The life of ...

I have read three biographies over the last couple of weeks. The usual murder mystery detective novels have started to bore me no end and so I have switched to some reality reading.

The first was the life of Trotsky. If you don’t know him, suffice to say that together with Lenin, he brought about the overthrow of the imperial Russian monarchy and help install communism based on Marxist principles. He was eventually assassinated by one of Stalin’s hit men while living in exile. It was an interesting book but filled with an idealism that I just could not grasp.

Book number two was the life of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the band, The Doors. This was an eye opener. An angry young man with a little bit of talent and a bent for dark poetry who became a 70’s sex icon. Drunk and high for the last ten years of his life before extinguishing it entirely at the ripe old age of 27 through an overdose. Woman and sex were his pivotal conquests. I finished this book a little depressed from an insight into a world I knew existed but probably have always chosen to ignore. The excess, the depravity, the negativity, the arrogance, are truly mind blowing and clearly lead as far away from happiness and inner peace as one can get!

The third book of this impromptu book review was titled ‘Mao’s last dancer’. It is a beautiful autobiography of the life of Li Cunxin, a Chinese ballet dancer. Those who know me understand that ballet is not one of my sports and one of my greatest fears is attending my soon to be new daughter’s ballet recitals. Nonetheless this book was written with great humility, compassion, and love. It details Cunxin’s start in life as a peasant in a commune in a rural part of China under the rule of Chairman Mao. He was selected at the age of 11 to attend Madame Mao’s Dance Academy simply due to his high pain threshold as the selectors effectively tore his hamstrings in the selection process. It took him years to learn to love dancing but once he discovered a passion for the art, he became one of the best Chinese ballet dancers ever. He ultimately defected to America where he started his own family.

I was awestruck at the love within his family and the bonds between his parents and his six brothers. As peasants, they had absolutely nothing. They ate dried yams for most of the year if they were lucky, but they had a family filled with love and happiness.

Cunxin’s book simply reinforced the simple notion that family must be the cornerstone of a valuable society. And that love and inner peace are far more important than money, political ideals, and the narcissistic pursuit of self satisfaction!