Chinese Food

The Chinese language is interesting in that it's comprised of some 47,000 plus characters, not so much an alphabet, as it is a group of commonly used "words." Each symbol represents some thing, is meant to evoke some feeling or emotion, much like words or phrases in the English language.

The Chinese symbol that represents change.

It's said that the symbol really evokes two meanings. The first is "unknown danger." The second, "opportunity." How eloquent, to be able to, in a few brushstrokes, evoke that much poignant meaning. And how very accurate.

Because this symbol represents, I think, the eternal battle we wage, largely in our minds. We long for change in so many aspects of our lives. Yet we dread it.

Our nature is to desire change, at one level, because we recognize the opportunity that lies within. But it's also to avoid change, because change always represents the potential for stumbling into some unknown danger.

These two emotions, when put together, make for an exhilarating, yet fearsome, package. Yet, we have to resolve, within ourselves, to accept that the quest for the hidden opportunity might uncover some hidden danger, something damaging, and we have to embrace that risk if we ever hope to realize that opportunity.

I'm well acquainted with the heartrending joy one experiences when they arrive at the intersection of hidden danger and opportunity. I've been there many times. And I've learned a few lessons.

I have spent the last week or so working on various pieces, not feeling like I was putting them together just like I'd intended. Some, I discarded; others I left in the "WIP" file. They come together here; they all, I realize now, tell the stories of my many journeys to that fateful crossroads.

And so, over the next week or so, I'll publish them here. With the hope that they'll give you the courage to face change with a sure heart.

As always, thank you faithful diners. I enjoy this more than you can imagine, and only hope, in all fairness, that you take as much from the reading as I do from the creating.