Amidst the Ruins, My Parents Chose Hope for Me

Feeling the despair and acting with hope

We are living in a time when the world as we know it is dissolving rapidly. For those fortunate, uncertainty seeps into our daily lives through the rising price of eggs and haunting images of fire and destruction in distant lands. For others, it arrives as job loss, displacement, or even personal attack.

This is not the first time humanity has faced such upheaval. I was born during the Cultural Revolution, a period of painful chaos and destruction in China. People turned against one another, and the entire nation suffocated under authoritarian rule.

My mother conceived me in secret during a visit to my father, who had been imprisoned in a detention “shed” under false political charges. When the pregnancy was discovered, my parents were publicly denounced and shamed.

My parents named me 春, the season of spring, when new life burgeons. Because, despite the hardship they endured, they held onto hope, the hope wielded by generations of ancestors will to survive destructions and annihilation. That hope was passed down to me, woven into my very being. I know in my bones that no matter how bleak things seem now, this too shall pass. And from the ruins, something new will emerge—something we may not yet recognize, even if it stands before us today. But we can sense it, reach for it with the tendrils of our imagination, like a blind person tracing the contours of an elephant with the soft pads of their fingertips.

In times like these, my instinct propels me to learn new ways to feel, to touch, to listen, and to see. I realize that by awakening our senses, feelings and emotions, we ignite our imagination and creativity, allowing hope to take shape in reality. This is the wisdom passed down to me—wisdom that has carried my family and ancestors through chaos, helping them not just to survive, but to thrive and to rebirth.

In Bellingham where I live, my colleagues and co-workers are actively weaving strands of hope into actions and projects. For that reason, I have chosen to direct most of my energy to local work. If you are not in my local community, and want to stay connected with Resonance Path’s work, feel free to browse through our website and get a sense of the ecosystem that we are a part of, such as the Social Alchemy Lab, Dancing Tao Tai Chi School, and Echoes of the Heart Ensemble.