Greed Burns Souls


The past few days have kind of been a bit tough.

On Monday, Katie and I decided to head into Shanghai to spend the day together. We had also planned to go to the Thailand Consulate so that Katie could get her visa for our Thailand trip that we are going to be taking in a few weeks. We went to the office and found that they were closed. Even though there website indicated that they were open, there was a notice posted on the door that said they were closed for three days. So, we decided to make the most of being in Shanghai. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and did some shopping.

Throughout the day, I was sending messages to some friends that I had not seen in a long time. They are musicians from the Philippines that have been working in China for several years. They started telling me about how their manager had really taken advantage of them. He takes part of their pay in exchange for setting up gigs and taking care of their visas and other paperwork. However, they found out that he had been lying to them and that they have been in China for a year and a half without a valid visa. To make things worse, he stopped answering their calls. Apparently, he is on the run, hiding from the mafia because he borrowed a lot of money from them. His life is in danger; many people, including the mafia want him dead for various failed financial schemes.

My friends had no choice but to explain their situation to the Chinese government. They were informed that they would get a reply on Friday. It seems that they will probably be detained for some time, deported, and possibly might not be allowed back into China.

I explained all of this to Katie, and we decided to go see them the next day. We went to Suzhou (where they were living) to hang out with them. We went out to dinner, talked a lot, laughed a lot, and prayed for them. We are really hoping that they will be allowed to come back to China and that the penalty is not too severe.


It absolutely infuriates me when people mistreat and abuse others’ trust just for the sake of getting rich. I don’t know where people got the idea that money will make you happy. I once thought that way, but I am so glad that I was shown what true happiness and life really mean. It is my hope that one day everyone will come to understand that.

“Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil.”
 -Henry Fielding

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cooking Up a Storm

Image
There has been quite a bit of coverage in the media about the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus. Obviously, Chinese businesses have been hit quite hard, as have the businesses around the world that rely on Chinese consumers and manufacturers.  One thing that has gone somewhat unnoticed is the effect it is having on some farmers. Katie has been following the chatter on the web about the struggles that some farmers are having because their products are not consumed as frequently as the staple grains, proteins, and vegetables that typically comprise the average Chinese diet. Many of them are selling their products for well below their average price in an attempt to increase demand; it is sad to think that their products are spoiling when they could be helping so many people. My wife has a huge heart, and over the past few weeks, she has been ordering things from these farmers online, and not just in small amounts… like a lot. So, we’ve had foods like, okra, asparagus, basil, and
Read more

Pan Wei Bo Concert

Image
Last Sunday night I had a rather unique opportunity. One of my friends was given tickets to a concert. She asked me if I wanted to go. I thought about it for a while, and I decided to go. It’s not too often that famous pop stars make it all the way to Changzhou, so I had to check it out. The concert was held in a small sports stadium that was built within the last year and modeled after the bird’s nest in Olympic park in Beijing. I would guess that there were about 20,000 people there. One thing that I noticed immediately was that although the tickets had seat assignments, very few people sat in their seats. This was nice because my friend Dorty was able to sit by me. The tickets that we had were for seats that were not near each other. Ironically, I also saw my friend Andrew there, so he also sat by us. The stage was an explosion of dancing lights. The setup was very elaborate. The concert was not at all what I was expecting. The headline name for the concert was Pan Wei Bo (a famous
Read more

Getting Ready for Christmas

Image
Wow, this year is going so fast. The holiday’s really snuck up on me. The last four months have seemed like an endless flurry of events. I really feel as if my feet have not yet touched the ground since I arrived here in August. I do know that Christmas is one of the most important holidays in my country, and each year it is my greatest hope that I can communicate the true meaning of Christmas with my students, friends, and everyone else in my life here. Each year I take one class period and explain the culture of Christmas to all of my students. Many of them know things about Christmas. Usually, their knowledge is limited to Santa Claus, gifts, and Christmas trees. In addition to explaining those things, I try to explain to them that Christmas is much more than that. I tell them the reason that we give gifts and why we started to do that some two thousand years ago. It is always so amazing to see the wonder in their eyes when they begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The
Read more