WE LIVE IN A FUNNY OLD WORLD!

DANGER + OPPORTUNITY

On 12^th April, 1959 John F Kennedy quoted: “When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” 

Many authors and psychologists have used this quotation and the Chinese letters as a foundation for therapy; helping others through trauma or crisis. Let's face it, it looks good and sounds even better.

In recent years linguists have been setting the record straight and rightly so. 

In a crisis if nothing else, one seeks truth! 

As Abraham Lincoln stated: “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” 

If one thing is missing today it is truth!

An esteemed linguist, Professor Victor H Mair, points out that wēijī means a dangerous incident, a genuine crisis, and a time when things start to go wrong. He states emphatically that it does not mean an opportunity in the face of a crisis, it is not pointing to benefits or advantages in the given situation. He suggests that any guru in his right mind would never compound the danger of a crisis with such advice; they would be driven out of town! In the West we seem to have entertained what we thought was Eastern wisdom but which is in fact a misinterpretation of language.

This is not the end of the story.....
There seems to be a new awakening in a forum, an international forum of academics for the exchange and interaction of ideas, research and points of view that bear on a wide range of issues of concern and interest in our modern-day world. As a contribution towards their Global Conference held in Sydney, Australia this year they made a call for presentations on..............

OPPORTUNITY IN CRISIS: Finding Benefits in Difficult Life Events.

Has Modern culture taken an error in interpretation of Chinese language and turned it into a reality of life purely by quoting it and believing in its benefits? Did John F Kennedy unknowingly start something worthwhile through misinformation?

Although we have to discard this notion of wēijī as anything more than a crisis, the truth stands that meaning or opportunity can definitely bring healing from suffering or a crisis, the ideology was present before it was attached to this  ‘misinterpreted Chinese lettering’.

Viktor Frankl had proposed that life is given to us so that we can find meaning, even in suffering (logotherapy). He had experienced this in his own life and in others in the concentration camps of World War II.

 

Don’t you love truth, don’t you love real facts that you can ‘hang your hat on.’ Truth revealed does point to a crisis being an opportunity for growth, whether it can be meaningful and/or build our faith. I believe the outcome comes from the choices we make through our crisis, our ‘Valley of Tears.’ A friend has often advised me in times of crisis to "look for the Treasures of Darkness stored in secret places" (Isaiah 45:3).

Psalm 84

Blessed all those whose strength is in You (God),

Who have set their hearts to travel with You.

As they pass through the Valley of Tears (Baca),

They will make it a place of springs.

Crises will come, we know this. It seems that walking through a crisis has always been an opportunity for growth, for understanding and for meaning. Take heart. Seek truth and spiritual 'treasures' while move forward.