Brave Is the New Beautiful by Lee Wolfe Blum

Author:Lee Wolfe Blum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: the gifts of imperfection;Daring Greatly;real beauty;comparing yourself to others;be authentic;perfectionism in women;true beauty;books on vulnerability
Published: 2017-01-11T21:12:09+00:00

Sarah doesn’t see the person God made her to be until she’s in high school, when the mirage clouding her eyes begins to fade. Standing in the hallway of her school, she sees them: the pretty blonde girls holding hands with the boys, the white couple at the football game kissing in the stands. The pretty girls with the glistening yellow hair are the ones who go out on dates, who get invited to prom, who lead the way. She stands at her locker and begins to see and feel her differences. I’m not like them. I’m not like any of them. Where do I belong?

Her parents never push her to be someone she isn’t. They affirm her heritage. They encourage her to attend camps and groups where she can meet other Vietnamese people. But she won’t do it. She has nothing in common with them, she thinks. Admitting she is different—embracing the person God made her to be—might make her stand out, might make her not belong.

Sarah marries Joe, a Caucasian man. As she gets older, she begins to see and accept herself as the Vietnamese person she is. As much as she’s able.

Until she and Joe travel to Vietnam.

They spend the first part of the trip on the sandy beaches of Da Nang, the city where Sarah spent her first four years in an orphanage. Her father died in the war and her mother died in childbirth, and all Sarah knows of her early life is an address written on a piece of paper.

The city is filled with spectacular buildings and beautiful bridges. Joe and Sarah rent scooters and ride around, exploring the city. Near the place where the orphanage is supposed to be, they find a parking place just big enough for their scooters. They park, hop off, and decide to ask a wrinkled old man at a trinket stand for directions. His name is Le Wyn, and he’s kind and welcoming to Sarah and Joe. Sarah hands him the piece of paper, and in his broken English he says, “Oh, I know where this is!”

It isn’t far. He walks them to the building where Sarah’s life began. The run-down old building is now a home for Catholic nuns. Le Wyn introduces them to his daughter, who works there and also speaks English. They see the building and walk through a few rooms. Le Wyn tells them, “During the war, the North take over everything. They make all the children leave the orphanage. They burn all the papers.”

Sarah believes this is the end of her story, but before she leaves she gives Le Wyn her contact information, just in case he or his daughter ever come upon anything.

After Sarah and Joe say good-bye, Le Wyn’s daughter spreads the word about a beautiful Vietnamese woman who came to visit the orphanage. She has a friend who grew up in the same orphanage, a friend who is still in contact with those who operated it. Le Wyn’s daughter tells

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