“Changes are hard to accept, but keep in mind that change is a natural progression for all things to remain
viable. If you look long and closely enough you will find that in most cases, change is a good thing!”
Being a member of a semi-nomadic group of people where home has been, to me, a hut in a small village hidden in the forest
of Laos, then the confined camp of Bon Venai, then the tough neighborhood of south side and then to the tougher neighborhood
of the north side of Minneapolis. I have never had much to cling onto nor have I had anything to truly call mine.
I have for a very long time been seeking to find something concretely “Hmong”.
How sweet would that be! But Like many of you, the more specific answers you find, the more confusing the picture of “the
whole” gets and the more vague the ultimate answer becomes. At times giving up does not seems so bad!
Wouldn’t it be easier to give into the idea that nowadays, there simply nothing out there that is truly Hmong, not anymore!
Not like it once was.
Yet, consider this issue in the greater context of the evolution of Hmong culture viewed
through the evolution of Hmong art.
The entire time, the answers and things I seek was right underneath
my nose! I simply wasn’t ready to see it. I was seeking for something that does not exist or couldn’t have existed!
I simply needed to see “it” for what it really is. I simply needed to understand and
accept that change is apart of our lives. Only then did I see that “Hmongness” is everywhere.
“Hmongness” is alive, fluid, breathing well and it’s full of life!
We may not have something concrete to grab or hold onto that has the same meaning, same function or of an importance as
we once thought it had. Please understand that change is a “natural evolution” of
any form of communication and of any culture. Instead of looking at changes occurring in our culture or in the arts as though
we are loosing something. I highly encourage you to look at change as an extension of it. We didn’t lose our Hmongness,
i.e., our culture, because of our constant moving. We didn’t lose it because we no longer fully understand its original
intended purposes. Please understand that although the once intended functions are no longer the same. That does not equal
elements of our culture to no longer have function(s). The function is simply expanding or what I would like to say, has “evolved”
onto a new, additional, different function.
I will leave you all with these two quotes I picked
out from one my source.
“Most all of these changes in the Hmong life-style are superficial. Their ancient
culture remains deeply woven in the very fabric of their beings—Independence is still their ultimate goal.”
“While the environment has changed for many and their major means of livelihood is different from that
of their fore fathers, they remain “profoundly Hmong”.
This was written about by others
back in the late 1970’s and or early 1980’s!
They were describing our fore fathers. However,
it still sings the same tones today!
These two quotes were by Paul and Elaine Lewis, authors of
“People of the Golden Triangle”. Published in 1984.
