for your consideration

A Quote to Ponder...

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:15:28 -0600

“To kill one man is to be guilty of a capital crime, to kill ten men is to increase the guilt ten-fold, to kill a hundred men is to increase it a hundred-fold. This the rulers of the earth all recognize and yet when it comes to the greatest crime--waging war on another state--they praise it!

It is clear they do not know it is wrong, for they record such deeds to be handed down to posterity; if they knew they were wrong, why should they wish to record them and have them handed down to posterity?

If a man on seeing a little black were to say it is black, but on seeing a lot of black were to say it is white, it would be clear that such a man could not distinguish black and white. Or if he were to taste a few bitter things were to pronounce them sweet, clearly he would be incapable of distinguishing between sweetness and bitterness. So those who recognize a small crime as such, but do not recognize the wickedness of the greatest crime of all--the waging of war on another state--but actually praise it--cannot distinguish right and wrong. So as to right or wrong, the rulers of the world are in confusion.”

--Mozi, China, Circa 470-391 B.C.

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

Man on Wire

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:34:43 -0500

I am back in Nashville now, and this week I have had the distinct pleasure of visiting a dear friend: the Belcourt Theater. The occasion was Man on Wire, a wonderful documentary based on Philippe Petit’s ambition to tight rope walk across the Twin Towers of New York City. It was incredibly well made and brilliantly captivating. The director is so well crafted in the art of story-telling that it is impossible to tell which scenes are reenactments and which scenes are real footage. If you go and watch this film (which you should), you will find yourself on the edge of your seat for at least a portion of its time on screen.

At the heart of it, Man on Wire is a story about living life to its fullest and not settling for less. “Life should be lived on the edge... See every day as a true challenge and then you live your life on the tight rope,” says Petit with his wildly quixotic vocal expressions. While Petit’s story takes a turn towards disappointment, at least for me personally, at the end (it seems to me that his fame got to him a wee bit and that he is now trying to live the past over and over again..), this is film that has no shame in celebrating life and beauty. I would highly recommend.

Life Itself...

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:26:44 -0500

“Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly...

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.

In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

-Frederick Buechner,
Now and Then

Falling Action

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 10:17:36 -0500

My friend Greg just wrote a script about falling action. You know, the part of the story arch they teach you in literary class -- the part right after the climax but before the conclusion, the part that is always generally skipped over, the part that is never focused on. I have adventured until I have no more adventure juice left, and now all that stands in between my adventures and my conclusion is 27 hours of plane rides and lay overs: my falling action.

What a trip it has been! Sorry for the lack of updates, but between the off and on internet connection and my travels around the island and the mainland, it has been very difficult. I have lived more than I have lived in a long time, and I am content. I sit here now at the airport in Hong Kong and am excited about the falling action in front of me -- a chance to further process all that I have learned and become. It was only proper that the climax came earlier today, as a typhoon made its way to the island. All workers were swiftly sent home and the city promptly shut down. Our flight was cancelled, but luckily we were able to maneuver and switch flights. So after all the excitement, even to the very end, I can feel the energy shifting towards the pause that must come before my conclusion.

The trip to the mainland was more wonderful than I could have imagined, and pictures will soon be up for proof. I emailed a friend a little bit ago about how I have come to quietly lament the fact that our culture does not allow for a “coming of age” adventure that some societies have. You know, like spending a week in the woods alone or something. I know this all sounds ridiculous and silly, but something in me lately has ached for adventure. It has ached for me to rise up and take responsibility for my own living and my own surviving. Though I may not have had to survive in the wilderness for weeks to prove my manhood, it has been fulfilling to go out on my own and get lost in a city that does not know my own tongue. To explore both nature and civilization, taking in all that a foreign society can give me in four weeks. Thanks for your cares and all of your prayers. It has been quite the adventure.

I am coming home. As Greg wrote in the opening of his script, “Here’s to the falling action.”

A New and Different Sun

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:07:58 -0500

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

--Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

I Wish this Weren’t So Funny...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:56:02 -0500

Ronald McDonald: Cultural Imperialist?

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:17:43 -0500

Colonial imperialism clearly was a dark era of Western history – almost no one can deny that. Lesser developed societies were taken over by those who had the military might and were subsequently exploited for their assets – both in the form human capital and in natural resources. The picture, however, was not painted so bleak at the time. It was said to have been the “White Man’s Burden” to educate the “barbarians” and to show them how proper society functions. There was good that came out of it, sure, but the idea itself is just another form of slavery, one could certainly and legitimately argue. Our society obviously benefited greatly from the colonialism—there is a reason that societies that participated in the practice are among the richest ones today. Yet if you ask those that condemn that chapter in history, I am sure few of us would concede the spoils that we inherited from such a system. That would mean us as a society having to give up our prominence.

