Densho Digital Repository - Kiyoko Masuda Interview (Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-1)

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JC: What's your hope for your family? What is your hope for this next generation? I know there are some things that you really love to do, and one of the things you mentioned was you love to do talks with young folks?

KM: Oh, yes.

JC: Can you talk a little bit about that?

KM: Yes. Talking about being a teacher and going into education, it's still a very big part of me right now, I think. I taught English, Language Arts, History, Social Science, in middle school. I taught elementary, I taught some high school, but my real interest in the teaching part was middle school. And I got a master's in English, Language Arts, and specializing in literacy. And so that's something that just really motivated me into reading. And I was also an administrator in schools. And then the last (seven or eight) years of my professional career, but I was director of a large group of teachers who taught teachers how to teach reading, literacy. And through that, of course, I became so interested in getting kids to read, write and think. And so one of the things that I've been doing is presentations, workshops, for dharma school teachers in our Buddhist organizations on how to use children's books in teaching the dharma..

I'd like to share, is this Cherokee story that I use all the time. There is a Cherokee grandfather, and he is fishing with his grandson and they're having talks about life. And the grandpa says to his grandson, he says, "You know, we all have two wolves in ourselves." One is a bad wolf, and he is jealous, he gets angry, he's selfish, he's a bully, and he doesn't help other people, and it's always "me, me, me." And then the other wolf is loving, is kind, is altruistic, is helpful, will do anything to help other people, and sympathetic, giving, and he's quiet. And the grandson says, "Well, Grandpa, if they're always fighting, which one wins? Doesn't anyone win?" And the grandpa says, "What do you think?" And the little boy says, "I don't know." The grandpa says, "Well, it's the one that you feed. It's the wolf that you feed." And I think that is so true today. But during the war, we were incarcerated and it was wrong, it was wrong. And then in 19, what, '88, we were paid money for a wrong. Well, I don't think that that really meant anything. But what I think the war did was, and after the war, the redress, all of that, maybe in the '70s also, the thing that it brought up was that hate and racism is alive and well, and we're able to talk about it now. When I was growing up, we couldn't talk about things like that, and today we can, and it's because of the culmination of what happened to us, what happened after the war, and now the strong voices of the Sansei, what's happening now, we've got all this hate, antagonistic, horrible things that are happening. And I firmly believe that it's because we hear so much hate talk. We have to counter that with the "good wolf" talk, you know. We have to feed the good wolf, and I don't think we're doing enough of that, we have to continue to do that. So hopefully, now that we have these different support groups... anyway, I hope we can.

JC: Kiyo, thank you so much for sharing today. Your story about the wolves, you're the good wolf.

KM: [Laughs] No, we all have both of them.

JC: No, you're a good wolf, and I just really appreciate your spirit, your generous spirit of telling your story, and it gives me hope, lot of hope.

KM: Thank you. I think that's what we have to do, is continue to fight -- and here that is a war word, but I'm using it -- for what we believe is right. And that was my dad. He never lost his Japanese spirit of doing what is right.