Misc. Ramblings

Perfection is a difficult standard to live one's life. But, though incredible struggle, if reached, perhaps people don't have enough left to maintain that level for very long.

Iris Sun-Ru Chang, at one time or another, was a best selling author (three books), award winning writer (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek), and reporter (Associated Press and Chicago Tribune).

From what I can find out about her, she was also a perfectionist. Perhaps this came from her parents, who were second-wave Chinese immigrants. Not to blame her parents but the Chinese revere perfection. This is reflected in, among other things, their art - including their writings.

As with many things, being a perfectionist, if that's what she was, has both good and bad points. One of the good points is that she wrote with a clarity polished so finely that it brought understanding to complex issues. For example, she talked about racism, its roots, and how it seems to occur in cycles. That is, racism, according to Chang, is not an issue that is dealt with and then is never again a problem. She talked about how it occurs in cycles, perhaps related to the economy, and that how, sometimes, things don't occur in a linear fashion. How sometimes, things don't get better. That's it's possible to regress and return to a lower state then society was before and to stay there.

The bad is that through her writings she uncovered the worst of who we are and it seemed to create a rage within her soul that burned like a meteor blazing across the night sky. Her books illuminated acts of unspeakable atrocities that can only be described as inhuman. And yet, they were done by humans against other humans.

Perhaps, as the fire within her consumed her will for life, her physical and mental health began to decline. Until one day last month, on a country road in California, she stopped trying to be perfect.

Aloha!