The other night we had one of our Western Dinners with our students. During this time, we take them to a nice restaurant here and treat them to a steak dinner. It's a great thing to share with them, and watching them attempt to use a fork and knife for the first time is just funny. It's almost always a joy to see these young men and women get dressed up, learn a little western culture, and enjoy an experience that most of them have never had before. But as Rick and I were coming home from the dinner, we saw something that made our hearts kind of sink.
We got back from the dinner a little after 10pm. And as we were walking to our apartments, we saw a group of about 6-8 Chinese men, who were probably in their 40s and 50s mostly. They looked a little tired and a good bit beaten up by life. We smiled and said a polite "Ni hao," to them as we passed by. We didn't think much about it at first, but shortly afterwards, we realized that these men had been working on track and field area on our campus. "Ouch," we thought.
They work all day long, by the sunlight in the day and just by the moonlight at night. Most of them don't look clothed enough to stay warm. Most of them look like they haven't seen a good, warm meal in a long time. Yet, we pass by them wearing nice suits and ties, carrying back our leftover wine from the meal, and something just didn't set right with us. Yeah, okay, I know finances have a lot to do with the scene we saw, but I think I felt sad for a much deeper reason.
I know the ground has been cursed. I know work in this world is not fully redeemed. I know toil is something we face in this world, but I felt like what we saw was worse than that. It looked like toil, burdened by societal abuse and hopelessness, slightly warmed over by an ignorant contentment. What we saw looked much worse than just toil. It looked like hell. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
Also, I talked with a student tonight who told me about how his parents have shown their love to him by providing much for him, working long hours even at the expense of their own health, and sacrificing their own needs to care for his needs. How amazing their commitment is! Still, he knows there is more to love than just this. He'd love to have a hug, a word of encouragement, or even the chance to simply feel comfortable showing love to his parents. He really hopes he can, in time, understand what love is supposed to look like, yet he doesn't really want to share his understanding with his parents because he thinks it will only make them angry and discontent. They are happy enough with their lives now - why should that balance be upset? Whispers of death filled our coffee cups and turned them cold with lies.
China, my heart breaks for you! You could teach us in America a lot about the recklessness of our self-centered nature, and I hope I never force my culture on yours, but I hope and pray that someday you can come to understand that life and love have so much more to offer than what you have seen of it so far. God willing, maybe I will have a chance to show you.
