Dispatch from China 8(1)

Dispatch from China 8 (1)

Dateline: Sanya
April, 2009

Hello again, Thought you lost me? Well once again I am arising from the visa abyss (at least temporarily) and “operating” out of Sanya and Shanghai. Trying on a few new things while experiencing the continued joy and frustration of the Chinese “system” and way of doing things.

TESTING THE “DANCE HOST” WATERS

Some of you may know that for years I have had a dream of being a “dance host” on cruises. It is something that I know I could do and be good at. But how to break into it? How to get them to give a chronologically old man a chance, to see what he can do. Letters and applications don’t do it. Most don’t read pass the third entry, “date of birth” to see the reports of this elder’s energy and vitality (not to mention his rhythm and musicality). So I decided to try and bypass this obstacle and provide an unsolicited audition of sorts — to just go on a cruise and show them first-hand. If you remember that’s how I did the movie thing. Seeing is believing.

I have been watching a cruise line come into Sanya’s new cruise terminal on Phoenix Island for several years. Maybe ten times a year the Costa Allegra (Costa is a good Italian line of ships) comes in for a day, the passengers spill out into buses and are off for their day excursions. The trip begins in Hong Kong and after Sanya goes on to Vietnam and back to Hong Kong. A short trip but sufficient to test my plan. This year I was able to find out that a Chinese group would be beginning in Sanya and after weeks of the standard ever-changing negotiations I was to join them. How cool is this, boarding a world-class cruise ship in my own backyard (I can see the terminal from my ocean view bedroom window).

I boarded the ship about 5:00 pm, checked into my cabin and started to explore the floating hotel. I wanted to scope out all the venues for my challenge. I was really getting into it, the juices were flowing. I had forgotten how much I love this.

I decided to join the early seating in the Italian Restaurant so that I could have the whole evening to catch on to the night’s routine. And what a routine it was. The restaurant was a good place to start. I was led to my seat by the Maitre d’ who was quite a character, we immediately hit it off and it wasn’t long before he was including me in some of the crew’s shenanigans. For instance, halfway through dinner the lights dim and flicker and in march the wait staff waving Italian flags, the music builds and a conga line begins, once they grab me it is all over. As we pass each table we entice one after another until the entire restaurant is on its feet circling the room. One hour into the cruise and I am tagged as an “activator” its all going to be a piece of cake from here on. Speaking of cake, did I mention that the food was fabulous, truly five-star.

From there I proceeded to a lounge where a piano and violin duo were playing tango and European gypsy music among others. There was a nice unused dance floor in front of them. So I began, I asked every woman that passed to dance with me. As usual the common response was, “I can’t dance.” They were soon disabused of that. These musicians are really good and it wasn’t long before we were playing off of each other, the lady didn’t have a chance. I was doing a good job as an ersatz dance host I thought.

I could have spent the rest of the night right there dancing to the wonderful music in the beautiful mellow atmosphere, but the duo had finished and it was time to move on. Next I walked through the theatre where a dance contest/game was in progress – I was encouraged to join. It was a fun activity where you had to change partners on special commands (but not on others – in others words you had to listen carefully). Twenty minutes later I was standing in the winners circle receiving my first prize of the night. Then I was asked by the MC, “You are going to join us on upper deck at midnight for the “Mr. Costa” aren’t you?” To which I said, “Why not” – I didn’t know what was in store.

He leads me up to the outside upper deck where the nightly midnight buffet was being laid out. He then asks all “poppie” (he is Italian and calls all the men ‘poppie’) to come up, it is time for the Mr. Costa Contest. Now remember, this cruise has been going on for two days, I just joined a few hours ago. Most of the other guys are Chinese and traveling with others — they all had their own cheering sections. Then the MC asks that we all STRIP to the raunchy music that had just started playing – this immediately shrinks the group of contestants to half the size. As the rest of us slither out of our shirts to the roar of the assembled multitude, certain ones of us have hats placed on our heads – the finalists have been selected (thankfully before any of us got to removing our pants). So now here I am, shirtless white guy with a beanie on my head, with three other 20-30 something not-so-buff Chinese guys ready to move to the next phase of the Mr. Costa contest. We go through several zany crowd-pleasing exercises and then are asked to leave the deck and move out of sight. There they have each of us strip to our shorts and don a wig and a different female dancer outfit. I was an exotic belly dancer, the others were; a ballerina, a can-can dancer and an S/M Las Vegas stripper. Then each of us, in turn, had to go out front and strut our stuff to the appropriate music. I was lucky to get the belly dancer (in my friend Sierra, I have the best model one could have). While I won the dance phase, there was no beating the S/M stripper. The gorgeous sexy stripper with the long flowing black hair, black leather corset barely containing “his womanhood” he was a shoo-in.

