Xiu (“call me ‘Shue,’” she asks) grew up in rural China. Her childhood and early adulthood were devoted to hard work with her family. At 16, Xiu was obligated to work in a factory, to produce novelty items for sale by an American corporation, and to help pay the cost of sending her brothers to high school. After her brothers graduated, Xiu began remedial studies to enter high school, herself, when her father’s health declined and so she was obligated to help the family cover medical costs by entering into an arranged marriage with an American – a purchased, mail-order bride in what is barely distinguishable from human-trafficking. Xiu was pregnant with her first of two children before coming to Maine to live in her husband’s home. Her marriage dissolved with her husband’s addictions and increasing abusiveness, forcing her to live in a shelter for battered women. And this is where Xiu’s story begins.
Xiu grew up in a culture in which duty to one’s family overrides duty to one’s self. Xiu was a woman in a world that values men above women, to a slightly greater extreme than our own. She labored heavily, not merely so she could survive, but so her brothers could prosper more easily. When her father fell ill, Xiu was, effectively, sold to an American man. In a developmental period in which most American young adults develop their identities as individual human beings, Xiu was little more than a servant to her family’s needs. But as a result of her last act of duty to her family in China, Xiu was freed to become an individual of her choosing.
While staying in the shelter with her children, Xiu attended adult education and worked to earn her high school diploma. Xiu entered SMCC and now aspires to become a chemical engineer in environmental sciences, and to set the best example she may for her children. She often quotes Nelson Mandela – “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world!”
Xiu offers a wonderful model for her children, and for everyone. Her story is quite dramatic, and one can easily be mislead by the extremes of her life into believing that her life is no more than a story; but Xiu is a real human being, the same as all of us. The alleged Free World demonstrates every day how little we need descend to devolve into a culture that deems some humans to be worthy only of servitude to others. In spite of the derisive response from society, we continue to think that the vast numbers of young women are aberrantly foolish for concluding that their purpose in society is to cater to, and to glorify, men. Xiu’s extremes are only so because they differ a little from our own.
Xiu will contribute to society more effectively as a unique individual. She will contribute a greater model of strength through adversity for her children. But how easily could her contributions have been lost had she remained a man’s purchase in New England – a place where freedom for the individual is so prized, and the underdog is greatly celebrated? How many other contributions do we deny our world, because we deny so many the opportunities to realize their potential? Because we deny them the right, freedom, and safety to develop into unique individuals?