Emotional Honesty

The article begins like a chapter in a Mark Twain novel. Suddenly, a missionary, her child and several Chinese children are traveling down a stream, chasing chickens and allowing two random strangers (who are apparently obviously not Christians) to begin traveling with them. As I read, I could not help but feel as though I had jumped in to the middle of a story. I looked back up at the title, and sure enough this article, Little Americans and Chinese in Distress, was said to be continued from December. I then turned to December and could still not find the beginning. This tale of missionaries and Chinese children escaping from a Chinese village during war, began back in the October edition of The Other Sheep and was just now coming to a close in January. The missionary writing this article, Mrs. FC Sutherland, detailed every little event that happened to her and those traveling with her. It was a gripping story, a page turner that causes the reader to wonder what is going to happen next. However, one needs to remember, this is not a novel. This is a missions magazine presenting actual stories from people who are seeking to recount actual events. Yet, the story-like composition of this particular article, begs the question of how truthful the story is.
There are very little details even at the beginning of the October article to explain to us why these people are becoming refugees. Though we know they are running from the effects of the war, we do not know why these specific children are with her, we do not know what will happen to them once they reach the coast. It is very unfortunate that these details are missing as they provide context for this story. Instead we simply have a group of refugees traveling across China in different modes of transportation. Each time things seem to be going well, something else goes wrong. It is clear that the author has woven her emotions into this story. She speaks of every little noise startling her, thinking that perhaps they were coming to a series of gunshots, when in actuality it was simply firecrackers. It seems that behind this epic story are rushing emotions of fear and anxiety. Coming through such a trip, bringing children with her must have been quite a strenuous ordeal. After surviving that, it is no wonder that she would seek to tell the story in such intense details that seem to embellish what was actually happening. When you add your emotions to the story, small things such as a young boys stomach ache that went away once he had eaten breakfast seem to become a much more dramatic event. This emotion driven story, might not have been telling the tale exactly as it had happened, but it presents a different side of truth to the story. It shows the truth of their emotions. The reader does not have to guess how they were feeling as they journeyed. It is clear as day. So though one truth seems to have been sacrificed another is not, and I feel as though this emotional honesty is almost more valuable than an exact account of the events.