the importance of words, no castellano: lo siento

... and silence too. But the "words" section first:


(A mis amigo/as quien hablar castellano, disculpame por favor. No he tenido tiempo para escribir en la idioma. Mis sentimientos estan en ingles normalmente. Tambien, el japones esta en la cabeza y dificil para recordar palabras; palabras faciles y simples tambien!! Ahh,, que wea! Pronto quiero escribir un blog en castellano porque es importante a usar todos los idiomas... especialmente porque conoci un chileno el fin de semana proximo... en japon... que raro...)


A teacher asked me if I liked Japanese women. I had a hard time understanding him because my Japanese has regressed from +1 (on a scale of 0--> infinity) to about -141. I was at -140 before I even came, so I think this is a sign that I should start studying again. But, as he was talking he said, "Gaijin." I don't think I reacted in any particular way to hearing this. He quickly corrected himself and said, "Gaikokujin," as he continued his reference to the non-Japanese, in Japan, who like Japanese women, can grow beards, etc. What's in a word? It's like saying, "foreigner" versus "person from a foreign country." The one implies, "what the hell are you doing here," and the other one seems to be "a non-native Japanese person who is hanging out in Japan for a bit). I don't really care; in Chile and Argentina, my nickname was "Gringo"-- which can be considered derogatory. Japanese are trying to make the shift in their language as they practice opening up (still working on it from 1868)

Why is this significant? Because, in that moment a teacher recognized his own framework and is trying to better himself. To me, it makes no difference- i understand that it's hard to re-learn words that one has learned previously. But my being there was the spark he needed to work on that change. That is a huge compliment to me, whether or not he'll ever know it. It even beats him (his?) telling me that I look handsome with a beard and that i should grow it back (I shaved it off yesterday). His words were important, and so were the non-words.

Zen teachings say that if there is not an answer, silence is OK. There is no need to fish for something to say. I have been lured quite a bit lately, by friends, enemies and strangers alike to speak... to give an answer when there is nothing to necessarily say. I have been catching myself from jumping into speech that has no relevance. I have slowed down my response time and feel that I am not as spontaneous as a result. But I still go with the spontaneous moment of speech when the right answer appears. And, in the case of the irritants, its better that my spontaneous response comes later, otherwise it'd be means to start a fight. This is new for me because I have been quick to react and speak and go with the flow that way. My new practice of breathing prior to a response has helped me clarify an particular words that I need to speak, if it is determined that I even need to speak them. Long winded, but it's a new change for me and it's really weird. It's bizarre that I can even recognize it. That's more on words, but the emphasis here was silence... not as an answer but as silence... when there is no answer.

Randomly there was a huge wind and rainstorm as i left the house today for work... carrying a lot of dust from China... I would have hated to be in China for that storm... EVERYTHING was filthy today... I know that the "US is the leading producer of pollution... but every country is doing its best to destroy the earth. I am convinced after the freak storm today... and as my neighbors continue to ruin the new spring weather by burning their household waste... the crops burn just as well as the plastic and other shit they put into those steel drums.

As usual, I lost track of the point, but maybe sharing is the point.