Submitted by jenny on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 06:17
-
Visionary. Once again, that saying: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Even though you are only one person, and your cell consists of only four other people (who never see each other, of hear of each other), and the task before all of us is so big, it helps to close your eyes and imagine—to visualize—the final result. This “slow-burning revolution” calls for the establishment of “English for English’s sake” across the whole country—all over China. As the Chinese proverb goes: “Climb a high mountain; see a long way.” (“zhan de gao; kan de yuan.”) That is very big. The good news is that you only need worry about your own cell and its propagation; the rest, in part, is mathematics. Remember this too! This work is optional, free, unforced! You are under no obligation at all to do it. I hope you will find it fun.
-
Radical outreach. It is my hope that you will use this English-language revolution for the good of others; that is, you will propagate cells in needy areas, both near and far. What does this mean? First: If you wanted, you could teach your friends, or people who have power, “relationships” and money. Indeed, there would be a payback; something would come back to you. Congratulations! You have shouted and created an echo; this will in time fade away and be lost and forgotten. Second: If you desired, you could visit the factory workers’ children, or “comrades” who are clever but sit at a reception desk in a hotel or at a vendor’s stall in your neighborhood—those with limited prospects, few close connections, and struggling to get by. Surely, you would see a reward; your students’ progress would gratify you. Awesome! You have sowed grass and clover seeds and now a beautiful field of green dances before you; the two lives you developed will over their lifetimes expand and prosper, to be cherished and remembered by those around them in their local neighborhood. Third: If you cherished a dream, a dream so shocking you would be shy to tell your friends and your classmates about it, you could find a talented person who lives in a shanty near the railway tracks, and whose parents are “floating workers” who salvage plastic and cardboard out of trash heaps, or you could go to the hill country of Guangxi or the salt-pans of Qinghai to teach the children of truck-drivers (or even the truck-drivers themselves), or help the primary school teacher from Chengdu who is teaching plateau-children in Rou Er Gai in Sichuan because her heart is good, her college grades were bad, and was therefore posted to a “difficult area”—those at the end of the road and the beginnings of mountain paths in a land of ravens and semi-desolation, absolutely no chance of even getting into an adult vocational school (even though they are clever—everyone around them knows that), and barely able to support themselves, let alone rise up in the world. Of a truth, what was put in would come back (to you in satisfaction, but to them in vindication and joy); every effort rewarded, every word of skepticism by doubters answered, every sneer of turkeys, petty nobodies and cynics silenced, and every cry of many unfulfilled longings heard, answered, and perhaps satisfied. Well done; you are a true revolutionary! You have thrown a small match into a huge hay barn and the light from the flames can be seen, and its heat felt, all the way across the country in Shanghai; if you choose well, the people you teach English to will teach others in their area—people they know and you could never know—and thus transform an entire area, with very large and far-reaching results. All that, because you went, to teach two other people to use, live and enjoy the English language. Fourth: these three examples are just that—examples. There are many options to look at. All I want you to think of is this: when you go out looking for two people to teach English to, consider looking for people who are talented and dedicated, but who have fewer opportunities for realizing their dreams because of their life situation. Fifth: the more you leave behind your zone of inertia, the turkeys, your fears, and enter into the zone of service, the area of needs, the place of giving, you will find a great increase in the opportunities available to you. Go try.
