I attended an authors fair a few weeks ago hosted by Bukola Oriola for the ten year commemoration of Imprisoned, a book detailing the story of Bukola, as a trafficking victim and now survivor. Other authors and I were featured.  The fair took place at Northtown Mall located in Blaine, Minnesota.  The next one will be taking place in July.  To learn more about Bukola and the authors fair, click here .

On the last day of the fair, there was a woman who visited the kiosk by the name of Maria Tran.  She gave me a copy of a her essay titled, “Prejudice in a small town” which details the life of her son enduring prejudice in school while living in Elk River, Minnesota.

The story takes the reader through the segregated and isolated days of Maria’s son Taiyo, during his elementary school days attending school in Elk River. Taiyo was bullied and harmed by children at school for being Asian. He had to seek therapy to cope with the trauma and suicidal thoughts that came from not being accepted but all the while continued to be an A student.  Maria and her son could not understand how America, a pluralistic culture, different from the monoculture of Japan, could be so harsh and contradicting. Maria’s essay was submitted to the Brooklyn Park Police Department for a project they had on bullying.  The essay and a video are now used to educate students about bullying.

This story does have a happy ending. As Maria quotes at the beginning of her essay, “A human’s first need is to love and to be loved”.  With Maria’s love, steadfastness and determination to protect her son from further trauma of bullying and prejudice, they moved from that town to a more diverse city and Taiyo graduated with a BA in Aerospace Engineering in 2018 from the University of Minnesota.

I just viewed Avengers Endgame and the 3 hour run time seemed shorter.  It started off slow and if you are not a Marvel fan, the wait would have lulled you to sleep.  However, for Marvel fans, it’s part of the anticipation.  For me, this as well as most stories are written with the quest or journey of man into him or herself.

I saw Thanos [evil nature] as one of our biggest and deepest fears that could wipe us out if allowed.  The army of Thanos were all the other mini fears that feed on the commands of the big fear and seem unstoppable.  The giant Thanos and his army up against the Avengers and all of their friends (support of every kind) was a battle of grand proportion.  The women of all nations (feminine power, Holy Spirit) worked to take down Thanos and keep him from destroying the entire world [you/us].   The fear of the unknown after defeat, trying again, not crumbling to pressure, wandering in the wilderness (Thor) the future, pressure to get it right this time, who will be sacrificed, who will choose to be sacrificed and overall failure were such high stakes but worth it.  If self is to put back together, the fragments of being taking out by your giant [Thanos], is worth the risk, worth the fight.  I liken this to a biblical story of David, Goliath and the 5 stones. There are many  other examples and stories of the Hero’s Journey all around us and the most familiar one is in our own lives.

What is your Thanos?  What/who represents Thanos’ army in your life?  Who/what is your King Tchalla that walks in gracefully and unassuming to support you?  Who/what represents the Holy Spirit (the women) that came to take off the head of Thanos?  What are you 5 stones that when combined can destroy or save your mission?  Who/what holds you up on the journey to take back yourself?  What will you go through to save your family? For love?

This was more than a movie for me.  It was a learning experience.  I hope you enjoyed my spiritual perspective on the film.  Go see it for yourself and perhaps you will have a different takeaway.

Til next time,

Yvette