Aidan's Way
by Sam Crane
Sourcebooks $180
What crueller twist of fate can nature throw at new parents than transforming their seemingly healthy firstborn into a severely disabled child with an estimated lifespan in single digits?
This is not a question American first-time author Sam Crane puts to the reader directly in his non-fictional work, Aidan's Way. Aidan is the real-life child in the hypothetical question. He is Crane's son, whose neurological and physical development deteriorated at the age of nine days. Crane admits feeling like his family has been dealt a rough hand, but the theme that runs through Aidan's Way is the author's attempt to apply Taoist philosophy to his son's condition, rather than allowing self-pity to dominate. The word 'Way' in the title is as near a translation for the Chinese character 'Tao' as Crane can find.
Crane is no New Age type. Throughout the book he is sceptical of the alternative medicine practices and practitioners he comes across in his long quest to help his son. Crane is a professor of Asian studies in Williamstown, Massachusetts. As part of his undergraduate course, he studied Chinese literature and philosophy, thus coming across Taoist writing, notably in the Book Of Changes or I-Ching, and the key Taoist text, the Tao Te Ching. Crane describes re-discovering these texts and his determination to apply their 'let life flow' attitude. Easier said than done, unsurprisingly, given the medical problems, family disruption and the challenges of American social integration that the author, his wife and son face.
