|
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- A touching memoir of the extraordinary meaning and power of love, George T. (Sam) Crane's new book "Aidan's Way: The Story of a Boy's Life and a Father's Journey" (Sourcebooks, Nov. 2002) is what Kirkus Review calls a "loving expression of profound gratitude to the author's severely disabled son."
When Aidan was born, Sam Crane and his wife, Maureen Strype, had of the excitement, hopes, dreams, and expectations of any new parents. The first nine days of Aidan's life progressed normally and happily for the Cranes; on the tenth, however, Aidan suddenly stopped breathing and was rushed to the hospital as he succumbed to seizures. After countless tests, the Cranes received devastating news about their first child: he was going to have severe mental and physical disabilities.
Aidan's brain is not so much damaged, as it is unusual; his brain grew in a singular fashion. The folds of Aidan's cortex are smaller and more numerous, and he lacks a corpus callosum, which is the connecting structure that allows the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate. As Aidan grew older, his body and brain did not mature. He has never been able to see, walk, or talk.
Often struggling with - but never in doubt of - Aidan's worth in this world, Crane, a professor of Asian studies at Williams College, turned to ancient Chinese philosophy, particularly the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu as a way to come to understand Aidan and the lives they were all to lead together. His personal application of Eastern philosophy and his enduring love for his son helped him see Aidan's value and reject suggestions from doctors and philosophers that Aidan's life carried no meaning.
"Aidan's crisis had liberated me in a way. We had come close to death, had looked over the edge of the precipice, and then moved back. He would die at some point, perhaps young, maybe very young. He was profoundly disabled, even more so than he had been before. But his near-death had altered my vision. The length of his life or the physical particulars of his life were not as important as the mere fact of his life itself. He was following along in his own season, moving on the currents of the Way..."
-- From "Aidan's Way"
"Aidan's Way" is a story about what it is to be human, the many forms love can take and how one man dealt with the disabilities of his son through the art of ancient Asian teachings.
Sam Crane has published a variety of academic works on the topics of Chinese politics and East Asian international relations. His foreign affairs commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the National Interest. In 1998, Crane's writing started to shift away from academic topics and toward narratives about his son. In the past several years, such pieces have run in Commonweal Magazine, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Salon.com, all of which have built towards "Aidan's Way."
Crane received his B.A. in political science from Purchase College, State University of New York, and earned his Ph.D. in political science, with a minor in East Asian languages and literature, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is chair of the Asian Studies department at Williams, and is active in civic affairs.
Crane is married to Maureen Strype, a registered nurse, and they live with their two children, Aidan and Margaret, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
|
