Rev. Douglas J. House, M.Div.
Recently, while walking by the front of my house, I noticed a small green shoot coming up from the cold dry mulch that defines my front garden. I looked more closely and discovered that the green shoot, which was only about an inch high, represented the birth of a daffodil. I remembered that last year, we had planted a bulb there in hopes that this spring might yield something new to brighten our front garden. As of this writing, the green stalk is about 6 inches high and has yet to develop into its fullness of a beautiful yellow flower. Soon that day will arrive, but for now we watch and wait for the flower to change and grow. And when we consider it, that’s true for all of us. In the course of our days, we watch as many things change and grow in life.
Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Perhaps like you, I’ve benefitted from many “change and growth” experiences in life. Among my cherished experiences in teaching have been the occasions when I have been sent to teach in Wuhan, China. I arrived there for my first teaching experience, knowing that the culture, language, and customs would be different from those back home. I had no idea how different they actually would be. As a foreigner, for instance, I was often showered with gifts of welcome by students and university personnel: books, bookmarks, tea services, chopsticks, artwork, etc.
Even the classroom atmosphere was different. Each class I taught boasted about 75 students. They were not accustomed to discussions with professors during their classes. I often begin my classes with a question, which will develop into a discussion, and then lead us into the topic for the day. On the first day of teaching in Wuhan, this was exactly what I had planned. As I asked an opening question, I watched as 75 heads looked down at their desks so as not to make eye contact with me. I soon discovered that most Chinese professors arrive in class, read their lecture notes, and leave. There seems to be little interaction with the students in the classroom. After several days, my American colleague and I discovered that we had a number of students who were following us around the campus. We had broken down the walls between faculty and students, and they just wanted to spend time with us. Some would wait for us outside of our apartment in the morning, in order to walk to class with us. In addition, they often would try to pay for our meals as we all would eat together in the refectory. They discovered that my colleague and I could play ping pong, and they loved beating us. “Groupies” had developed among these students.
It seems that our time in Wuhan changed the students somehow from the reserved and more formal cohort that we first encountered upon our arrival. They grew, they changed, and so did we as professors. Change occurred in ways that none of us could have predicted. I adapted to new and different ways of teaching. The students discovered new ways of learning, and a taste of what college classrooms are like in the United States.
True Life is Lived When Tiny Changes Occur – Leo Tolstoy
My experiences in China will remain with me for the rest of my life; even the occasion when I had to surrender my passport to officers of the Chinese Peoples’ Army. That story is for another blog. But I returned home conscious of a number of things about human nature. To begin with, when we take politics out of the equation, the world is filled with people who search for the same things in life: to be loved, valued, accepted, and respected. It is also true that growth comes from change. Traveling to foreign countries and experiencing foreign cultures not only widens our horizons, but it also permits us to grow as human beings. Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, identified that “true life is lived when tiny changes occur”. Changes which bring about growth don’t have to be huge. They simply have to exist. You don’t have to travel to China to experience growth. Quite honestly, all you need to do is to look at life around you. Gaze toward the heavens and count the stars at night or watch the waves which wash the sands of a beach. Take a moment to watch recently returned robins weave their architectural marvels which, in time, will hold their blue eggs. By simply taking in the splendors of life around us, we can become changed…and like a green shoot of a daffodil making its way through the mulch on a spring day, we can see that change can truly bring about growth.
