I was recently touched by a letter Mike had written. I decided to include it on my blog so that others could be inspired by his compassion and goodwill:
How can this be? I mean, Life is STILL getting better and better - even after all these months! I recall saying to you all in November last year that Life keeps getting better and better but I thought then than it would soon stop getting better and just level out! But it hasn't! When will it end? Wow!
The friends I have made here, mostly students but some locals from outside the school, are so incredibly thoughtful, kind and loyal. They seem to memorize every thing about me. What I mean is, they know my favourite foods and drinks, where I like to go at certain times of day, when I need to be alone, what places in Shenzhen would interest me and how to make me laugh! Indeed, one student came to my apartment the other day and realised I had just woken up (it was noon but I was being very lazy - he knew this as well as I!) - so he knew that before I can do anything, I like to have at least 2 mugs of coffee and cigarettes! He made me the coffee, got me my cigarettes and ashtray, then went away to tell the teacher who was summoning me that I would be about another hour. Then he came back to make me a second mug of coffee! But the best thing about my Chinese friends is their incredible loyally! For example, that student who made me my coffee, told the teachers that I would be 'delayed' about an hour as I 'had something important to attend to first'! I find this trait in my Chinese friends very endearing!
And, last week, I noticed just how well my students know me: I was walking by a lake through a beautiful park on Sunday with a Senior 3 student. He is a great philosopher and we often like to wile away Sunday afternoons talking about the many intricacies and puzzles of Life! For a 20-year-old, he is very very sensible and wise. But he is by no means dull or tedious. In some ways, he behaves like a small child too: when he sees an exotic flower or an unusual sculpture he will run up to it and say 'wow!', may times, just like a gushing kid. But their is a difference. Perhaps a big one, that divides our two cultures: he is 'wowed' and fascinated by flowers, paintings, the cool breeze coming off the lake, the way the sunlight hits the water, the ripples, etc. He is not, as with most of my friends, moved by technology nor any man-made 'wow factor'! He does not idolise any 'celebrity' or 'hero', only Nature appears to move him deeply. This is true, as I say, of most of my Chinese student friends. I guess I am lucky enough to be far enough away from Shenzhen City Centre to be in the 'old' or 'real' China. Most of my American teacher colleagues all work in the city, and will never experience the beauty and inner-peace to be found among the Chinese people in the semi-rural areas, such as Guan Lan. And, another very fascinating thing to happen with the same student on our Sunday hike: Briefly, while we were sitting by the lake (due to my friend realising that I may need to sit down for a while to have a smoke, as it had been 45 minutes since my last one!) admiring the beauty, he suddenly turned to me and said 'why is your heart sad?' I said I was not sad. He said he knew that. But my HEART, he felt, was a little sad. I asked him what he meant. He said that he sensed I had lost something. He then totally threw me by adding 'Did you lose something when you were a boy? Were you thinking about that?' Crikey. To say I was gobsmaked is an understatement! Yes, I HAD, albeit it very briefly, been thinking about sitting by a country river with my childhood friend. A friend who was killed in a car-crash when I was 13 or so. So, I told my friend this. He simply nodded, smiled and said 'I see'. Then he lit me another cigarette! A moment later he was 'wowed' by an odd-looking tree and scurried off to have a closer look at it!
This week, believe it or not, I am going to buy a bike! They are incredibly cheap here in China as everyone uses them! I was told they cost the equivalent of about £18. So no problem there. The problem is ME! Cycling on the busy, manic, 'anything-goes' roads of Shenzhen! Ha ha! I am getting the bike because my friend I have just been speaking about wants me to start cycling with him on our Sunday outings. Methinks I have been given a second childhood.
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