My grandparents lived through the Japanese colonial days.
Growing up, there were some TV dramas depicting those days. Japanese were always portraited cruel and violent. The history class in school was not helping Japanese’s case.
At the same time, TV, air-conditioner, car, washing machine… almost all daily appliance in my childhood were made in Japan. We praised the quality of made in Japan.
Ever curious and confused, I dared not bring up this self-evidently paradox.
One evening, dinner, Grandma clipped a piece of fish with chopsticks. She murmured half openly how rare it was to have meat when she was young.
They were too poor to buy meat; plus, everything was rationed and meat was a privilege reserved for Japanese or Taiwanese who worked for the Japanese.
The story continued, arriving the KMT, then democratic party in China, defeated by the communism army.
Her praise of the colonial authority began.
Though the rule of Japanese was harsh, the society was in order, clean and neat, the infrastructure progressing and they could get meat at least at Chinese New Year celebration. While with KMT, everything was in chaos, dirty and livelihood, more dire.
I, next to her, in shock. So..
“The bad guys are not really bad guys?!”
“The history class lied, at least, some of it?!”
I was about 11.
My black and white, right and wrong worldview was devastatedly shaken by this random reminiscence.
I never heard of another story of those days again.
One story was enough to shape my way of approaching life.
➡️ A story, even history, was only as true as the teller told it and tellers were numerous;
➡️ There was no black and white and right or wrong, not in an absolute way.
And nowadays, how strongly and tragically the single-sided opinion and perspective shape our current world!
She passed away some 15 years ago but her wisdom didn’t.
Searching for the other side of the story became a habit.
Having no interests in participating in gossip, hearsay has given me one of my greatest strength – highly intense focus on my own story of my choice.
The greatest gift she imparted – the ground to cultivate my compassion.
I didn’t realize these gifts after many years into my own adulthood and through many challenges of life.
➡️ Is playing the field of polarity still your game?
➡️ Does the need of absolute certainty bring you many disappointments?
Are you willing to embrace this wisdom I’ve learned?
Be love and be loved.