As the runner-up in the Mr. Costa Contest, I won a nice Costa Cruise Excursion Bag which was perfect for the next day’s excursion and for carrying my magic around. So by the time I went to bed that night I had won a dance contest and was runner up in the Mr. Costa contest, had loads of fun dancing and even threw in some close-up magic — Not a bad beginning. And THIS WAS THE FIRST NIGHT!

DAY TWO

Next morning I was up at 7:00. I had signed up for the excursion to Vietnam’s incredible karst formations on Halong Bay. I was to go on an English speaking tour but when I reached the Vietnamese check point my papers were screwed up. I was held back and by the time it was sorted out I was placed with a Chinese group. I wasn’t upset, in fact, once we got going I had another revelation — I was really having a ball with this Chinese group with no English and thinking of the those elderly hobbling foreigners on the other tour and I was sooo thankful that I WASN’t with them. Been there, done that. While it does feel good to be back on the road again I do not miss all the same lame discussions that fills up so much ‘group’ travel.

And when it comes to the tour guide discussions, I don’t miss them either. So much of it is just anecdotal bs anyway. The Vietnamese seem to share the pareidolic fascination of my Chinese friends in Yangshou for seeing characters and creatures in every rock formation — a tiger or elephant here, sleeping maiden or Buddha there…. The karst and caves were spectacular though, reminiscent of the Yangshou touring days (you may remember my excursions there).

It really was just a great day being amongst some splendid nature with some fun people while most of the time not having the slightest idea what was coming next – no choice but to suspend any desire to have any control.

When I returned to the ship and my cabin to freshen up, I find out that tonight is “Formal Night.”

I love formal night on cruises, everything is more elegant. The excellent food and service seem better, the dancing and festivities all move up a notch and you can dress up. I love to dress up (I still wear the Tuxedo my parents bought to bribe me to go to my High School Senior Prom). At the Gala Dinner I was sitting opposite the Captain (told you the maitre d’ was my ally). After an excellent meal (and my third order of sauté scallops), the Captain leads a Champagne toast. All the ship’s staff have joined us in their best finery. The Manager of Guest Relations who I had met the night before joined me for dessert. From there we went on to have a “A Tango Moment.”

In Shanghai, I was told by one of my tango dancing friends that “you will know when it is right” you will experience “a tango moment.” We weren’t only talking about dance but the instance simpatico one can experience in the passion of tango. Tonight I was to have one of my own.

As the night before, I went to the lounge where the wonderful duo was playing with my new friend. I asked her to dance (its her job she couldn’t refuse, I figured) she accepted saying, as I have come to expect, that she really didn’t know how. Nevertheless our respective duties dictated and we began. I was immediately stunned – we were dancing like ‘a hand in a glove’, I began to test it with variation after variation, she was right there with every step – it was breath-taking, I was beyond myself, almost immobilized by the thought – so I stopped thinking and just kept on with the flow and so did she – We had a TANGO MOMENT !! I am now a believer. I didn’t want it to stop.

But we needed to move on to the festivities on the upper deck – I had a plan. I was going to get my pay back for the night before. I now had an accomplice who could be my translator and magic assistant. As I have mentioned I had been doing some close-up magic from time to time, now I wanted to do some major stage stuff and compromise a few of those that led to my undoing the night before. And I had the perfect illusion.

When we got to the deck, it was announced that there would be a surprise magic performance following the ice-sculpture demonstration. The scene was set. When it was my time, I did a cut and restore rope trick, a mind-reading card trick and then it was time for some audience participation. Not waiting for volunteers, I quickly selected the MC and his female assistant from the night before. Now I have these two culprits at my side, in front of the much the same audience, now the fun was going to be at their expense.

First I take two large hankies, shake them for all to see and tie them together, placing the knotted portion down the front of the little lady’s blouse and bra. Next, two more large hankies tied together with knotted portion stuffed down the front of the MC’s pants. I get another volunteer to grab one end of her hankies and another to grab one end of his. I am standing in between them both holding the other end of their respective knotted hankies. On my count of three and to a great drum roll we all pull on our ends and they come out of their warm little niches with her bra attached between her two hankies and his shorts attached between his two. To their credit they were great sports, pleading to have their undergarments returned. He was told, “no way”, she was told, “she could pick it up in my cabin later.”

