Dear Editor,
“Everyman is me.
I am his brother. No man is
my enemy. I am everyman
and he is in and of me.
This is my faith,
my strength, my deepest hope
and my only belief.â€
— Kenneth Patchen, American poet and novelist (1911-1972)
Been thinking lots. Especially about how I might handle an incident that my daughter, Miya, encountered over the weekend. While waiting to pay for her groceries at a Seattle grocery store, she overheard two customers and the clerk chatting in agreement that they hoped the virus “attacks all Chinese people because they’re the ones who created this mess.†As a counselor and social worker, Miya had two reactions: to say something positive or say nothing. She did both. She looked directly into the eyes of one man and smiled.
This morning, Kenneth Patchen’s poem resurfaced in my thoughts. Though I wouldn’t quote the poem word for word, instead I might look the person(s) in the eyes (at a 6-foot distance) and say something like this:
I am not your enemy.
Can you see yourself in me?
We are equal.
My deepest hope is that soon this guides you, too.
Jane Muramoto Yung
San Francisco
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