This year marks America’s 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. With such a significant milestone and with Birthright Citizenship being continually challenged, I think of so many like my ancestors who gave up so much of their lives so we could live better ones.
We owe much to them. It’s on their shoulders that we stand. Today, I honor those ancestors, especially my grandparents.
My grandparents taught me RESILIENCE & the lessons of ACCEPTANCE, SURRENDER and FORGIVENESS. For that, I will be forever grateful.
These are qualities of leadership often overlooked but so important in today’s fractured world.
My grandparents, their parents & relatives were interned in the concentration camps of America during World War II. They had a thriving grocery business in Los Angeles, CA. They were hard-working people, well-respected in their community. So when our government handed down Executive Order 9066 in which all Japanese on the west coast, whether you were American or not, would be interned, they were shocked. They had worked hard to become good citizens of this country. They’d built a good life where their contributions to their community made a difference in others’ lives.
Now they were to leave behind years of building a life for their families. Because few, outside the Japanese community, protested against these injustices or supported Japanese American rights as citizens of this country, they eventually had to ACCEPT what was happening to them.
In Japanese, we have a saying, Shikata ga nai (仕方がない). It is a Japanese phrase that translates to “it can’t be helped” or “nothing can be done about it”. This phrase represents a cultural philosophy of radical acceptance, urging you to let go of what you cannot change and free your mind from dwelling on uncontrollable adversity. They lived this. It’s how they were able to accept these injustices.
They were given just days to comply. My grandparents & their relatives SURRENDERED so much. For them surrender didn’t mean giving up, it meant letting go. They had to let go of the life they had built for years. They had to abandon much of their possessions. Other things they sold at a fraction of the cost. The government froze their bank accounts and revoked their business license, crippling them financially. What valuables they had, they left with their Church to watch over.
They were limited to what they could take. So with one suitcase in hand, they were whisked off in freight cars, with windows covered so they couldn’t see where they were going. They ended up in the desert of Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
It was there that they were forced to live for three years until the end of the war in overcrowded, uninsulated tar-paper barracks where the wind blew in the desert sand through the open spaces in the walls, ceiling and floor. My grandparents said that during the winters, it was frigid cold with only a small pot belly stove to keep them warm.
What’s ironic is that many had sons who volunteered to fight for a country that was putting their own parents behind barbed wire.
My family & relatives visited the Memorial at Heart Mountain, some years ago. I was struck by the courage of my ancestors to make the best of this injustice. It was interesting watching my mother as she went through the museum. I just listened as she saw a replica of the barracks she & her family lived in. “It wasn’t this nice,” she signed. I could feel the sadness & pain as the memories flooded back to remember how much her parents, grandparents & relatives suffered.
When they returned after the war, my grandparents & relatives went to the Church only to find that their valuables had been ransacked. They had nothing. They had to start over. But what stuck me was their courage to FORGIVE – to forgive a country that had taken everything away from them, except their dignity. They moved on with their lives, because being stuck in the anger that they so rightfully felt would keep them imprisoned for the rest of their lives. But in forgiving, they would let go of the anger, the hate, so they could have the freedom to rebuild their lives. Yes, they wouldn’t forget but they would move on to serve a greater purpose – giving their children a better life and opportunities they didn’t have, one where they would hopefully not suffer the injustices they experienced.
I owe so much to them. I remember them for all they did to make my life better. They had so much courage to live these values. These are the values that we need today in a world so divided that we are still imprisoning those who are different than us.
Unfortunately, we are not learning the lessons of the past and they are being repeated today. America was built on immigrants, on people of different races coming together to create this great nation. But until we enter through the portal of ACCEPTANCE, SURRENDER and FORGIVENESS, we will never see the potential greatness that this country can fulfill because it gives each of us the opportunity to live our highest potential.
It is why I coach my clients on these qualities of ACCEPTANCE, SURRENDER and FORGIVENESS. In a world where we are being taught by some of our people in positions of power to exile each other for who we are, the portal we need to go through are these qualities. We need to start living them because when we do, our life and work will open up in ways we didn’t think possible. We will see a world where everyone matters and everyone counts. And that’s powerful!
SAWUBONA!