Then it was dancing until the music stopped at 2:00 am — It was a very full day indeed.

DAY THREE

The next and last day was a day at sea, spent primarily eating and visiting. There were a lot of scheduled activities most of which I did not attend. I did check out two, however.

I just happened on this dance lesson (I would not have knowingly gone to it). It was a young Chinese guy teaching Cha Cha. Now I have come to hate Cha Cha in China. The way the Chinese do it, it is so stiff and overly stylized, like prancing peacocks with dislocated hips – and soooo monotonous.

I was impressed with this young man’s teaching of it. He did a good job focusing on the rhythm and the footwork leaving aside the arm gestures and swivel hip gyrations most other Cha Cha “teachers” in China emphasize. He obviously has not been infected by the obsession for the “international competition dance style” so prevalent in China. It is an epidemic that needs to be stamped out.

“Instant Fashion by Christian” was fascinating. A model with brief bodice is draped in minutes, in seconds creating beautiful flowing fashions from beach attire to wedding gowns. In 30-40 minutes this guys produces dozens and dozens of stunning fashions.

This has given me an idea, you will hear about it later.

This was also the time to clear up your accounts. The accounting system on board is extremely efficient. When you first board you are given a “Costa Card” with all your information on it. At that time you can have a credit card assigned to it or you can deposit some cash (in advance payment) from then on anything additional (and there needn’t ever be anything additional) your card is charged. I only used it for an occasional glass of wine with dinner. On the morning of departure your complete account has been deposited under your door.

And there are the cruise evaluations to which I gave almost all categories the highest excellent rating.

As I was leaving the ship I was told by one of my sources in the crew that in the comments section where you were asked for written comments on what you particularly liked that there many comments on the “Dancing Magician.” So my conclusion: I know I made an impression on the passengers and crew, it remains to be seen if any of this filters up to offices where the decisions are made. I have since put in my written materials to the Head Office in Genova, Italy and the Shanghai Office of Pacific Operations, whether they can get past my age remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Photos posted at: Cruise: [bad link] http://gallery.me.com/suttonantaeus#100008

KEEPING GOOD COMPANY

I carry around a canvas bag with a red star and Chinese characters that say,

“ Work for the People, “ a popular slogan of Chairman Mao. It gathers many comments

and the gist that I get is one of appreciation….. A lao wai that is cheerfully interacting

with everybody and is always willing to help out is sincerely appreciated here most of the time.

Frequently the comment comes with a reference to “Bai Qiu En” the Chinese name for

Norman Bethune who has become a household name in most Chinese homes.

It got me thinking that this was good company to be keeping and also how much more appropriate it would be for the reference to be applied to my friend Alan. So I wrote up the following piece:

MODERN DAY BETHUNES

Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician who was drawn to left-wing political causes. He was also an accomplished thoracic surgeon at McGill University who modified more than a dozen new surgical tools. His most famous instrument was the Bethune Rib Shears, which still remains in use today. Bethune went to Spain soon after joining the Communist Party of Canada to help in the struggle for democracy and against totalitarian fascism. There he set up a mobile blood transfusion service for the Loyalist forces. Shortly thereafter, in 1937 he went to China to aid as best he could Mao Zedong’s forces as they fought against Japanese imperialism. Organizing a mobile medical unit, and working under the most primitive and war-torn conditions, he set an example of personal sacrifice and commitment which made a permanent impression on China. He became the stuff of legend and he is now generally appreciated as a” Great friend of China.” He died in a tiny peasant hut in Huangshikou Village in Tangxian County of Hebei Province of an infected cut on 12 November, 1939. Mao had this to say at his passing: “We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him.”

Two American expats have come to China and joined forces to help as they can. Alan Mease, MD, Pediatrician and David Sutton, PhD. Human Ecologist have formed Well Centre International, Ltd. to promote health and wellness in China and have bought a home in Sanya from which to operate.

These two did not come to China as missionaries (to change it) or mercenaries (to profit from it). They, like Bethune, are men of service. They came to do what they can to help China in this period of unprecedented growth and development.

Alan retired from the United States Army Medical Department as a full Colonel and academic designation of Professor. He continued to pursue his passion for children’s medicine and in China he has plied his craft as Chief Pediatrician at United Family Hospitals in Beijing. Most recently he has been a principle in the development of the new UFH facility of Integrative Medicine in Guangzhou. He has also served as the Medical Director for the Surmang Foundation, an NGO providing essential primary care without charge to the under-served rural population in Qinghai province.

