Thursday, March 13, 2014
Difference Between America and China
The difference between American and Chinese people can be summed up in a few sentences from the mouth of Hai Bin, the Chinese man Mark trains with. "Yes," he said, "but these goals can be achieved so easily! All you have to do is be kind and work hard. But to eat and sleep well, that is a difficult wish because you cannot control these things yourself." This isn't really a funny culture clash but I like it because it brings to light the difference between America and China - in fact you might say it sums up the entire book in a couple sentences. This shows how even Mark, who is as far as Americans go, very healthy and hard working, can be distracted by things like whether or not people like him. But Hai Bin realizes that these things are under our control and that it is very simple to make these things happen. Instead he wishes for good food and uninterrupted sleep.
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This comment is kind of related to the debates we just had. I will mildly try to convince you that Hai Bin is wrong in his beliefs.
ReplyDeleteHai Bin makes a very convincing argument about not worrying about the things that can be controlled, and worrying about the things that cannot be controlled. He makes us think about our culture and think, "Gosh, Chinese people are smart." But I thought about this and decided that it can go both ways. Hai Bin has a point, but the way teacher Mark thinks is right too. In the game of baseball (I play baseball a lot), we talk about controlling the controllables. We cannot be distracted by things we cannot control like the weather, the fans, or the opponent. Instead we make sure we succeed in the areas that we can control, like getting focused mentally after making a mistake, because if we are not focused we will make another mistake. This can apply to life. In fact, a lot about baseball can be applied to life. That's why I love it so much. When applied to life, it is important to keep a good reputation and be a good person. I believe we should focus on being virtuous people. If we all worried about things we couldn't control, we would worry way too much! Don't worry about things you can't control because you can't change them anyway! Focus on simple things in life that you can change as you like.
You chose an interesting quote, Sarah, one that could be an entire philosophy. Do you agree with hai Bin?
ReplyDeleteI like Owen's thinking about it, too.
I agree with both Owen and Hai Bin, because I think that if we talk about it in terms of "worry" then, yes, Owen (and Mark) are right. If we were worry too much about the things we can't change, we're going to be screwed. But the way it was phrased in the book led me to believe that it was the things that you thought about the most - not necessarily worry about. To take the sports thing that Owen talked about, I do karate. I think about karate a lot - about the people and my training and I plan my classes that I have to teach in my head, blah blah blah - but I'm not worrying about it.
ReplyDeleteI also think though, that if they were talking about worries, Mark's are ones that should be thought about more. In fact I was a bit confused when I was reading the book (although I just reread my CCQC and I didn't make that clear) because, like Owen says, I can't imagine worrying about something like getting good food all the time. It would get so boring. But I also can't imagine worrying about making people like me either.
So in conclusion to this wild ride, I guess I don't agree with either philosophy? I just think we shouldn't worry about anything all the time. Not that worries won't cross our minds occasionally but if they do, we should accept them and let them go and think about something more interesting and productive like how I might be going to see Les Mis on Broadway. Way cooler then "do people like me", amirite?
Hey Ms. K, can this count as my comment or should I do one on someone else's post as well?
ReplyDeleteSo I was in the shower where I obviously do all my deepest thinking and I wondered - maybe we don't even look at it like America vs China. What if this is just a statement on the nature of humanity? When asked what two things you think about the most, an American man and a Chinese man both replied with worries that they had - not pleasant things. What does that say about people?
ReplyDelete