Standstill

“Standstill…Stagnation” That was the hexagram (#12 out of 64 possible answers) given to me by the Yi Jing in answer to the question I asked about why I have pain in my leg that stops me from walking.  The Yi Jing is said to be the oldest book on Earth; composed maybe 3,000 years ago and used as a guide by Confucius. I don’t know anything about the validity of this form of divination, but the answer was startlingly appropriate to my situation.  I can’t walk. Even a few steps leaning heavily on a stick can cause terrible pain in my leg.

For a time I felt quite depressed because the condition did not seem to improve. I couldn’t go out; I couldn’t sit for long periods and I couldn’t find a comfortable posture to lie down. So what happened?  I don’t really know.  My best guess is that my rather unbalanced posture caused the build-up of scar tissue and eventually gave rise to micro-tearing in at least one muscle fibre. In turn, this resulted in significant inflammation with loss of range of movement and pain. So I’m at a total standstill.  I can’t do anything for days, I see no signs of improvement and I start to think of going home. Even going home would cure nothing. And how can I get to the airport and get on a plane if I can’t walk?

As I’ve seen before, the dark times are laced with veins of gold – the extraordinary kindness of so many people. My adult students took me for an X-ray and bought some medicine for pain relief. My friend at the hostel went a step further and arranged for me to see the best Doctor for this kind of problem. His friend drove me across the city to a specialist. The specialist looked at the X-ray, looked at me stumbling around on my stick and asked a few questions. Then I was lying on his table. It was very painful. At first I thought he was doing diagnosis, but it turned out he understood my problem perfectly and was trying to break down scar tissue in my leg. I recognized the process because that was what the physio had done at home after my operation four years ago. Painful, but effective. Cost me 50 RMB – about $10.

While all this is going on I have on-going conversations on Wechat. Some students want a private lesson. A Toastmaster club wanted me to visit, which I had to cancel because I’m really not running on all cylinders. There is a potential VIP class where a rich businessman will send a car to pick me up and pay me 300RMB/hour (over $100 for two hours) to teach him English so he can deal with travelling overseas.  A casting director wants me to come and meet the Director of a film so I can play a part.  Had to say ‘no’ to that one too.  My Ladies class members drop in every evening to chat, bring food and see if I’m OK. People keep texting me to know what they can do to help me. I have enough fruit to feed a small army. I’m thinking, “If this happened to me in Vancouver would I be getting this level of support?”

I have also been studying more recent Chinese history. The Long March, when you start to read the story of how it went down, has to be one of the most extraordinary tales of the 20^th Century. Having killed off thousands of Communists in Shanghai, the Nationalist army had Mao’s Communists encircled. Jiang Jie Shi had won the struggle with the other warlords in China was intent on stamping out resistance to his rule – whatever it took. His troops stole, burned and pillaged their way around China.  In contrast, the Communists were inspired by the ideals of the resistance movements of the previous 100 years in China such as the Taiping and the Boxers. It was their rule to take nothing without paying and to treat the common people as their brothers. Mao admired George Washington and took inspiration from the story of Valley Forge. They opposed oppression and had a vision of a greater China ruled fairly according to the high principles – “Workers of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.” 70% of the land was owned by a small minority who treated the majority like dirt.  It’s no wonder that by 1949 most of China had changed sides. If I had been Chinese in the 1930s I would have been a Communist.