He is now splitting his time between the Guangzhou Clinic and Sanya where he is personally making his services available to those seeking medical attention for their children there.

David has been an active environmentalist for over forty years specializing in, ecological conservation, sustainable development, ecotourism, integral health and creative communications. With over thirty years experience teaching at the University level, working with major Multinational Companies, International Research Institutes, Publishers, Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations, he is engaged throughout the world for his creativity, problem-solving and writing skills.

For the past seven years he has been transferring his commitment to environmental protection to China, where, he thinks, “things have a better chance of happening before it is completely gripped by corporate interest as in the US.” He is a regular commentator on Shanghai International TV, has participated in the Green Global Leadership, SageVision and other training programs there as well as consulted on a number of sustainable development, ecotourism and CDM projects throughout China.

He believes that China represents a real opportunity to leap frog the profligate waste, inefficiency and environmental decay of the many industrialized nations with its Government’s concern and intention to pursue ìscientific developmentî(read sustainable development with specific efforts at environmental protection).

As he puts it, ìChina is making large-scale infrastructure investments for the first time.

Working from primarily a blank slate, it can create green communities from the ground up, using state-of-the–art green technologies, avoiding many of the problems of other industrial countries.î

He would like to help with China’s efforts at sustainable development from its extensive plans for eco-cities, green buildings and clean energy development to individual conservation efforts.

The efforts and concerns of these two professionals are not that different. As Sutton is quick to point out, “You can not have healthy people in a sick environment.”

Each in his own respective field employs an integrative approach emphasizing preventive measures toward the healthy development of China and its children. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure.”

Whether you are talking about the healthy development of a full functioning human being or the sustainable development of a country’s exploding new infrastructure, establishing healthy patterns from the onset will help prevent very costly problems in the future.

They, together are developing the concept of an integral health resort for Sanya where the essentials of integral living are learned and practiced, where guests can experience the best of Western and traditional Medicine and healthy lifestyle choices are modeled.

There will be more on this in a future column.

These two intrepid expats are not likely to become modern-day legends. The similarity with Bethune might just end with their white faces and their mutual commitment to contributing to a healthy Chinese future. But that’s enough to be a real friend of China.

DON’T WORRY: IT IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU

“Worry is a misuse of Imagination” —Dam Zadra

I have a new Chinese friend who is a self-confessed worry wart. She knows she worries too much, her mother tells her so. I promised to put together some thoughts that might help her (and the rest of us – I, for one, am a recovering worrier who often relapses).

Consider this another self-serving exercise where I am trying to remind myself to loosen up and go with the flow.

The simple fact is: Worrying is a waste of emotional energy. It makes nothing better and most things worse.

If you really do have something to worry about, worrying won’t fix it and will most likely interfere with your efforts to do so. If there really isn’t anything to worry about, worrying incapacitates you for no reason at all. There is just no upside to worrying. So just stop it.

Easier said then done, I know but maybe some of these ideas will help.

What do you have to worry about?

First, consider what you are worrying about. Is it real? Or just a fear? What can you do about it? Most of the time we worry about something that we can do absolutely nothing about. We are all going to get sick and eventually die, things are going to change, and everybody fails from time to time.

We all have real concerns.

Job security: In an uncertain economy, employment is far from a sure thing, so it’s easy to wonder if your position may be eliminated.
Worrying about losing your job will help you in no way. Grounding yourself in day-to-day activity of the work is a good way to avoid stressing about it. Continue to do your job well. Meet with your boss to learn what you can do to solidify your position. Discuss what projects you should be working on and which skills and responsibilities you should be developing. No matter what, it’s always smart to look ahead, whether that means thinking of your next move within your company or contemplating a larger career change. The truth is that now, in this time of major economic upheaval, nobody’s job is secure and the sooner you stop defining yourself by the job you possess the better. Continue to cultivate as many universally marketable skills as you can and STOP WORRYING, it will not provide you with any job security.

Safety: We live in an uncertain world and are exposed to violent images on TV and the Internet. It’s enough to make the calmest person paranoid, or at least a bit edgy.
The fact is our lives are filled with risks and potential dangers. What we need to do is

differentiate between facts and fears, between possibilities and probabilities. Take a few moments to consider the probability (not the possibility) that a terrorist attack will occur in your town or that whatever else you’re worried about happening will happen,

While our minds have a way of focusing on the horrific risks that are highlighted in the news, the chances of being in a car accident are far greater than those of being killed by a terrorist attack.

