A Piece of Bread and a Broken Comb: Both Needed for Truth-Tellers

In 1998, I went to hear Iris Chang's talk about her newly published book, The Rape of Nanking, at the University of Illinois. This would be about seven year's before this gifted journalist, mother, wife and best-selling author would kill herself with an antique gun.

I remember Iris' talk, like her book, giving a brave account of the 1937 massacre, rape and torture by Japanese soldiers of 300,000 Chinese men, women and children.

I could hardly stand to hear the truth it was so dispiriting. During the question-and-answer session, I asked if she had encountered any stories of resistance or kindness among the horrific human suffering. She had not. I was disappointed and depressed.

I am reminded of that evening by an article in today's local newspaper about the publication of a new book by Iris' mother, Ying-Ying Chang, called, The Woman Who Could Not Forget.

This book, according to the article, is a look at Iris' life, the suffering her sensitive soul experienced while researching the 1937 massacre and later the Bataan Death March of WWII and her mental health.

Iris, apparently, let too much of others' suffering in and it cost her her life. I can abandon myself, too, by identifying too deeply with others' painful stories. I am easily haunted by evil.

I have trained myself to look for not only the suffering but any incredible acts of kindness demonstrated in the face of evil.

I have to look for my own soul's sake. For my own belief that kindness is indestructible. I found such hope and kindness in an unlikely place: the Rwandan Holocaust in the book pictured to the left by Immaculee Ilibagezia and I wrote about it in this blog in an entry called War Stories The Feed the Spirit. I also went to see Immaculee speak about her direct experiences surviving her country's holocaust.

Today, while reading the entry from "The Book of Awakening" by Mark Nepo, I came across another example of hope in the midst of suffering. It was about Miriam Elkes, a Holocaust survivor who carried two objects that sustained her: a piece of bread and a piece of broken comb. She carried the bread in case she met someone less fortunate to give it to. She combed her hair every day with the broken piece of comb to affirm herself as a person. These acts kept her spirit alive during the Holocaust.

I will continue to look for the truth of our humanness. I will not turn away from the evil truth and I will not turn away from seeking the truth of the human spirit that does some incredibly kind things in the worst possible circumstances. I need both truths to stay alive and to express compassion for others.

I think it is my job to love life and to stay in life.

My compassion goes out to Iris' mother, husband and son.