Something my Protege taught me
many of you may not know this, but for a time back in 2004, i had a young Korean protege. it was my job to show him around, let him take me bowling, so that he could learn from me, an archetype of the lifestyle, just exactly what being “american” is all about.
well one day we were eating at one of those china type restaurants he liked to take me to, and i finally came out and asked him what the heck’s up with chopsticks.
he laughed and said to me, “Foolish American,” which kind of took me off guard; who did he think was the mentor in this equation, anyway? “You with your forks that pierce into your food, damaging its quality. In our culture, food is like sacred art work, and we utilize only tools which would dare not compromise this beauty.”
“Oh yeah?” I replied. “Then if your’e so worried about damaging that egg roll, maybe you should think twice before letting it travel through your digestive tract.”
No, I didn’t reall say that. But i was thinkin’ it….
(p.s. everything about that story is true except my protege’s sagacious demeanor, as well as, everything else I said. no, i’m kidding. it’s true. except the sagacious demeanor part. man, this conversation is going in circles.)