As a way of coping, learn how to be better prepared for a disaster. Write a list of things that would make your home safer and more secure, and come up with a disaster-readiness plan. Then say, ‘OK, I’ve done everything I can. Now I need to go on with my life.” If your worry leads you to make unnecessary and unreasonable adjustments to your life –like locking yourself in your house or refusing to fly or take public transportation, your fears may have developed into a mild anxiety disorder. Talking to a therapist could bring things back into perspective. But WORRYING WILL NOT MAKE YOU SAFE.

Health: Everyone worries about illness now and then, and as you move along in years, you’re more likely to have unfamiliar aches and pains. If you’ve observed important people in your life becoming ill or overreacting to illness. Or if you have had a troubled health history, you may be more likely to overthink your health.

Worrying about what illness you might or might not have will do nothing to help your body’s ability to mend. In fact, the stress of worrying has been clearly shown to facilitate the ‘dis-ease.’ Get a thorough checkup to determine if you’re in good health, and bring any legitimate symptoms to your doctor’s attention. Then focus on the positive things you can do for yourself, like improving your diet and other habits.

If your health worries are taking over your life ―if you’re losing sleep or if constant micromanaging is hurting your relationship. If your body feels tight all the time and you can’t concentrate on work, seek professional advice. And remember, WORRYING WILL NOT KEEP YOU HEALTHY.

Money: Even people who earn more than enough to cover their expenses can be hit with unexpected bills, due to anything from a lost job to a major illness.

If your parents were nervous about money or you grew up in a home where it was a constant struggle to make ends meet you may be particularly concerned about money. Others believe that having more money will make them feel more secure or garner respect. Don’t look to money to make up for what you are missing in love, power, or self-esteem. It is important to think about what money symbolizes to you

If it represents security, success, pride, or moral worth in itself and not merely a convenient means to those ends, you are setting yourself up for money worries.

Avoid comparing your finances and happiness with those of people who have more money because this will only fuel an endless cycle of financial pressure.

Money has always been most worrisome for me – when I let it be. This primarily stems from the fact that for most of my adult life I have been self-employed (I include the many years of University teaching in this for reasons that do not need to be explained here). In this situation the flow of income is erratic and never certain which requires that you adjust your expectations. Over the years I have found many ways to compensate for the lack of financial security and to fulfill my needs and desires. To reduce the financial pressure, and the need to WORRY, I have kept down my spending. I have avoided using credit whenever possible. And I recommend, in the face of prevailing economic logic (which by the way is not logical), that you do so as well. It can soon put you in a hole where economic worries are real and you may never dig your way out.

I have had a rich life of experience, gone many places, done many things and I plan to continue. I have wanted for little and have always found other ways to do what I want by bartering, in-kind trading, working it off as I go…etc. This is not to say that I don’t have financial worries – who doesn’t? I worry about how I will pay for a catastrophic illness if I get one – who doesn’t ? But Worrying about it won’t make it go away or provide the means to pay.

Relationships: Relationships are fraught with challenges, particularly as the years together add up.

If you’ve ever been betrayed by a lover, you have lingering fears of abandonment, or you grew up in a fractured family, unresolved issues can end up projected onto your partner and cause a ripple effect.

Take stock of your relationship by asking yourself how often you’re frustrated or upset with your partner and in what situations this typically happens. Write it down — Getting your worries on paper helps you evaluate them with a clearer head. Consider how realistic your concerns are and whether you could be projecting unrelated anxieties onto the relationship. Then find a calm time to talk to your partner, being honest but not confrontational. Open communication can displace worries before they get out of hand.

Communication with respect and unconditional caring are the key to good relationships.

I wish I had realized that sooner. But Worrying will not get you love.

It is my feeling that many of these specific worries that we have stem from our unique human consciousness and the training/education conditioning we have all gone through. Let me explain.

Being in the Present

Best way I can think of to avoid worrying is to focus on “Being” in the present moment. Worrying is almost exclusively concerned with fears of the future and regrets of the past. (If there is something of immediate concern to worry about, it will require that you act (not merely think) to resolve it and it will soon pass.)

