Speak, Okinawa Quotes

“My mother and I speak different languages. Her native language is Japanese. My native language is English. This might seem like a mundane fact about us. It's not. It dictates everything. Because even though mu mother understands and speaks English at a highly functional level, there are places inside me she can't reach, nuances of thought and emotion I can't express in words that make sense to her.”
― Elizabeth Miki Brina, Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir

“I believe we inherit sin as much as we inherit trauma. I believe inherited sin is its own form of trauma. But maybe we have a chance at redemption. By being aware, being honest. By giving up power. By letting the world change. By changing ourselves.
By apologizing.
By forgiving?
What would atonement and forgiveness look like?
Within a person, a family, a nation?”
― Elizabeth Miki Brina, Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir

“Yet these memories are impossible to forget, regardless of whether we actually lived through them. I believe they stay in our bodies. As sickness, as addiction, as poor posture or a tendency toward apology, as a deepened capacity for sadness or anger. As determination to survive, a relentless tempered optimism. I believe they are inherited, passed on to us like brown eyes or the shape of a nose.”
― Elizabeth Miki Brina, Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir

“My mother and I speak different languages. Her native language is Japanese. My native language is English. This might seem like a mundane fact about us. It’s not. It dictates everything. Because even though my mother understands and speaks English at a highly functional level, there are places inside me she can’t reach, nuances of thought and emotion I can’t express in words that make sense to her.”
― Elizabeth Miki Brina, Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir