we are better than this, but no better than before

i wrote about twenty pages
most days spent on researching and then drained of emotions
story about the 2nd sino-japanese war. mainly about various battles in China (shanghai, nanjing massacre) and american/soviet POWs who witness the biological experiments done at unit 731.

it's one of those events in history that must be retold. unfortunately, our general american public have no idea about it due to 1) historical erasure by japanese gov. 2) data burial by american gov. 3) and, unlike our jewish brothers and sisters, a general unwillingness of chinese to talk about it except to children and grandchildren, who move to america and worship zac efron and soulja boy.

there are a few books about it, which haven't reached very far, and b-status, horror/exploitative films past and present. but nothing serious and tailored for english-speaking audiences. the rape of nanjing and the biological/concentration camps in China are not merely important for the Chinese, it is arguably the fuse that exploded into WWII.

i predict, with a recent swell of interest of all things China, there will be a surge of serious films about all this. and of course, if more talented, passionate people begin to tell this story in bite-sized, easy to swallow US film tablets, i will most likely abandon it. because it's daunting. and my version is vastly fictional, although steeped in actual fact.

no matter. research the rape of nanjing and unit 731 yourself. and learn about it. understand why it's been so fervently ignored. the japanese/american connection. realize that under impossible situations, we find out we are all the same. the connection between chiang kai-shek, his wife and american politicians in the FDR era, nazi-defected alexander von falkenhausen and john rabe, a belgium woman, american missionaries and journalists, russian citizens of northern China, filipino boys and girls, etceteraetcetera.

its emotionally draining. this research after i studied up on various other things, like Iran before and after the Revolution, the My Lai massacre, the Armenian genocide, the bombing of dresden, etc. etc. etc. etc.

that the world just keeps repeating and repeating the same mistakes with different technology - means we, perhaps, don't deserve a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth chance.

i don't know. when you know your history, you aren't surprised anymore. the past is only the future that's already happened.

back to our own, all-important, amazing lives now.