The same argument can be made that imperialism is continuing to this day, except this time on the shoulders of Disney, McDonald’s, and Wal-Mart. It’s been termed cultural imperialism, and instead of being forced through the military, it is big business that is pounding on the war drums. By “going global” and “invading” different countries such as China, we are imposing our culture on less developed nations, many times at the expense of their own cultural traditions that have been around for generations. In the same sense as colonial imperialism, businesses are exploiting the human capital in these nations in the form of lucrative target markets to fill their pocketbooks and turn a profit. I can see this from my own experience at Disneyland. The park was so exciting and filled with fun (“magic,” I like to call it), yet everything about it was Americanized. Literally, the first thing you see when you walk into the park is “Main Street, USA,” with as many shops lining the streets as there were rides, or so it seemed. Is this any different than a new “White Man’s Burden,” where the advanced Western world has stepped in to show the “barbaric” and backwards nations how to do it the American way?

Or could there be some big differences that make this argument invalid? Certainly, businesses like McDonald’s and Disney bring wealth to the local area and create jobs—often in places that have historically been faced with devastating poverty. Not only that, but they introduce a new generation to global business practices and encourage entrepreneurship themselves. They provide great value to the area due to the rigorous standards they must keep in other parts of the world and force other local businesses to improve to stay in business. Before McDonald’s came to Hong Kong, for example, the idea of a clean toilet at a restaurant was unheard of. Now, it is quite expected. It can be argued as well that McDonald’s has made the streets of Hong Kong a safer place for kids. Early on in their existence, they realized that McDonald’s was becoming the after-school hangout for children and teens. As a part of their scheme to market this idea, McDonald’s began employing former British military officers to keep the triad members from entering or loitering around their stores. At the Wal-Mart employee training program, Chinese workers are taught to work in teams and that everybody, regardless of their background or city of birth, has something to add. In this society, your status is directly linked to what part of the country your family is from. Yet these stereotypes are coming down because of the business principles of Sam Walton. Wal-Mart is fighting a type of racism just by be being in business in China.

The argument can certainly go both ways, and each side can make valid points. Nevertheless, I think that business is a little different than military force. For one, it really doesn’t make a good business practice to shoot potential customers. With all that is happening in the world, the forces of globalism are churning along fast, and I am not sure if it will ever be stopped. We are moving towards a more unified, integrated society whether we like it or not. While there are some things that will inherently be lost, especially for the societies that have to change the most, there are some distinct and profound advantages as well. Theoretically, in a business transaction, both sides walk away with more value than either had before. If theory translates into world affairs, then hopefully all of this globalization will live up to its promises and make people better off around the world, even if it’s at the hands of Walt Disney.

The Dark Knight

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:50:30 -0500

As one of the most anticipated movies of the year, I can assure you all that The Dark Knight does not disappoint. We were able to see it here last night, and I must say that it was exceptionally exciting to see the city that I have been exploring for the last few weeks as the backdrop for several scenes of the movie. I guess I felt exceptionally festive for the occasion! Not to mention the fun of seeing it a day before ever being released in the states...

I will not go too much into ranting and raving about this movie, even though I could, partly because I’m sure all of you will see it soon and partly because I frankly have much homework to do. The Oscars are so far away, and such talk is generally silly at this point, but Heath Ledger, who gave the show of his life, would get robbed if he isn’t heavily considered. His performance is absolutely uncanny, and I am very seriously considering seeing the movie once more strictly to watch his character come to life again. The screenplay (written by the same writers of Memento) easily elevated this film into, as Roger Ebert states, the best superhero film of all time. The moral dilemmas faced and the questions raised make this installment of the new Batman series much more than the simple “good guy/bad guy” stereotypes that usually accompany comic book adaptations, and instead really force the audience to ponder all of the implications. Needless to say, Christopher Nolan has rightfully taken his place as one of the best American filmmakers alive.

On another note, it was very interesting to see a movie here in China. You actually have to reserve your individual seat when you purchase your ticket, and you must be prepared to be monitored by a policeman armed with a night-vision device to prevent any pirating during the entirety of the film. Oh, and don’t forget to buy your chocolate-covered popcorn before the show!

Let the Games Begin

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:28:56 -0500

The modern term for “sports”--tiyu--didn’t appear until the nineteenth century. Like other words that were introduced during this period, tiyu came from Japanese. The Japanese had originally imported Chinese characters in ancient ties to write their own language, but Western contact moved faster in Japan, developing new vocabularies. As China attempted to catch up, they adopted the terms that Japanese had innovated: minzhu, or “democracy”; minzu, or “ethnic group.” Sometimes, a familiar phrase reappeared with a different meaning. Kaogu originally meant “investigation of the ancient”; in the twentieth century, it returned from Japan with a new definition: “archeology.” The characters themselves weren’t new, but they described new ways of looking at familiar things. Artifacts had always been collected, but they hadn’t been excavated and studied in a scientific manner. The Chinese had always had different ethnic groups; they just hadn’t described them as such. Athletics hadn’t been categorized and arranged into tournaments.

