individual and her oppression. But community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist” (Lourde 112). Why is it so hard for us to accept that we are different, and that this difference is what in the end exposes us to different levels of insight? Why was it so hard for me to realize that there is no ideal half-Japanese person? Why did I feel that I had no one to talk to as a child, no one that could explain to me why I felt this way? I think that in the end our biggest struggle is learning how to deal with the past. We can’t forget, and we shouldn’t. The question is how we allow ourselves to remember this pain and struggle, and whether or not we allow it to control our perspective moving forward. Alla Al-Saji states, “The past is not the accumulation of events in a container, but the continuous immanent transformation of sense and force that is tendency. Newness, in other words, arises not only from the openness to the future but from the way the past is remembered in hesitation; memory and invention are here intertwined” (Al-Saji 143). Individually we need to realize that there is no one solution because in fact we will never be complete. All we can do is become conscious and honest actors within our own realities. With time and practice we figure out how to make ourselves more comfortable and open. Letting people in has been a very liberating experience for myself, and though I know there is much more work for me to do, I know that I can no longer ignore or mask my identity issues, and that allowing other people to understand my perspective allows for me to in turn understand their perspective. What we need to do collectively is have the courage to move forward in a direction that is forged entirely on the basis of understanding—understanding of ourselves as imperfect and incomplete beings, and understanding of others and the importance that we all have on impacting each and every life for the better if we just allow ourselves to work through our uncomfortabilities.
Works Cited: Al-Saji, Alla. Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race. Ed. Emily S. Lee. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014. Print. Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza. 4th ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 2012. Print. Bell Hooks. Teaching to Transgress. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print. Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider. New York: Ten Speed, 1984. Print.
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