload.<\/p>\n
Perhaps what I love the most, personally, is not so much the content in this moment, but rather how Jung used her writing as her trauma treatment program, and it worked. How much hope does this give you?! That one can experience at such a young age such unimaginable trauma that equates to a score of 10 on the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire, and then find a pathway to healing the brain damage caused by the trauma. What do you say about this, Jean and Jake?<\/p>\n
The fact that this healing came through writing her story, interestingly and totally off-topic (though it pertains to my dissertation), is exactly what led to the emergence of inner-city hip-hop as an African American art form that is grossly misunderstood by the evangelical suburban Christian community. From NWA to Tupac to Nas to (oddly enough Eminem) to Kendrick Lamar (and the countless less famous emcees)\u2014their devotion to telling the story of their experience of trauma through urban poetry with a beat, often becomes a pathway to healing from the trauma of inner-city life (particularly in the 1990’s). Of course, this healing doesn\u2019t always (or perhaps even often) happen because the fame and fortune confuse the process of healing and lead to further destructive behavior. But Kendrick and Eminem are very interesting examples of dolling out some of the most explicit content and yet, (except for Eminem\u2019s opiate spell a while back) the two of them live upstanding lives as productive citizens in society. Eminem\u2019s daughter, Hallie, who has been a central character in his music for his entire career, just graduated with honors as Valedictorian of her high school. I just find that quite fascinating and counter-intuitive. I can\u2019t speak to the potentially negative influence and misunderstanding of their music to the wider culture of concern, just that the damage caused by trauma can be healed through expression. And millions find their music as healing pathways for their own trauma experiences.<\/p>\n
That was a wild detour from Wild Swans. I just know there is much yet to learn, and there are so many untold stories of horrific evil and unimaginable redemption. For some reason, I find myself drawn to places where that intersection is palpable. I can hardly wait for Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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