Every season has its rituals. Graduation season is no exception. Everyone is expected to hang some ornaments on the wisdom tree. Yes, \u2018tis the season for platitudes, especially those of the inspirational variety.<\/p>\n
I figured I\u2019d get in the spirit of the season this time around. The challenge is to offer something that\u2019s pragmatic and not decorative. I\u2019ve pulled an old box of proverbs from the attic and I\u2019ve been digging around for a good one. Hey, here\u2019s a good one; in reality, it\u2019s pragmatic, and in theory, it can lead to an inspirational outlook. So let\u2019s hang it on the wisdom tree. It\u2019s labeled Made in China because it is, in fact, a Chinese proverb:<\/p>\n
\u201cDisease enters the mouth, disaster comes out of the mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
OK, you\u2019re not going to hear that at a graduation speech. Like I said, it\u2019s not decorative. But pragmatic? It might be the most pragmatic sentence I know of, especially when we consider the decades of consequences that accumulate after we\u2019re no longer bright and shiny young graduates.<\/p>\n
We humans are pretty good at putting all manner of stuff with our yappers, be it solid, liquid, or gaseous: sugar, salt, fat, chemicals, pills, booze, and various smokable materials. How many health woes are attributable to this? Outside of accidents or combat, I\u2019d say that over half the people I know who have died early or who have been chronically ill can ultimately trace their woes to what was going into the mouth. <\/p>\n
Most toxic stuff can be recognized for what it is; everyone makes their own decisions on that note and will answer for them eventually. <\/p>\n
Paradoxically, it\u2019s the innocuous stuff that can be the most insidious. The calorie-rich American diet is mighty savory, to me, anyway, but I don\u2019t shed calories like I did in college. Telling myself \u201cdisease enters the mouth\u201d is a good way to scold myself into not being too much of a pig. True, it might not keep me away from the burgers, but at least it\u2019s fending off the fries, shakes and sodas.<\/p>\n
Well, so much for the first part of the proverb. As for the second part, on the empirical side of the equation we all accumulate enough observations in life to reach our own conclusions; humanity always offers examples, be they on Saipan or elsewhere. And on the proverb side of things it would be easy to come up with dozens of related cautionary sayings. I\u2019ll content myself with two here. From the West we\u2019ve got \u201cLoose lips sink ships.\u201d And an old Chinese phrase says, tersely, \u201cKnowers don\u2019t talk, talkers don\u2019t know.\u201d <\/p>\n
As for the proverb at hand, \u201cDisease enters the mouth, disaster comes out of the mouth,\u201d as blunt and cautionary as it sounds, it does lead to an inspiring picture. It\u2019s actually consistent with a very elegant notion. The notion is that sometimes the most profitable approach is to take less action, not more action. In other words, less is more.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all faced with a world that\u2019s driven by the \u201cmore, more, more\u201d mentality. You can run yourself ragged trying to keep up with all the action. As important as action is, though, non-action can be a strategic asset of the highest order. I don\u2019t think abstraction illustrates the point well, but some real-world situations can do a good job of it.<\/p>\n
For example, I saw some judo matches when I was a kid. It was instructive to see how the experts moved around far less than the hacks did. In fact, the experts used the hacks\u2019 own motion and momentum against them. Although I didn\u2019t know anything about judo, I did sense there was something in the dynamic that had broader applications, which is surely why those matches have stuck in my memory for decades now. Indeed, it seems that every passing day is merely another episode of seeing the same dynamic in various contexts.<\/p>\n
Likewise, if you\u2019ve ever seen good swimmers and bad swimmers, you\u2019ll note that a good swimmer can float with no apparent movement or action at all. A bad one, by contrast, will splash and flail and stir up a storm, using more and more action to counteract the previous action. There\u2019s a word for this. It\u2019s called \u201cdrowning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting back into the spirit of graduation season, as graduates contemplate all the great things they\u2019ll do, it can be pointed out that doing difficult things isn\u2019t all struggle and toil. What we do can be a lot more effective when we\u2019re mindful of what we don\u2019t do, too. <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think we have that wisdom wired into us innately. We just have to hope that we get to figure it out before we mess anything up. In the meantime, I\u2019ll put away my box of proverbs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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