Day 15: A Moment of Clarity after a Sad Song

I feel that happiness is achievable.

No – not happiness – I think I mean peace.

Peace is achievable, but only through work.

And the work is all interior design, unfortunately.

We must work through anger and despair,

Through isolation, loneliness, and laziness.

Ripping down old wallpaper, throwing out broken jewelry.

 

To get to peace – or maybe happiness –

We have to rise above our “natures.”

Luckily we can – that is the beautiful thing about us

We are more than base

We are capable of rising above base reaction

To reflection.

 

The problem is it’s hard to be a good person.

Just like it’s hard to design a room.

If you’ve ever designed a room, you know how hard it can be.

It’s deceptively easy when you start:

Be a better human. Be good to one another.

Then you try it,

And soon you’re covered in blue paint, there’s a hole in the wall

And you’ve blown several fuses.

 

I fear I’m mixing my metaphors.

Except, perhaps, for fuses.

 

Anyway, let’s all go try harder.

Day 16:  The Arbitrary Hierarchy of Chinese Driving

At the bottom are the pedestrians,

(Who will still go where they please)

Next, barely above those bottom feeders,

Are the bikes, followed closely by scooters
(Again, path of least resistance most preferable)

Above and related to scooters are pedal taxis –

Rude, oafish cousins

Then the motorcycles – daredevils

They slip in and out through lanes like the hands of a flirt.

Cars have any right of way they want

Whatever lane is most convenient, even if it’s the sidewalk.

And they will only yield to other cars

Then the taxis – a breed apart

Blue and green death machines

Streaking, speeding through the streets.

They stop for no light, they brake at no turn

And woe to the poor soul who gets in their way

(even if that poor soul is making a very legal right turn)

And above the taxis (only just)

Are the buses and semis

The former for the bone-jarring horn

Used liberally at any moving object

The latter for sheer size

If taxis are the wolves, semis are the behemoths.

Me? I ride a scooter.

I get run off the road by everything,

Including the woman pushing the wheelchair.