1. The Last Day – Well the bank account has been closed, the stool sample has been delivered, and I just finished up all my paperwork and left the Peace Corps office for the final time. Now I’m getting ready for the “last supper” with my Cambodian family and I’m off to the airport in the morning…
2. Emotions - I still haven’t really gotten my head around the fact that I’m leaving Cambodia tomorrow. The last couple of days have been so busy and right now it still feels like I’m just in Phnom Penh for another random weekend. I don’t think it will all really sink in until tomorrow when I’m on the plane. All I know is that I’m happy that I have a week to myself in China to really process everything.
3. On China – In preparation for my trip to China I’ve been reading Henry Kissinger’s new book On China. I’ve been pretty distracted this week and am only about a third of the way through, but so far so good. I particularly like the way in which Kissinger contrasts the “grand strategies” of China and America. This is how the New York Review of Books describes it…
Kissinger’s reflections about the Western and Chinese concepts of strategy lead him to posit a stark distinction, one in which “the Chinese ideal stressed subtlety, indirection, and the patient accumulation of relative advantage,” while “the Western tradition prized the decisive clash of forces.” It is a good way for Kissinger to prepare the reader for a dualistic approach to two vast philosophical and military traditions, which he begins by summarizing the key differences between the Chinese players of the board game weiqi (the Japanese go) and those favoring the contrasting game of chess. While chess is about the clash of forces, about “decisive battle” and the goal of “total victory,” all of which depend on the full deployment of all the pieces of the board, weiqi is a game of relative gain, of long-range encirclement, which starts with an empty board and only ends when it “is filled by partially interlocking areas of strength.”
Teachers and practitioners of grand strategy have studied these contrasts between the two for many centuries. The principles of weiqi are echoed in the haunting text known as The Art of War, by a certain Master Sun, writing around the same time as Confucius. Kissinger quotes Sun at some length, drawing especially on his insights into the concepts of “indirect attack” and “psychological combat.” (“One could argue,” says Kissinger, “that the disregard of [Master Sun’s] precepts was importantly responsible for America’s frustration in its recent Asian wars.”) As the talented translator of classical Chinese John Minford renders one of the maxims by Master Sun quoted by Kissinger:
Ultimate excellence lies
Not in winning
Every battle
But in defeating the enemy
Without ever fighting.Master Sun succinctly lists his favored tactics for success in order of their priorities and effectiveness: first on the list is an all-out attack on the enemy’s strategy, second comes an attack on his alliances, then comes an attack on his armies, followed by an attack on his cities. “Siege warfare,” says Master Sun, “is a last resort.”
4. “Most Likely to Run For Office… ” – In this months edition of Mango Dreams, the Peace Corps volunteer newsletter, a group of volunteers published a list of PCV superlatives. My superlative: “Most likely to run for office… only to drop out do a scandal.” I’m not sure what to make of that, but I guess it’s a decent prediction. We will have to wait and see.
5. (Half) Ironmen - A big congratulations to Courtney and Terence who finished the Amica Ironman 70.3 (a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run) yesterday in Providence, Rhode Island. Pretty damn impressive guys. Well done.
6. A Quote - And finally one of my favorite all time quotes…. “I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.” – Beryl Markham
Gotta run! Goodbye Cambodia.
“Take it easy … but take it!” Enjoy the new adventures of life starting today … the future is bright for you Coop … and we are all looking forward to your return to America very soon!
TF
Leave fast indeed, Cooper. But savour those yesteryears in a way that keeps them close to your heart. Forever and thensome. Remember the Hemingway quote, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” I suspect for you that Cambodia will be as well.
Enjoy the last meal with your Cambodian family. And please tell them that your American one thanks them from the bottoms of our hearts for taking such good care of you. If ever they find themselves in America also let them know that our house is theirs. And while you are at it thank the Peace Corps folks from us too. They will always have a special place in our hearts. Bravo to them for all they do. And whatever we can do for them know that we will.
Love you Cooper. Can’t wait to see you at JFK.
We’ll call you before you leave for China.
xo