It is a unique human problem that we have become insensitive to the immediate realities around us. Our minds are preoccupied with something that is not yet here. It may be the problem of next month’s rent, of a threatened war or social disaster, of being able to save enough for old age, or of death at the last. This “spoiler of the present” may not even be a future dread. It may be something out of the past, some memory of an injury, some crime or indiscretion, which haunts the present with a sense of resentment or guilt. The power of memories and expectations is such that for most human beings the past and the future are not only as real, but more real than the present. The present cannot be lived happily unless the past has been “cleared up” and the future is bright in promise.

There can be no doubt that the power to remember and predict, to make an ordered sequence out of the chaos of disconnected moments, is a wonderful development of consciousness. In a way it is the achievement of the human brain, giving humans the most extraordinary powers of survival and adaptation to life. But the way in which we generally use this power is apt to destroy all its advantages. For it is of little use to us to be able to remember and predict if it makes us unable to live fully in the present.

What is the use of planning to be able to eat next week unless I can really enjoy the meals when they come? If I am so busy planning how to eat next week that I cannot fully enjoy what I am eating now, I will be in the same predicament when next week’s meals become “now.”

If my happiness at this moment consists largely in reviewing happy memories and expectations, I am but dimly aware of this present, I shall still be dimly aware of the present when the good things that I have been expecting come to pass. For I shall have formed a habit of looking behind and ahead, making it difficult for me to attend to the here and now. If, then, my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world.

After all, the future is quite meaningless and unimportant unless, sooner or later, it is going to become the present. Thus to plan for a future which is not going to become present is hardly more absurd than to plan for a future which, when it comes to me, will find me “absent,” looking fixedly over its shoulder instead of into its face.

This kind of living in the fantasy of expectation rather that the reality of the present is the special trouble of those who live entirely to make money. So many people understand much more about making and saving money than about using and enjoying it. They fail to live because they are always preparing to live. Instead of earning a living they are mostly earning an earning, and thus when the time comes to relax they are unable to do so.

From still another point of view the way in which we use memory and prediction make us less, rather than more, adaptable to life. If to enjoy even an enjoyable present we must have assurance of a happy future, we are “crying for the moon.” We have no such assurance. The best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty, and to the best of our knowledge every one is going to suffer and die. If, then, we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end.

This then, is the human problem: there is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. By remembering the past we can plan for the future. But the ability to plan for pleasure is offset by the ability to WORRY and to fear the unknown. Futhermore, the growth of an acute sense of the past and the future gives us a correspondingly dim sense of the present. In other words, we seem to reach a point where the advantages of being conscious are outweighed by its disadvantages, where extreme insight makes us unadaptable.

Fearing to Fail

Add to that an over zealous educational philosophy has created people that are afraid to fail.

We shouldn’t be afraid to fail. We do it all the time – that is the way we learn whether we remember it or not. You fell down the first time you tried to walk or ride a bike. You probably almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the one who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times but he also hit 714 home runs. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on. English novelist John Creasy got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books

Don’t worry about failure. Think about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

There is a saying, “The surest way to success is to fail quickly and often.”

“I haven’t failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison

Fear of failure is like the fear of death, it is a waste of emotional energy—they both are inevitable.

“Failure is the place where destiny swings against our intentions. What you wanted and worked for never came. Your energy and effort were not enough… Reflection on our failures brings home to us hidden secrets of our nature. Failure is the place where longing is unexpectedly thwarted. This often brings interesting discovery and reintegration.” —John O’Donohue

We need to come to a new understanding of failure. We do not like to fail. We are uncomfortable in looking back on our failings. Yet failure is often the place where we have been left the most precious gifts.

If you will do it, you will be surprised and excited to look back at your life and discover that much of what you understood as the successes in your life do not hold their substance under more critical reflection. In comparison, what you have always termed your failures now begin to seem ever more interesting and substantial. The occasions of failure have been real points of change and growth. This experience of discovery often happens when a person retires or is made redundant; they learn to reclaim and enjoy the life they never knew they lost. There is a beautiful verse from Antonio Machado:

“ Last night I dreamed

— blessed illusion—

that I had a beehive here

in my heart

and that

the golden bees were making

white combs and sweet honey

from my old failures.”

(translated by Robert Bly)

FAILING IS NO REASON TO WORRY !

SO STOP WORRYING, IT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOU!

Ok, Friends I am going to leave it at that this time. This Dispatch’s length has already gotten out of hand. This would be the time to bring up my constant worry in China – The Visa. Until next time.

Much Love,

David “Leming”

Dispatch from China 8 (1)