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Aidan's Way
This life we're given comes in its own season and then follows its vanishing away. If you're at ease in your season, if you can dwell in its vanishing, joy and sorrow never touch you. This is what the ancients called getting free.
--Chuang Tzu
"Aidan's crisis had liberated me in a way. We had come close to death, had looked over the edge of the precipice, and then moved back. He would die at some point, perhaps young, maybe very young. He was profoundly disabled, even more so than he had been before. But his near-death had altered my vision. The length of his life or the physical particulars of his life were not as important as the mere fact of his life itself. He was following along in his own season, moving on the currents of the Way....
I could feel myself starting to get free."
--from Aidan's Way
Sam Crane was unprepared to be the father of Aidan, a boy who would never walk, talk or see. Aidan's Way is an endlessly inspiring account of parental love and devotion, of the lessons of ancient eastern philosophy and of what it means, ultimately, to be human.
"Aidan's Way is the rare personal account that should resonate with any reader....By telling his story simply, beautifully and bravely, Crane challenges us to question the criteria by which we judge everything in this world."-Chicago Tribune
"One of the rare stories about family both remarkably perceptive and lacking in self-pity."-Kirkus Reviews
--Chuang Tzu
"Aidan's crisis had liberated me in a way. We had come close to death, had looked over the edge of the precipice, and then moved back. He would die at some point, perhaps young, maybe very young. He was profoundly disabled, even more so than he had been before. But his near-death had altered my vision. The length of his life or the physical particulars of his life were not as important as the mere fact of his life itself. He was following along in his own season, moving on the currents of the Way....
I could feel myself starting to get free."
--from Aidan's Way
Sam Crane was unprepared to be the father of Aidan, a boy who would never walk, talk or see. Aidan's Way is an endlessly inspiring account of parental love and devotion, of the lessons of ancient eastern philosophy and of what it means, ultimately, to be human.
"Aidan's Way is the rare personal account that should resonate with any reader....By telling his story simply, beautifully and bravely, Crane challenges us to question the criteria by which we judge everything in this world."-Chicago Tribune
"One of the rare stories about family both remarkably perceptive and lacking in self-pity."-Kirkus Reviews
- GenresMemoirDisability
Paperback
First published November 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 4, 2010
A VERY long awaited child, who - well, something terrible happens, and I'm just about to find out what: I'm only on page 9 so far.
Spoiler Alert.
OK, so Aidan, at the ripe age of ten days, starts having terrible seizures, which render him wholly weak, blind, and very "developmentally delayed". His mother, a nurse, and his father, an Asian studies professor, work their way through this quite unexpected turn of events, and the father, George Crane, finds solace in Chinese philosophy.
I do not share Crane's love of Chinese philosophy, but I do share his love and appreciation, thanks to his wonderful writing, of who his son Aidan is, and how he has affected the world, and his father so deeply. It is a very life-affirming book.
Lastly, he writes a chapter about Peter Singer, Princeton University's famed or infamous ethics professor, the man who declares handicapped infants should not be allowed to live.
Spoiler Alert.
OK, so Aidan, at the ripe age of ten days, starts having terrible seizures, which render him wholly weak, blind, and very "developmentally delayed". His mother, a nurse, and his father, an Asian studies professor, work their way through this quite unexpected turn of events, and the father, George Crane, finds solace in Chinese philosophy.
I do not share Crane's love of Chinese philosophy, but I do share his love and appreciation, thanks to his wonderful writing, of who his son Aidan is, and how he has affected the world, and his father so deeply. It is a very life-affirming book.
Lastly, he writes a chapter about Peter Singer, Princeton University's famed or infamous ethics professor, the man who declares handicapped infants should not be allowed to live.
September 10, 2014
This got stuck in a pile of books and never read until I pulled it out a few weeks ago. I can't recall where or when I picked it up, so I am not sure whether I realized it is written by a professor at my alma mater. I would have picked it up anyway, I bet, since the idea of a father's perspective on raising a child with extreme disabilities is definitely intriguing to me.
Crane pairs this very personal story of living with and coming to grips with the fact that his son's life is so different from what he and his wife envisioned before Aidan was born with bits of Chinese philosophy (he is, after all, an Asian studies professor.) It's an interesting tactic, and one that I think works well. The book is grounded in Crane's actual experiences and his honesty about the joys and challenges his family lived through, but his exploration of certain Chinese writings gave him a new perspective on his son's life and life in general and add an interesting meta level to the book.
Crane pairs this very personal story of living with and coming to grips with the fact that his son's life is so different from what he and his wife envisioned before Aidan was born with bits of Chinese philosophy (he is, after all, an Asian studies professor.) It's an interesting tactic, and one that I think works well. The book is grounded in Crane's actual experiences and his honesty about the joys and challenges his family lived through, but his exploration of certain Chinese writings gave him a new perspective on his son's life and life in general and add an interesting meta level to the book.
January 2, 2008
Heartwarming and enlightening story about a father's relationship with his developmentally delayed son.
October 18, 2009
Interesting beginning, but I was not a fan of all the Chinese philosophy.
April 21, 2022
Very moving story, which changed my views on both developmental disabilities and Chinese philosophy. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews