Ming Tombs, Sacred Way, Great Wall of China

Tuesday, Nov. 17

In the same way the Forbidden City failed to meet expectations, the Great Wall exceeded them. I expected to see a really long wall. Whoop-tee-do. Wrong! The magnificence of the Great Wall is they didn't try to overwhelm or conquer nature in building the wall. They went along with it.

The Forbidden City sought to extinguish nature and rebuild it better in its own image. The gardens are paved over with little holes for the trees to grow out of. The river that runs through the city is encased in stone. Even the "wild" parts are clearly structured and tamed.

Not the Great Wall. It's out in the mountains and valleys and surrounded by beauty and no-man's land. It looks like the Spine of the World. Looking out, nature is unspoiled but for a path that follows the easiest route over the top of the mountains.

My son and I ran the wall until he tired. We climbed up steps to a peak and photographed from above. It was fantastic and unbelievable to run as father and son down the Great Wall.

As we were driving, I saw a hotel shuttle bus with the name "Beijing 100% Perfect Hotel." I quickly pointed out that they have a lot to live up to and my son promptly states," I don't believe they're 100% perfect because they don't have peace, holiness and fellowship." I laughed even harder at his private Christian school education when he adds (for his father's benefit), "But I won't tell them. I'll give that to them and know it's wrong in my mind."

My discerning and wise diplomat!

Tienamen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace

Monday, Nov. 16

I can't believe I'm writing this, but the Forbidden City is not as impressive as you would imagine or as it's portrayed in movies. My usual take is that film can't capture the scope or grandeur of a place. Any cathedral presented in a movie is horribly deficient. The Forbidden City is indeed grand with lots of buildings and courtyards, however for a national treasure, it's not well kept. Print is fading, only 5 or 6 of 999 rooms are "restored," meaning they are furnished at all. The rest have closed doors.

Those rooms that are reconstructed have one of two crowd control options. Either ropes keep you 20 yards away (like the emperor's audience room) - making me wish I had binoculars to see the detail - or this thick reflective glass is over the doors and windows that glares so badly, it's impossible to take in the whole room at once (like the empress's bedroom)- resembling a darkened room investigated with a handheld flashlight.

Truth be told, when Chaiman Mao was marching on Beijing, the palace was looted by the fleeing government. The treasures were taken to Taiwan because the Communists had no respect for religion or previous regimes. They feared that the ancient treasures would be melted down and turned into currency, so they took all they could. Now, the Communists have little more than the buildings and the Taiwanese have little more than their relics.

In front of many doors in China are a pair of lions on each side of the entryway. The female is on the left as you enter, the male is on the right. The female lion has a cub she's playing with. The male holds what looks like a ball under his paw. The Forbidden City has many such lions.

Tour guide: While the female is caring for the cub on the left, do any of you know what the male is doing?

My son: Playing soccer?

First Impressions - Beijing

Sunday, Nov. 15

We arrived at Beijing today. A Chinese Opera House backs right up to our hotel. I was hoping we could go to a show this first night, but they aren't performing.

My seven year old boy did great on the plane. I worried that he'd get restless, bored and start acting out. He *did* get restless and bored, but didn't act out. I'm always facinated by what people talk about once all the polite plesantries and usual topics of conversation are exhausted.

For me, I made a pointy finger with one hand then hit it with another. It swung wildly then started zeroing in like a compass. It pointed at my son and I said "Look! I've got a Favorite Boy Detector. And it works, because you're my favorite boy!"

He did the same thing, but it pointed at his mother across the aisle and behind us. I informed him that his Favorite Boy Detector was clearly misaligned because it didn't even point to a boy.

My first impression of Beijing is that people are used to waiting in lines. There's almost no line "chivalry" where one might let a woman or elderly person ahead. They don't mind separating parents keeping up with their nimble children or lovers holding hands. It's a free-for-all to get what they want from a line. I saw a bus station FULL of people with six busses lined up. The tour guide explained public transportation is good, easy to use and travels everywhere - if you get an opportunity to use it.

Going to China

I'm going to China tomorrow. I have this fantasy where I'm visiting a monastery on one of the holy mountains (can I pick? I choose Wudang). The "personal tour guide" gives me a break and I can do a bit of hiking around the temple area. At this time of year, it's cold and stark but the mists make it look like a shanshui painting.

I serendipitously come across a monk meditating. I join him, trying to imitate his pose and serenity. He senses the wild, undisciplined thoughts that continually interrupt the emptiness of my mind. He asks, in English, "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me how you can be both compassionate and dispassionate."

I'll give the G.I. Joe back already!

So this rich young man comes to Jesus and asks what he has to do to get into Heaven. Jesus replies the usual, "don't kill anyone, don't steal peoples' stuff, don't sleep around," etc. The young man says he's done all this, but being the introspective sort, he asks, "what do I lack?" Jesus then says, "sell all you have and give it to the poor - you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come follow me." The Scripture tells us the wealthy young man heard this and went away, sad.

I am that young man.

In many ways I'm very wealthy. Though compared to other Americans I probably make less than average for my age and education; if I'm compared to the world I'm fantastically wealthy...the average income of a world citizen in 2008 was $7000.

Like the young man in the story, I haven't killed anyone or stolen anything (okay not true. But I can't find Billy Ohmstead to give back his Snake-Eyes with the twisty-waist action) or slept with anyone else's wife. And like the young man, I'm not really satisfied with the "I haven't done anything bad, therefore I must be good" logic.

If Jesus beheld and stood at my door and knocked in a white robe with a red sash, I'd invite him in and sup with him. But if he said you're lacking one thing - sell all this, give it to the poor and then leave to follow me, then I would very sadly tell him "No."

I'm ashamed to admit it. I'd like to say that I'm devoted enough and kind-hearted toward the poor enough and free enough to follow through on that kind of command. Truth is, I like knowing that I'm covered for my next meal. I want to guarantee my son's education for as long as he can stand being in school. I have responsibilities and obligations that cannot be fulfilled without money.

My portfolio is fully aware that black line graph is transient and in flux. I recognize that all manner of catastrophes (or, more poignantly "Acts of God") could make everything I have worthless. But I can't reliquish the control. If he really wants it, God will have to take it from me. I'm not going to give all of it away. It's failure. It's defiant.

I'd look into the brown eyes of the man who traded places with me in death-the one whose life I'm supposed to be substituting-and I'd say in my best here's-the-bad-news voice, "Yeah. Well, about that giving away everything to the poor part..."

Unremembered

His name is a whisper on the lips
Of the Passer-by.
He walks nameless streets and enters unmarked houses.
Surrendering significance for forgetting,
He moves unremembered in a slipping of the mind.
Attention is not his to keep, and though he has yours now,
It is certain to fade without intervention from Fate.
Already his features build cobwebs in your memory,
Even as you try to recall them.
Only the twin suns of his eyes remain.
Indistinctly, he passes you and steps into the
Artifice of Destiny.