Labor is the Most Glorious

This morning's Chinesepod lesson finds Jenny and John explaining a song in honor of May Day (May 1st, International Labor Day). The version of the song I hear is sung by a youth chorus, apparently suggesting to young people not to make like the "butterflies that play all day" but instead like the "magpies that make new homes" and the "bees that collect honey." In other words, "love to work and love to study."

Jenny, the podcast's local Chinese teacher, explains how this song was very popular in here kindergarten and primary school days. When pressed by John to ask how she feels about the song, she dodges and repeats that it's about trying to get students to love work and not play too much--without much effect. While all Chinese in her parents' generation would have known the song, Jenny remarks, its popularity and influence today is less strong.

Meditation

It's amazing how hard it is to think about nothing. A friend here told me about a month-long retreat he took in Burma where no one spoke for 30 days. He spent much of the day pacing around a monastery compound and just meditating, "trying to turn off the noise," surprised by how difficult a task that was even after several hours a day for 4 weeks or more.

It doesn't look like the amount of noise we'd all like to escape from sometimes is heading into decline any time soon. In fact, it seems like it's only beginning to ramp up. From mobile computers to connectivity between software connecting people with others all the time, there's always a gadget or interaction that you could or should be attending to.

My experiment is trying to take 10 minutes a day to slow down and figure out if there's any positive effects. I think Day 1 was a success as I didn't fall back asleep while trying to be quiet, breathe deeply and relax. To be continued...

Giving

One of the biggest takeaways from the Doris Kearns Goodwin bio of Lincoln was the propensity Lincoln had for utilizing kindness to fit into his unique leader's toolkit. He could at times be the most meek guy in the room, but his assertiveness when it was time to make a difficult decision, and the resolve he showed in sticking to his guns, won him the respect of his colleagues. Most importantly, his deep capacity for sympathy and objectivity allowed his decisions to be made with uncommon factors in mind, frequently allowing favors to others and building up a powerful reserve of social capital that propelled him to the presidency later in life.

I recently discovered the tabloid business news site Business Insider, which had a glowing review of Wharton professor Adam Grant's recent book Give & Take. Grant, the youngest ever tenured professor at one of the world's greatest b-schools, blends sociology and psychology in documenting how "givers"--selfless professionals who do favors for others while asking for nothing in return--are routinely the ones that get the most financial and other gains out of other professional and personal relationships. Essentially, he is mapping out how true Kanye was in saying "don't mistake kindness for weakness." (Was that Kanye West? Anyways...)

Today I went to mass in China for the first time in years. The ceremony at Beijing's oldest cathedral, founded by a Jesuit consultant to Chinese emperors, eunuchs, and officials named Matteo Ricci in the 17th century, was presided over by a priest who chose the topic of "love advertisement" as the theme for his homily. The idea basically was: love, displayed in more complicated ways but more often in simple kindnesses, is infectious. It draws people to itself and, meaningfully for a Christian congregation, it possesses a tremendous converting power that belies its meek appearance.

I took issue with the evangelical nature of the direction the homily went, but was fascinated by the crux of ideas connecting with both Goodwin's and Grant's discussions of kindness and leadership. Something seems to be in the water (or at least my water) pushing at this idea of the powerful kindness.

First Nations

In attending to HR duties here at work it's interesting reading through names of all the towns in Canada where you can find talented early childhood educators: Mississauga, Moose Jaw, Chilliwack, Penticton, Halifax... just some solid, strong town names here. Lots of choppy consonants and hard stops, in languages that I wish I knew but that you could only hope to learn today at a small college on a reservation. It's funny to see the terms for these town names and consider the heaps of humanity that call each of them home--from the teachers we're looking for to those now fast asleep, but maybe planning on playing frisbee in the park or going deep-sea fishing as soon as the sun comes up tomorrow. The world is such a huge place with so many people, but in hiring teachers and interacting with them once they arrive, you always get something different.. but you always kind of get something the same. Guess that might be the effect of interacting with someone with the same cultural background in the midst of a vast and ancient alien society.

Boston Marathon bombing

it is now about 7 hours after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. I've called over to family and friends in and around the city and luckily everyone is alright so far. A friend's little sister crossed the finish line in about 3:30, and the bomb went off about 30 minutes later, 4 hours into the race when many participants would be crossing the finish line.

Everything else still seems to be up in the air. News stories are coming in continuously, reports of the number of unexploded devices are going from 3 to 5 to 4, now WSJ is saying the police are saying that some of the "unexploded devices" are not bombs after all. I guess this is news in the 24/7/365 world of microblogs and viral video. I can see the blast in a YouTube video online and CNN is running photos of injured and bloodied on the sidewalk at Boylston Street. Apparently a 20-year old Saudi man is hospitalized with severe burns and under surveillance as a "possible suspect," whatever that means. They are saying the bombs seem improvised using nails and household explosive materials, like an IED.

Friends on Facebook are reacting with condolences and prayers. Some from the armed services are feeling prompted to greater action. Issac Stone Fish, an editor from Foreign Policy, has just noted that Xinhua's headline is: "Explosion at Boston Marathon: Ethiopian and Kenyan contestant take first place." Bill Maher is saying to "not overreact" and to handle things "Israel-Munich style." Mark Wahlberg sends his love back to his hometown, Boston. Tosh.0 self-gratifying noted in a tweet that he's showing his respect by not tweeting. It is just a wash of information and news and views right now.

What will be the implications for our way of life after today?

Aliens

The AC turns off at 6am at the Tohko resort and it gets hot in the bamboo cabin quickly after that. Convection caused by the sun doesn't come up until later in the day, so the breeze that I'm getting now typing this at the little shoreside restaurant wasn't there a few hours ago. To wake up, I grabbed a set of goggles from the rack, all the good pairs had been taken earlier in the day by island hoppers and the snorkels that were left were brown and dirty. Without breathing apparatus I jump in the water and doggy paddle along, seeing a few fish right as I dunk under. Huge bluepurple iridescent clams  muscled closed as I saw above them. Just below the water surface, I was surrounded by an alien world of life that you could not imagine by looking at the waves above. The sea was cloudy with millions of tiny plankton and krill. Huge schools of fish with bumblebee colors swam over and around me. As I neared the point where the reef drops off into the deep sea, I looked out on the blue abyss and felt like I was flying.

Long tails

It is amazing to be close to the water again in Thailand. Besides the beaches, with massive untouched coral heads swarming with wrasses and parrotfish just 10 yards off shore, the best part had to be the little fishing skiffs that act as boat taxis, called "long tails" for the long propeller shaft sticking out the back of the wooden transom. Basically this is a10 foot long shaft with a stainless steel ceiling fan attached to the end. Kind of looks like something out of a Saw movie. Docking doesn't get more complicated than driving the boat up onto the beach, and you hop out. I imagine someone trying to run a taxi service with one of these things back on the New Jersey shore... 3 things: 1) fighting with insurance company to see if possible to get insurance policy, 2) initial success followed by 3) public outrage at passenger or passerby being maimed by open propeller blade that should have never been allowed in the first place, even though accident was not result of boatman's negligence.

It's funny the relationship that developed-worlders maintain with the developing world. You stay in a place like this for a short-enough time that you're able to romanticize the dingy parts and the danger, they make the place more appealing, when you know that thr locals must experience this place in a very different way. In conversations over dinner with fellow travelers you deride the litigiousness of places like the US and wish people would just take it easy. Then you get back to said developed country and with a change of location comes a change of perspective.