Do You Believe in Lies?

Hello Friends, I hope you are enjoying the last weeks of our summer weather.

Me? Well, I got caught up in watching the news lately. The constant information that's coming out has been hard to take. I can see why listening to local, national, and world news can trigger our minds into wondering what is true and what is not true and how so many of us can get led into believing that false information is true.

Amid my mental confusion, I received an email from David Yamaguchi, Editor of the North American Post

He wanted to know if I had a story that I can submit for their August issue of the paper. I'm one of the writers for this wonderful paper so I respond quickly when they are looking for a particular type of story to feature.

David asked, "Kay, how about featuring chapter 9 in your book titled "In the Dark Cave ... also can you draw me few pictures of that scene?"

Without thinking, I said yes, but I wondered if I can draw and paint a picture of me and my dog, hiding in that dark cave where the homeless man lived. Have you ever been challenged into doing something that you don't think you can do?

I told David that I'd try, but this isn't something that I feel comfortable doing. He said, "Kay, you can do this. If you say you can't, you won't ... so just get busy creating an art for your story without overthinking".

This is the first picture I drew and painted... this is me after the boys drove me into the dark cave. I was so worried about my injured dog Shiro. I wanted to do everything I could to bring her comfort.

I remember that chapter very well in my book. I took my book off the shelf and went to that Chapter and read it word by word. Tears rolled down my face and my body shook. I realized that I bought into the biggest lie because the people in Japan repeatedly told me that my mother, my dog and I are responsible for bringing the World War II onto Japan and that we killed millions of people.

Here is another picture I painted. This scene shows the homeless man coming towards Shiro and me holding a basket of medication. He wanted to help my dog heal her wounds.

When you read my story, you will see how easy it is to force people to believe in lies. I believed in that lie for so many years until I came to America at 11, and my Grandmother told me about World War II. I realized then, that my mother, my dog Shiro, and I were not responsible for starting this war ... we were only victims of the war.

Thank you North American Post for publishing my story in the August issue of the paper.

You can read my story here.

Are you interested in reading my book, Keiko's Journey? I am happy that this book touched emotions of so many people whose families were affected by the devastation of war. I will never forget the young man who wrote to me from Malaysia and told me the story of atrocities his family faced. My heart went out to him because I understool his pain.

My sincere thanks to the readers of my blog posts. Please let me know if there are things that you'd like for me to write about. You inspire me so much ... the reason why I can keep writing, drawing, and sharing my work.

Kay Hirai