ChanomiTalk

I brought my bass guitar over today to play with Michiko and show her some of the stuff I’ve been working on. Michiko got out her sheet music so we could play something together. So, instead of playing bass like I normally do, I struggled like a fifth grader in his first year of band class.

It seems Michiko and I are from completely opposite ends of the musical spectrum. While she is able to look at something and instantly play it perfectly on her violin, I am able to pick out a set of notes and come up with something that sounds cool. While she likes playing classical music, I like rock, blues, and jazz. Somehow we managed to make one or two songs sound good, but if this is going to be a long-term relationship it’s going to take some work…

Recently in a conversation with Shuuzo we discovered one of the many differences between our respective languages that often makes translation difficult. I was describing some research I had done on being a foreign service officer, and was trying to describe their role in seeking compromise between governments. I tried to use the word 妥協, defined as compromise, but found out that in Japanese it carries a connotation of defeat. In English, I explained, the feeling of the word is completely different. I immediately thought of the saying, `a true compromise is achieved when both sides are unhappy`, to explain our views. Shuuzo was amused by this, explaining that the Japanese would try to seek out a solution wherein both sides benefit. Americans, of course, say they are doing the exact same thing, but secretly we all have that saying in mind.

Oops, I may have just let out a state secret…

青空が広がり、湿度も高くなく、爽やかな風が 吹いています。
真ん中は、ハワイ州立図書館の庭で、芝刈りをしているところ、
下は、バスの前に乗客が自転車を付けたところです。

I saw a movie a long time ago that really impressed me. It was about a Japanese man that travelled to China and had some amazing experiences. The scenes were shot in Yunnan Province which is absolutely gorgeous if you have never been there. It was clear from just watching the movie that the Japanese actor playing the main character must be famous. After coming to NACOS, I found out that it was Taka Kura Ken (高倉健). It is amazing that such a famous Japanese actor worked with arguably China’s best director, Zhang Yi Mou (张艺谋), to create this film called “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (千里走单骑).”

(I apologize in advance if my bluntness offends you. I’ll buy you a beer sometime.)

So last week I got to talking with one of my neighbors, who had me listen to a sales pitch of his and critique him. I gave him some simple advice about being a more sympathetic listener, but somehow this caused him to bubble over with praise for my intelligence and keen mind. He said he wanted to get to know me more and gave me some tickets for an event related to his company, ACN.

Now, I’m not typically swayed by flattery. When people have great things to say about me, they often have an ulterior motive. I’ve also encountered people who were dazzled by my intellect simply because they just weren’t that bright. This time, I might have been swayed a little. I thought hanging out with a new friend might be worthwhile, and it seemed like he was crafting himself into my protege, which would have been interesting. I was also intrigued by this company’s expansion into Japan as a job prospect.

Of course, there ended up being an ulterior motive. It turns out that ACN is a multi-level marketing company. MLM companies build chains of sales reps to gain a wide distribution base without spending on advertising. The business model itself is not unethical as long as the end result is a product that is sold to provide the bulk of the revenue for the company. However, people are greedy. It is so much easier to gain money directly from new recruits paying fees or buying product that this almost always ends up being the primary goal, meaning most MLM companies are just legal pyramid schemes. My neighbor was, of course, trying to recruit me as a step towards constructing a pyramid of hapless recruits under him that would pump money his way.

At this point you can tell I ended up turning my back on this “opportunity” to do business in Japan. However, I did enter the event with an open mind. I’ve encountered a few MLM sales reps that didn’t strike me as slimy, and whose products seemed reasonable. ACN seems to offer quality products related to telecommunications and utilities, and I entered the event not knowing much about it, thinking I might be able to learn something. All I learned were a bunch of fabulous reasons I should join them.

One of the first things I noticed was the atmosphere of greed pulsing through the room. Everything was focused on money. People were entranced. They all looked like they had little schemes going in their heads. As I watched the way people responded to the speakers on stage, nodding, agreeing, and shouting praise, it struck me suddenly that this event was a sermon, and the company a religion. The resemblance was uncanny. The goal of a religion is to gain followers, and the promise is that if you have faith and believe, there will be heaven waiting at the end. All religions have intricate scaffolds of justification for your belief, and usually claim theirs is the one true religion, the others just pretenders. As I sat there in the seething crowd, I saw precisely these things presented before me. There was a lot there to build your belief, and very little to explain what to do with it besides a contract that signed away $499 of your money.

It’s things like this that make me proud to be an atheist. The religious are always trying to sell us something that sounds great even though it seems ridiculous, and we diligent atheists must make sure we see through it all. So, this was nothing new for me, and I’m moving on. Others at the ACN event weren’t so lucky. Many of them were accustomed to faith, and so believing would have felt natural and good to them. A lot of people have been converted, and they will go forth to spread the good word.

As for me, I’m back at home looking for a non-pyramid job. I still might hang out with my neighbor again sometime, assuming he was interested in me as something more than a potential recruit. I’m curious to see how his faith plays out. The problem with his MLM church is that he’s still going to be alive once it turns out heaven doesn’t really exist.

Back in the ’60s, driving on the Old Pali road was very dangerous and scary.  Now only portions of it still exists since they made the new Lookout and Tunnels below. When strong winds or bad weather persisted, many would avoid driving there, for fear of their car being tipped over or not being able to see the road.  You could lean into the wind at a 45 degree angle to the ground and not fall! But most of all, it is said to be true, that you can’t take raw pork over the old road for fear that the engine would die and your car will just stop. It just stops, all by itself and will not start up again, no matter how hard you try. You must throw the pork over the Pali cliffs as an offering to the dead spirits, before they will let you pass.

The Pali is a famous battle ground of King Kamehameha.  It’s where he defeated his conquering enemies by pushing them over the Pali Cliffs to their death. That is why, at night, it’s very scary to sit in your car, hear the howling wind, and imagine hearing voices, or tell each other about ghost stories while up there.  During the day, it all looks quite harmless, especially with all the hoards of people around.  But if you were up there alone or with just a friend it does give you chicken skin and you may get an erry feeling behind you.

These boys I knew in school, were drinking beer and got drunk up there one  weekend.  They were playing around and walking on the old stone wall cliffs. Showing how brave they were with the sheer drop of the cliff on the other side of the wall. Bragging, they could still walk straight and balance even if they were drunk and could barely see in the dark.  Then one of them slipped off and fell over. The rest ran to the spot and looked over the wall but it was pitch black, there were no lights there to see and they yelled to their friend, with no answer. Finally, they sat back down discussing what to do…… when up comes their friend climbing over the wall and dusting off the leaves and twigs saying, “ whoa, I almost died, lucky I fell on one branch or tree!”  Then they all started to laugh and kid each other about the ordeal, with  great relief, he was still alive!!