I am always very impressed when I hear stories of forty and fifty-year-old friendships, even more telling when these are associated with your soul mate or muse. These are rare gifts, indeed, in the conglomeration of artificial associations that define the Internet Age. Two examples: Alex Katz (b. 1927) is an American figurative artist. His oeuvre is defined by many movements – including painting, print and sculpture. He and his inspiration, Ada, married in 1958; they have a son, Vincent. In the early 1960s, influenced by the proliferation of the electronic or mass media, Katz began large-scale paintings, often with dramatically cropped faces. Ada has been the subject of over 250 portraits throughout his lifetime. She has supported and guided his career. Conversely, Anna Nicole Smith (1967-2007) dropped out of high school at age 15 and was married three years later. Her highly publicized second marriage to J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she married the old man mainly for his money; he was 89 at the time of his marriage. Which relationship (friendship) would one want to have?
Leadership
With our world, seemingly, in a state of chaos, according to the mass media, the questions must be posed: “How does our civilization return to a state of rationality and how do I find my personal state of peace?” Most recently, one of my students was involved in the protests against the recent government initiative to change the “thrust” of high school textbooks. (1) He is an extremely nice and thoughtful young man. I would not stylize him as seditious, but he felt that something untoward was afoot and wanted to do something about it. Due to the fact that I am a guest of Taiwan and not a citizen, I find myself in the apolitical camp. That being said, these are some of the thoughts that we discussed.
Time
The other day, I had quite a shocking experience. I entered the bathroom to “jump in the shower” and was startled to realize that I was not alone: there was an old man with me having a shower as well. I say this, of course, ”tongue in cheek.” Still, I think it is the same for most people; life unfolds like the weaving of a tapestry or the creation of a painting. It is there to be remarked on, its various points remembered (pleasantly or not), but it is lived day by day, piece by piece. Few experience that traumatic experience that changes us forever.
Culture Shock
I always remember having to stand in front of my class in Grade One to give a presentation on what my father did for work. This experience is still indelible some fifty-plus-years later. My memory was seared by two poignant realizations, among others: firstly, speaking publically is an uncomfortable occurrence and has to be practiced and re-practiced to achieve even a semblance of skill and secondly, not everyone has a father. In our class many, those who were mostly poor, didn’t. All encompassing was a choking sense of shyness; as I began to talk, my throat constricted and I felt as if I was going to faint. What steadied me was the visceral terror that I had of failure and its concomitant punishments, both at school and at home. This was a time of “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” The relatively modern phenomena of public emotions (think weeping with fear) and of ADHD (1) hadn’t yet been invented.
工作 Work
前一陣子我路過工地碰上一些建築工人，他們面無表情，沒有靈魂似的執行著他們的任務，這讓我想起一個問題：我們是否該將努力付諸於讓自己興奮、享受的地方？然而對大部份的人來說這個答案卻是否定的。這讓我重新思考工作的概念，什麼是職業，而當中又包含了什麼？廣義的來說工作就是雇主和雇員在白紙黑字上簽訂契約，就商業上來說也是，各個公司就像是個人一般互相簽署合約，然而這並不是許多人嚮往的關係。