The Power of ..... Power
The Power of power quite naturally finds us straightaway discussing Beijing. And let's admit right here that there are two very distinct kinds of power there that are, for once, working hand-in-glove: As the world's largest socialist republic labors - quite successfully, in their peerless Olympic Opening Ceremonies last Friday - to impress the rest of us.
One Power is ancient, forged over the centuries by such noble bearings as Honor and Integrity and Harmony. China is a multinational society, old as dirt and precious as clean air - and a template for the world of a society that has struggled, grown, and prospered.... despite the concerted efforts of the Other Power.
And that Other is the brutal regime of Hu Jintao and his fellow Communist.... ahem.....Philosophers, since 1949. For them, Honor and Integrity and Harmony are indisputably theirs and theirs alone to define. And manipulate.
So the question is which Power is the hand and which is the glove? No doubt Jintao, et al, would lay claim to the glove: covered by the veneer that millennia of proper breeding has given the Ancient Power, the modern Dictorial Power boasts to the world the unrivaled sheen of Chinese Artistry and Technology. But make no mistake: the glove would flit impotently to the Bird's Nest floor without the brawn and structure supplied by the hand.
Beijing labored mightily to impress, and to make it seem effortless, natural. After all, this is China, isn't it? Who better to dazzle the Globe than China, with its endless supply of talent cultivated through the centuries.
To take our mind off of the suppression of Tibet.... the death of its monks, the forced exile of its leader; The supply of weapons of mass destruction - which is each and every gun manufactured - to the ethnic cleansers in Sudan.; The disappearance and torture of natural citizens who dare to dissent; The willful loss of half their country, which the rest of the world now willfully calls Taiwan; The instant and unannounced erection of brick walls around poor, run-down areas of the Big City.
Do we fall for this? I know I'm reminding you of events we all know. But now let me tell you this as well, for this also needs to be repeated... endlessly:
The subjects of a government are not the government. They have nothing to do with it. The Chinese people are Honorable. They are wise, passionate survivors. Prosperous survivors. With talent, creativity and heart to spare. Enough to educate an entire globe.
I learned this simple truth by living in Poland and traveling through Russia. My brother learned the same thing by his extensive business ties in North Korea, and less so in Hong Kong and mainland China.
We can, we should celebrate the unrivaled Beauty of these proud and noble people, and the opportunity that this coldly exploitive government has given them. To them the Harmony they pervert up from the serene Taoist, Buddhist and Confuciusian teachings of their past is only the “Harmony” they can enjoy from their injudicious employ of their Power. But it’s the simple serenity of their vast populace that touches and teaches us all.
Power's a capricious thing.... I'm reminded how little of it the vast majority of us actually have. Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac both dead before their time, a lethally jealous Mother Russia seething as it watches Beijing assert itself on the world stage that used to belong to her. More than 2000 people killed in Transcontinental Georgia, the overwhelming majority of them simply in the wrong place - a really wrong place, their homeland - at the really wrong time. Victims of people who want to wield the brutally Dictorial Power.
The moral of this tale? Love the people. Embrace them. Just as Chinese and Americans, Georgians and Russians did (one of each, at least, in an act in itself that wields more Power than most of this world's leaders could ever fathom).
Life can be good. So celebrate the moment before it becomes bad again. Honor those who try to try to squeeze every ounce of life out of this nerve wracking existence of ours. Either we're running for our lives, or we're bored out of our minds because our lives are so far from what we imagined they'd be.
Celebrate. Honor the good among us. And when you feel joy at your own or another's accomplishments - even if they're halfway around the globe, living under a repressive regime that seems galaxies away - express it.
After all, they did.
One Power is ancient, forged over the centuries by such noble bearings as Honor and Integrity and Harmony. China is a multinational society, old as dirt and precious as clean air - and a template for the world of a society that has struggled, grown, and prospered.... despite the concerted efforts of the Other Power.
And that Other is the brutal regime of Hu Jintao and his fellow Communist.... ahem.....Philosophers, since 1949. For them, Honor and Integrity and Harmony are indisputably theirs and theirs alone to define. And manipulate.
So the question is which Power is the hand and which is the glove? No doubt Jintao, et al, would lay claim to the glove: covered by the veneer that millennia of proper breeding has given the Ancient Power, the modern Dictorial Power boasts to the world the unrivaled sheen of Chinese Artistry and Technology. But make no mistake: the glove would flit impotently to the Bird's Nest floor without the brawn and structure supplied by the hand.
Beijing labored mightily to impress, and to make it seem effortless, natural. After all, this is China, isn't it? Who better to dazzle the Globe than China, with its endless supply of talent cultivated through the centuries.
To take our mind off of the suppression of Tibet.... the death of its monks, the forced exile of its leader; The supply of weapons of mass destruction - which is each and every gun manufactured - to the ethnic cleansers in Sudan.; The disappearance and torture of natural citizens who dare to dissent; The willful loss of half their country, which the rest of the world now willfully calls Taiwan; The instant and unannounced erection of brick walls around poor, run-down areas of the Big City.
Do we fall for this? I know I'm reminding you of events we all know. But now let me tell you this as well, for this also needs to be repeated... endlessly:
The subjects of a government are not the government. They have nothing to do with it. The Chinese people are Honorable. They are wise, passionate survivors. Prosperous survivors. With talent, creativity and heart to spare. Enough to educate an entire globe.
I learned this simple truth by living in Poland and traveling through Russia. My brother learned the same thing by his extensive business ties in North Korea, and less so in Hong Kong and mainland China.
We can, we should celebrate the unrivaled Beauty of these proud and noble people, and the opportunity that this coldly exploitive government has given them. To them the Harmony they pervert up from the serene Taoist, Buddhist and Confuciusian teachings of their past is only the “Harmony” they can enjoy from their injudicious employ of their Power. But it’s the simple serenity of their vast populace that touches and teaches us all.
Power's a capricious thing.... I'm reminded how little of it the vast majority of us actually have. Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac both dead before their time, a lethally jealous Mother Russia seething as it watches Beijing assert itself on the world stage that used to belong to her. More than 2000 people killed in Transcontinental Georgia, the overwhelming majority of them simply in the wrong place - a really wrong place, their homeland - at the really wrong time. Victims of people who want to wield the brutally Dictorial Power.
The moral of this tale? Love the people. Embrace them. Just as Chinese and Americans, Georgians and Russians did (one of each, at least, in an act in itself that wields more Power than most of this world's leaders could ever fathom).
Life can be good. So celebrate the moment before it becomes bad again. Honor those who try to try to squeeze every ounce of life out of this nerve wracking existence of ours. Either we're running for our lives, or we're bored out of our minds because our lives are so far from what we imagined they'd be.
Celebrate. Honor the good among us. And when you feel joy at your own or another's accomplishments - even if they're halfway around the globe, living under a repressive regime that seems galaxies away - express it.
After all, they did.
Comments
Thanks for writing this.
Posted by: Lydia | October 28, 2008 09:39 PM