Joy Kogawa’s Obasan was Medicine Hat’s first One Book One Community book selection. The novel is about Japanese-Canadian internment and relocation during World War II and is based, in part, upon the author’s own experiences.
A Message from Joy Kogawa
Dear Friends and Readers in Medicine Hat
I am writing you this note during the Christmas holidays of 2004 as news of the overwhelming tragedy in South Asia reaches us. What can one say at a time like this? Some of us will have sent money. Many of us will be in prayer. I believe that the tiniest thought, the tiniest action, the tiniest moment of prayer unleashes more power than can be measured or imagined. I believe that any action of love, whether it’s a smile to a baby or a cheque for ten thousand dollars given by Love’s hand, counts. I believe that peace on earth and the overcoming of fear are possible even in the worst situations, as we practise our trust that Love is present.
In Obasan, Naomi says, “Perhaps it is because I am no longer a child, I can know your presence though you are not here.” For me, the task in the face of this planet’s many unthinkable catastrophes is to know that Love is present in spite of the massive evidence that Love is absent.
Thank you for reading Obasan. May Love so shine in Medicine Hat that enmities of many kinds are extinguished and acts of compassion arise for the help and healing of those who are suffering.
Yours in trust,
Joy Kogawa
First posted: 6 January 2005