The language changed because the world was changing.”

--Taken from Peter Hessler in Oracle Bones

The world certainly is changing fast here in China, and the Chinese are running at a frenetic pace to keep up. This particular insert is part of an explanation on how the Chinese came to view the Olympics with such regard. Games in traditional culture downplayed competition and strength, instead focusing on self-improvement and control. The ancient Chinese never built coliseums, Hessler points out. But in this era, as China emerges into its prominence in the world, they are eager to absorb Western ideas, often having to redefine their own society to make sense of the new one that is coming in. They must view the same world around them in a very new context--and do so very quickly. The Olympic games seem as a way for not only a chance for the Western world to peak through the window to see the greatness and impressive nature of the modern Shanghai (of which the architecture is reportedly putting NYC to shame), but to actually earn the world’s respect. The Olympics are seen as a way to legitimize China’s climb to prestige. “The goal was to beat the foreigner at his own game.”

The Chinese have seen the excesses of Western culture through our very own media, and often try to make a Xerox copy of it. Unfortunately, while we know that Vogue is not the norm and that such flaunting of luxury isn’t always the goal, that part of our culture isn’t really as transparent. So too with sports. “[The Chinese have] adopted the competitiveness and nationalism, which were the bluntest and most obvious characteristics of Western athletics, but they had missed out on all the subtleties. In my own experience, these were the only things that actually had any true value,” Hessler writes. Because of this, there is immense pressure on the athletes to bring their country fame and glory, and much shame and even violence directed towards them if they fail. According to some, the Chinese operate on the field with great nervousness. “It was rare to watch a Chinese athlete perform with true joy.”

While spending a week and a half in China and reading a few books certainly doesn’t make me its expert, and while there are always exceptions to the rule--especially with today’s rapidly changing culture--it is evident already to see some of these traits really shine through the area on a macro level. The progress is magnificent and has brought forth so many miracles (I will post on this soon), but it is a double-edged sword (or a two-headed dragon, to be more appropriate to China :o) ). Up the Yangtze hinted at this, but I am more and more aware of it every day that I am here. We will only have to see what the future holds...

The Sun Exists!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:28:30 -0500

Little did I know that Hong Kong undergoes months and months of very unfortunate precipitation during the summer -- the wet season. If you look at a forecast of Hong Kong for the next 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks, every day is exactly the same: scattered thunderstorms, 83 degrees, with 95% humidity. But today, a miracle ensued in the simple form of sunshine. And what a happy day it was! A gift from God, of that I am sure. But tonight I look out my window at the awesome display of power that is in the form of lightening heading our way. And in that I am content as well.

At the university we are staying at in Hong Kong, there are currently 1,600 people, mostly students, convening for a Christian missions conference. They are from 56 different nations, and it has truly been wonderful to be able to interact with people from such a diverse spectrum. Not everyday are you able to hear so many languages and see so many cultures play out before your eyes. Only the church could bring people together like this.

Yesterday, we went to one of their rallies where they were celebrating and praying for different nations. One by one, different regions of the world were highlighted. When it came to North America, we were acknowledged for our gift of mercy.

What hit me, though, was when a group of missionaries from America were called out to speak. They lamented that for years we had sent out missionaries to other nations, but that time is no more. The couple stood there, and with a third of the people in the room from China, pleaded with believers to come to the United States. “Will you come? Won’t you come? We’ve forgotten, and we need you to remind us.”

What a haunting feeling it was to sit in the back of the room to watch hundreds of people from all across the audience raise their hand to answer God’s call to come to America. I sat there while the hundreds of others prayed over them and for the country that I call home.

God will not allow darkness to grow while not raising up his kingdom elsewhere. I’ve always read this, but I have never understood the impact until now.

It’s bedtime here as the rain starts to come down. Hope you are all enjoying all of the ordinary moments of life today.

Hong Kong

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:20:00 -0500

Hello World.

My internet is so off and on here that I have yet to right a blog entry from China territory, and this one will probably be short (sorry). It has been incredible so far, and I truly love being here. It took a little while to get used to, that’s for sure, but it really is a wonderful place. There are so many observations that I am trying to capture in my journal, and I’m sure they will make it onto here one of these days. They say that the 21st century will be China’s, much as the 20th century was ours, and I can find much reason to agree. There is an excitement here that is not sensed in the U.S. Opportunity, on the brink of something big. You can feel it in the air. And while the effects of rapid change are seen all around me, and the positive results of prosperity creation are truly undeniable, there is something inside of me that whispers: be wary, Oh China. You do not know the dark side of what you are importing. There’s beauty that’s being lost. There are some lessons that need to be taught to us, so don’t take us in blindly.

I hope to update more frequently, but even if I don’t, you can always check my updated pictures here. I hope you enjoy!