Wednesday, June 22
STUPID WORDS
I’ve had those stupid words “be yourself” in mind for years and I’ve only just now figured them out:
You can’t really be yourself, but you can be a hundred thousand other people.
There’s not a single bird that can’t fly, and there’s not a single monkey that can play piano.
Your intelligence will run into the intelligence of another you,
in the Warring States plains, or in the court of the Tang dynasty.
Many people have gone, but how many of them were ever themselves?
But it might still be possible to be someone who used to be:
for instance, Lei Feng,
and if that doesn’t work then be Lei Feng’s coworker,
and if that doesn’t work then be Lei Feng’s boss,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone respected or hated by Lei Feng,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone Lei Feng helped one time,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone Lei Feng read about,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone who bullied Lei Feng,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone who saw Lei Feng from afar,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone who passed right by Lei Feng,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone moved by Lei Feng’s deeds,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone who doubts Lei Feng’s deeds,
and if that doesn’t work then be someone who’s never even heard of Lei Feng,
like those dandies from the late Qing,
or men of integrity and ideals, or their disciples,
or their relatives, or their role models—
those people from antiquity with faces you can’t imagine.
So many people have gone but you want to be yourself.
I sip your chicken soup for the soul, praise your ambition,
and read you this little poem. (Xi Chuan, translated from Chinese by Lucas Klein)