Letter to my imaginary children

My letter is from the perspective of a parent writing to their young but conscious child, after reading the article under the fourth subheading: mental illness and violent images.


Dear mini-me,


When your friend gets the flu, you say you're thinking of them. If it's bad, we say that we're praying for them. These words of kindness are supposed to make someone like your friend feel better- since hopefully, she will know that we're rooting for them. But sometimes (and pretty often), "thoughts and prayers" aren't enough. Because when your friend gets sick, it was probably no one's fault- it's allergy season, it was really cold outside the other day, and she decided to go for a run... But when your friend gets hurt unfairly and intentionally, solely because of the color of her skin, then how are we supposed to react? To sympathize?

It's a terrible feeling. But firstly, I want you to realize, and accept, that you will never fully understand. We as Asian Americans have a privilege over those who've been systemically oppressed- meaning people who have the same skin color as them, hair type, etc, etc are treated with less respect because of only one reason: their skin color, their hair type... It's confusing and unexplainable and sad and horrific. We can't even scratch the skin of the trauma and harm that people like your friend experience. 

Still- if we see something wrong, we must point it out. We must stand up against it. We need to do whatever we can, as much as we can, to fight unfairness, injustice, etc. anywhere we see it.

It's not easy, I know. I've raised you (and myself) into this little bubble protected against everything in the outside world, where I thought you would be the safest. But now, I need you to remember that time is up for us to be sheltered, lazily watching from the sidelines as people we are friends with, people in our community, are getting hurt. 

If you see something on the news that makes you feel afraid to an extreme or unwell, don't think that you need to keep a front. Over time, the intention of awareness has become so perverted, so twisted by something like repeated exposure. Seeing the same emotive imagery can drain you, making you feel like you can't do anything more to help. But that isn't true. In these moments, it's better to take a step back to regroup than to abuse your own mental health and become desensitized to something so dehumanizing. Take care of yourself as much as you are taking care of others. Because "people who are beloved members of a community are turned into a recording,” said a BLM organizer. But we can't accept this as "normal". We can't keep giving hate hope.


Em (Mom)

Comments

  1. CharithaOctober 23, 2022 at 9:43 AM

    I really liked how personal you made your blog and how you addressed it to your imaginary child. I also liked how you took the stance on trying to get people to create a change in society. I thought it was a very great personal touch to add "Take care of yourself as much as you are taking care of others." as its a very important aspect we tend to forget about.

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  2. Halle ChenOctober 23, 2022 at 1:57 PM

    I love the style and perspective you took on for this letter. The letter really feels like a mother writing to her child and I love how you went from an explanation to describing how to take action. I especially liked the line "it's better to take a step back to regroup than to abuse your own mental health and become desensitized to something so dehumanizing".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Singing My Way ThroughOctober 23, 2022 at 2:00 PM

    I like how your perspective is to your imaginary children, because we all at some point have made a comment on how we plan to parent our children. Similar to Charitha, I really like the line "Take car of yourself as much as you are taking care of others." because it is something very important that many have to keep reminding themselves of.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jay ShynOctober 23, 2022 at 8:37 PM

    Your letter really felt like it was coming from a caring mother because of how you prioritized the child's own well being over taking actions. I liked your metaphors such as "sideline" and "bubble", and the overall caring tone was great!

    ReplyDelete

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