A Little Reflexion on History and KFC

As I find new and interesting ways to take advantage of my time here, I started reading about the history of the world. I might say first that I highly recommend you pick up a history book and go over the important events that have occurred before us and that has marked history in such a profound way that some of the practical stuff can be experienced today, and some of the most simple ones can still be traced.



If you have followed my blog, I wrote about a personal experience with this complex culture as I watched the people and analyzed their behavior. And I quote myself: "Open to a culture we will not get to fully understand, even if you consider yourself a historian because it doesn't matter how much theory you have explored looking for answers, you can not put this into practice."



I came across to a chapter of the book, right before the French Revolution that talked about China and their people. About their mighty, proud, orderly and densely populated and largely peaceful land inhabited by hardworking people (to refresh your memory, we are going back in a time between early 1790s and 1848.) And in this chapter it mentions a letter that was sent to the king of England in 1793. The English had asked permission to send an ambassador to the Chinese court and to engage in trade with China. The emperor Ch'ien-Lung sent a reply, that resumed contained something like this:



"You O king live far away across many seas. Yet driven by the humble desire to share in the blessings of our culture, you have sent a delegation, which respectfully submitted your letter... it is your veneration for our celestial ruling family that fills you with the desire to adopt our culture, and yet the difference between our customs and moral laws is so profound that our customs and traditions could never grow in your soil... rare and costly objects are of no interest to me. I have no use for your country's goods... Mindful of the distant loneliness of your island, separated from the world by desert wastes of seas, I pardon your understandable ignorance of the customs of the Celestial Kingdom..."



Wow. This is amazing. some 220 years ago and the Chinese still follow the principal. Of course not so in a closed-minded way because globalization has pushed way further, and the human resource here is so much an indispensable item to the rest of the world, that certain frontiers had been left available open.



And so the Chinese allowed, back then, for trade of porcelain, tea and silk, products of the Celestial Kingdom to continue as they where absolute necessities to the western culture. I am so much convinced about a phrase that my father continuously repeats "those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it" (does Chavez come to mind? Damn, sorry, collateral damage) is such a true statement, that I will continue to study in detail the history of the world. In particular, I highly recommend a book by E.H. Gombrich titled " A Little History of The World" because instead of poor and boring text, theories and complicated terms, he chooses a narrative approach so easy to follow, that the book can be read by a child.

If you come to think about it, it must be with much proud that one belongs to a country with a culture and tradition like that. The way I see it, we all can relate to the fact that we come from many, many different cultures. My grandfather's ancestors, and his ancestors all belong from different cultures that eventually became united, but their origins vary plenty from one place to the other. Just like with the ancient Roman Empire, or new age France or Germany, they where all mixed up together, ruled by a single emperor as if the world was one. Moreover, I have not read about any of those emperors whose intentions where no less than governing the whole world.

Take me for example, I am a German descendant born in Venezuela. My parents where too born in Venezuela (actually and for your entertainment, my father's birth certificate reads: Carlos Federico Lothar Lahrssen Vollbracht, Natural de Coquivacoa. Yes, Maracucho er mardito!) but my father's ancestors can be traced from Germany and all the way up to Norway including Denmark. Furthermore, we can be traced all the way to the Vikings. My mother's ancestors can be traced to Lebanon (Darwich). My three kids where born in the US, but we can add additional layers of origin like Spain, which applies to all three. So, who are we? What are our customs and why? Why do we belong to that specific religion? It has been all put up in a huge blender only to come up with smoothie-like culture.

Now, think for a moment about the Chinese. Their identity can be traced back in a straight line, thousands of years back. They did not go through all those episodes like the 30-year war nor they had rulers taking over western empires. No, instead, they where all being Chinese. So one must understand this intensity of this culture as you explore their roots. Their traditions rely upon their own shadow. Sure they where attacked plenty of times before and that is why they had this huge wall built, the Great Wall of China. But they held, and here they are today, one billion people with real traditions and distinctive ways of living. They are China. The People's Republic of China.

I can tell you based on my personal experience that you feel that here. Perhaps not in the more popular provinces and their cities like Shanghai or Beijing, but up here it's a complete different story. We went out last night to a silk market to do something different. We gathered a couple of things, nothing significant, and then we walked looking for a place to eat. For 45 minutes we could not find a place that would describe their menu in any other language but Chinese. So how would you take the risk of sitting down, point the menu to order food based upon their illustrative picture just thinking "this looks like chicken and veggies" and suddenly what you get is frog. Yes my fellow reader, frog, they eat it here just as much as a hamburger is sold in the US. They eat snake for that matter and if you where to order something that looked like chicken and would not be a frog, you would point out to the picture with the wings and thighs, and the chicken's head sticking out... I am not a junk food eater even though I live in the country where people eat junk food the most, but I craved for a Mc Donalds or a KFC; and there it was, the red light at the end of the tunnel, a picture of a chicken wing head-free; Kentucky Fried Chicken!

All of this is good, and I could not recommend less. One has to have their buttons pushed once in a while. Reality has to come at you fast and burning hot so you can feel what it is to be alive. Our life, and I don't mean "lives", cannot be taken for granted but rather for a fact. The present we live, the past we lived and the future we will live. Sounds simple right? Forget about it, it's more complex than you can imagine. If you where able to have an eagle's view of your life right now in this very moment, what would you change?

And so I stop here so you can go back and relax and wait for my next blog which I promise it will not be this boring; it will be then again about a month's life in China and all those complex biotech stem cell treatments. I just wanted to come in to you "ala" Emeril, BAAAAM!

Marujita went through the same routine today. Doctor's visit in the morning, no fever it's all good. Standing therapy, acupuncture and physical therapy. Electrical therapy concluded the day's treatment and we are looking forward for tomorrow to be as good.

Have a great day and do not miss a second of this precious life. Go hug your friend, call your mom, kiss your spouse, your kids. Dance. Treat yourself right and others with respect. Obey your commands but do not neglect your instinct. And if by any chance you learn how to do all this, please teach me how!

Love you all always. Unconditionally.

Tuto