This post really spoke to me. There are two quotes from Mother Teresa that I lean on when I’m feeling overwhelmed or lost. They are: If You Want To Change The World, Go Home And Love Your Family and Do Small Things With Great Love.
Dear Meagan. First of all, thank you for the pointer to my Substack. Second, I so appreciate what you have written here. I believe that every single one of us with a heart is struggling to understand how best to show up in this world right now. How to offer something meaningful and helpful without destroying ourselves in the process. There is no way to do it without feeling insufficient. I am trying to find that place of agency where I can contribute without turning away completely. These are questions we each have to answer for ourselves, and the reality is no answer will please everyone. Accepting that is the first step, I think.
I recently got my Ancestry results back and while much of my ancestry is within the eastern and southeastern parts of China (and part of the majority Han ethnicity), 2% is further west, and of a Chinese minority group. My ancestors were mostly merchants and scholars, so that non-Han DNA could very well have come from some merchant who had business deals over on that part of the country. And since women were, well, commodities back in the day, the a concubine could very well have been part of said deal (it's very unlikely she would have been a first wife, though it IS possible. As in "well, my son is of marriageable age and I'm looking for a wife for him. Let's get this thing done if you throw her in." Honestly, I would be more comfortable with either of those than someone capturing her for enslavement. As for stolen land itself, pretty much every part of this earth has been stolen at one point. Britain by the Romans, Scotland by the English, etc, etc...And going back to my own ethnicity, the current Chinese borders may not have changed much in the past few thousand years, but it wasn't always like that. Some guy unified several different countries, and those countries themselves were probably created from some sort of war/stolen land. It's crazy when you look at it this way.
This post really spoke to me. There are two quotes from Mother Teresa that I lean on when I’m feeling overwhelmed or lost. They are: If You Want To Change The World, Go Home And Love Your Family and Do Small Things With Great Love.
This really resonates with me. Well said!
Dear Meagan. First of all, thank you for the pointer to my Substack. Second, I so appreciate what you have written here. I believe that every single one of us with a heart is struggling to understand how best to show up in this world right now. How to offer something meaningful and helpful without destroying ourselves in the process. There is no way to do it without feeling insufficient. I am trying to find that place of agency where I can contribute without turning away completely. These are questions we each have to answer for ourselves, and the reality is no answer will please everyone. Accepting that is the first step, I think.
Thank you! I have been thinking along these lines also, and you expressed it very well.
I recently got my Ancestry results back and while much of my ancestry is within the eastern and southeastern parts of China (and part of the majority Han ethnicity), 2% is further west, and of a Chinese minority group. My ancestors were mostly merchants and scholars, so that non-Han DNA could very well have come from some merchant who had business deals over on that part of the country. And since women were, well, commodities back in the day, the a concubine could very well have been part of said deal (it's very unlikely she would have been a first wife, though it IS possible. As in "well, my son is of marriageable age and I'm looking for a wife for him. Let's get this thing done if you throw her in." Honestly, I would be more comfortable with either of those than someone capturing her for enslavement. As for stolen land itself, pretty much every part of this earth has been stolen at one point. Britain by the Romans, Scotland by the English, etc, etc...And going back to my own ethnicity, the current Chinese borders may not have changed much in the past few thousand years, but it wasn't always like that. Some guy unified several different countries, and those countries themselves were probably created from some sort of war/stolen land. It's crazy when you look at it this way.
Love the new name!!
1) I have never read Anne of Green Gables, and I'm not sure why.
2) I don't think I can handle being on social media at all in 2024. Ugh.