“A Walk in the Park” Letter from the Editor, Dr. Ann F. Corson

Over the years, we have worked hard to educate the medical community and society at large about the horrors of China’s live forced organ harvesting on demand of innocent prisoners of conscience. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, many people have never even heard about these atrocious human rights abuses. However, I recently had an experience which showed me that deep down inside, people have some level of understanding regarding this issue.

One sunny April afternoon, I took my dogs for a walk in a beautiful city park close to where I live that was full of people enjoying the sun, a book, a picnic, a game, and each other. My older dog was searching for other dogs and friendly humans to greet and commune with. My younger dog only had eyes for squirrels.

As I rounded one corner of the park, I saw a young man seated, pecking away at an old-fashioned typewriter. His sign read “Dream Poet for Hire, donations accepted.” On an impulse, I decided to commission a poem.

I warned him though, that on this beautiful spring afternoon, my subject matter was dark. Without inquiring if he had any knowledge of the subject, I asked him to write a poem about “forced organ harvesting from living prisoners of conscience in China, specifically Falun Gong practitioners.”

He nodded and said nothing as he set about his work. Five minutes later, he handed me this poem:

                                 FORCED ORGANS HARVESTED
                              by marshall james kananaugh @DreamPoetForHire
                              april 16, 2022 philly rittenhouse sq.

                                     genocide isn’t new
                                 but human consciousness
                          gradually has shifted towards
                                a new paradigm of concern
                                      for what doesn’t
                              reach the front page of the news

                            marginalized groups
                            treated as if not human

                            and growing from the awareness
                            a general resistance to power

                                these structures want us
                                     divided
                                  by race, religion, class, & gender

                          but a better world is possible
                            when unified
                                we see through the veil
                              and recognize our hearts beat
                                    similar
                              our parts are all human.

How is it that the few words I spoke to this poet were enough to evoke such insight in him while there has been such silence from the international community who have known of force organ harvesting for many years? Could this silence equate to willful blindness and complicity?

The poem above indicates to me that there exists a broad collective consciousness among humanity which recognizes that the persecution and organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners (and other minority groups) is an attack on human goodness, dignity, and individual sovereignty. Only anti-human elements could perpetrate such evil on those who strive to align with the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

All human rights abuses and genocides around the globe, including the state-run murder for organs in China, will end only when all people “see through the veil” of deception and deceit and come to recognize and respect that “our parts are all human.”