Some Pain is so Deep

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“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” ~ Aeschylus

“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” ~ Walter Anderson

For quite some time I have wanted to put all of my Story-Power episodes up on YouTube. Since I don’t publish the video portion of my conversations, I have had to create visuals to go with the episodes. But that’s just background information for what I really want to write about today.

As I’ve listened to past episodes, I’ve come across guests who have suffered or discovered extreme amounts of horrific things their parents, grandparents, or other ancestors went through. To make sense of these situations, they wrote books about what they experienced or discovered. Sometimes writing is a really good way to figure out what we’re thinking and feeling. However, I did learn that some pain is so deep it’s impossible to heal.

Some of the episodes that stand out as examples of this, are Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s episode 59. Many of her ancestors died in the Armenian Holocaust, which took place during WW I and is not even mentioned in many history books. Her book, My Name is Revenge, explores how the denial of this inhumane situation affected some groups of Armenian refugees and how they attempted to bring those horrific events to light. Or Lauren Hunter (episode 57, book Leaving Christian Science:10 Stories of New Faith in Jesus Christ) shares how she is recovering from a toxic religious cult, or Lino Martinez, (episode 84, podcast, A Little Less Fear) recovering from severe health problems and discovering he was transgender, or Shirley Novack (episode 90, book The Story of …) discovering the dark past of her immigrant grandfather and how he mistreated her father and uncle, or, finally, Max Friedman, (episode 91, book Painful Joy) who is the child of Holocaust survivors and how their trauma affected his family.

Listening to all of the stories of my guests and how they have dealt with the challenges and tragedies they have faced was kind of like a magnet for fictional stories with similar themes to come into my awareness. One story that we just finished watching is Echo, an MCU series with several characters who suffered deep traumas. How they cope, or don’t cope with the traumas is fascinating to me. 

Maya Lopez is the main character in Echo, but her character was introduced in the MCU series, Hawkeye, which Barry and I watched over Christmas vacation. When we meet Maya, she is connected to the man behind all of the underworld activities in New York City. Later, in Echo, we find out his reach is much further than that. Little by little we discover that Maya has suffered one tragedy after another. She was born deaf, her mother died in a terrible car accident when she was quite young, maybe seven or eight. She was in the car and her right leg was injured so badly that it was amputated below the knee. Her father takes her away to New York City, where he has a promising job unbeknownst to the family with Kingpin the underworld boss. That is a heart wrenching situation that separates Maya from her grandparents, and other family in Oklahoma.

During the events in Hawkeye, Maya discovers that Kingpin, the man she thought of as her Uncle and mentor, ordered the murder of her father. This betrayal sets up the events of Echo. As that series begins, Maya is traveling home to Oklahoma to try to understand everything that has happened to her. She thinks she killed Kingpin, who’s name is Fisk. But, unfortunately he’s not dead and the audience discovers along with Maya that his operation stretches to her hometown in Oklahoma. 

There are several things that make Maya and her journey unique. First, of all are her disabilities, which the actress really lives with. Second, Maya is of Cherokee descent, and unbeknownst to her, she is part of a long line of very powerful women. Third, as the coming disaster begins to unfold, Maya gets to make a choice, continue to seek revenge, or she can heal old relationships and embrace her Cherokee heritage to find a different solution, which is the choice she makes. 

I love that we get to hear Kingpin/Fisk’s story of why he felt so driven to become the powerful and feared underworld boss he is. This is a key part of the story. He’s just as wounded as Maya. That’s why he connected to her and made her his prodigy in the first place. It’s at this point that Maya makes her choice. She’ll do what she can to save her town, family, and friends from being destroyed. However instead of using violence, she uses her new found powers to heal Fisk, while her uncle and cousin stop Fisk’s team from carrying out his plans to wreak havoc at the Powwow. I wonder what will happen if the series continues, which I hope it does, because I love that we get to learn some of the traditions, myths, and culture of the Cherokee Native Americans.

That’s just one example of stories with deeply wounded characters that I’ve read or watched lately. One thing I love about stories is that when we hear, read, or watch them, we don’t have to experience what’s going on with the people, or characters to understand and maybe empathize with them. It’s kind of like the stories give us a little distance from our own experiences and give us a chance to examine what we’ve gone through without all the deep emotions attached.

That’s why I love stories so much. I get to live other lives and experience new places. It’s fun to imagine what choices I’d make if I were living inside the stories. 

I recently got a list of new stories to add to my TBR, or TBW lists. It’s always nice to have a large list of stories to choose from. If I finish a book and don’t know what I’m going to read next, I get anxious. And as far as watching, I love to find new stories to contemplate, as well as watch old stories to see what new things I can learn from them.

Here’s to a wonderful year of story discovery for each of you.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2024

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version and sequel are published.

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscription

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. The Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published.

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If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.