This story tells the sad truth about a young, displaced woman from Manchuria, her life during the Japanese invasion 1931-1945 and some years thereafter. Told to the author in Singapore in the late seventies, it is a harrowing tale of humanity's cruelty and the horrors of war, but also a testament that life always finds a way to survive. Her strength and courage in the horrendous circumstances of war and occupation are inspirational. Like the lotus flower, the human spirit has the potential to grow in the worst environment, and emerge from the muck to bloom again as a beautiful flower. There are so many victims in a war, and once the war is over, one doesn't know their names nor find their graves. The stench of war wilts all flowers. The stench of peace lets them bloom again. |