Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. After church Emily fell asleep for a nap on our bed basking in the warm sunlight coming in massive amounts from our room’s wall of windows. I decided to bicycle down to a big park not far from our home on Taipei’s southwest side and do some reading.
Arriving at the park I continued biking through it looking for a good place. I found it in a bench on the edge of a big area of red dirt with tall, hardwood trees every couple of square-meters or so. The sunlight could still reach me nicely but filtered through the trees. Bright enough to enjoy and dampened enough to make it easy for my eyes to focus on my book’s pages without needing to squint. The area’s purpose seemed to be to give people a comfortable place to walk barefoot on the hard-packed dirt. Except for the trees the dirt was bare.
In the middle of the area was a woman. She was dressed in normal, everyday clothes. Very close to her she had a little push-cart. On the push-cart was a stereo that was playing “Taiwanese exercise music.”
I don’t know what else to call the music. Its very mellow, methodical, and simple. A voice every few seconds alternates between two commands in Chinese which probably mean “up” “down” or something like that. It’s the kind of music that never seems to go anywhere. There are no climaxes, no beginnings, middles, or ends. It just plays with the Chinese voice every second or so alternating commands.
The music is turned up loud enough to be heard in about a 50 meter radius but echoing through the trees its high volume doesn’t hurt your ears no matter how close you are. Scattered around this area of music are people. Men and women, all at least 40-something up to those whose bodies are so weathered from life that one thinks this might be there last Sunday exercise. None of them stand together. They aren’t lined up following the leader. It isn’t a crowd but a gathering of people exercising in unison.
The exercise is like a dance and everyone knows the steps. The Chinese voice says a command and everyone bows forward, sweeping both arms to the right of their body up past their back with a graceful control of fingertips. As they reach their body’s flexible limit in that direction the Chinese voice gives the alternate command and everyone reverses the direction of their arms without any lapse in motion. Timing is perfect. Everyone knows the music and motions well.
One very old lady not far from where I’m sitting is too old to be graceful. She makes all the same motions as everyone else. While everyone else perfectly times their movements so that as they reach the end of one direction they begin their reverse she doesn’t. She begins each movement with a push and thrust. Willing her body to movement she gets her arms and legs going. Instead of fighting momentum to increase grace she embraces it, needs it, to make it to the next exercise.
This is the setting I had for the next few hours while I finish reading Descending From Duty by J. Ryan Fenzel. Life is good.
Michael,
I’m the author of Descending from Duty.
What a great surprise it was to see your blog post pop up tonight when I was googling around hyperspace. I sometimes check the internet to see if anything is happening with the book. I found your post about reading in the park in Taiwan. What fun.
I hope you enjoyed the story. And I hope reading about familiar places in Michigan gave you a little taste of home. I’m interested in how you heard about Descending. Since all my promoting and marketing has been focused in the Great Lakes region I’m always tickled to hear about someone reading DFD on the West Coast, or in the UK, or Australia, or Taiwan.
I attend an evangelical church that has a strong missions program. We have people doing missions work in Russia, Malaysia, Egypt, and Mexico. It is quite literally the Lord’s work. I see in your About Us section that you do not call youselves missionaries per se, but it’s close. I pray God will bless your activities.
In case you are interested, my follow up book should be available from the printers in about a month or so. Its title is Inherit All Things. Like DFD, it’s based in Michigan, and delves into local history to tell a treasure hunt tale. Let me know, and I’ll try to get you a copy in Taiwan.
Sincere Regards,
J Ryan Fenzel
Way to make me jealous Michael! We had a very sunny day on Sunday here too! And it had warmed all the way up to freezing.(32) Not only are we not riding bikes, we can hardly go for a walk there’s so much snow! Sigh! So cool to get a comment from the author of the book you’re reading! In your next post please answer all his Q’s for all of us, O.K? Also can I borrow the book when you visit? Love you!
J Ryan,
What a small world that you found our little blog
googling your book.
I did enjoy the story. My dad’s a big Clancy fan so
I’ll have to pass DFD to him for a read. It was fun to
think about places I knew in Michigan first-hand as I
turned the pages. It made me remember what a great
state we have!
You actually gave Descending From Duty to me
personally and signed it. Thanks again by the way!
Back in ‘06 I was working for the DeVos for Governor
campaign as a Regional Director and you spoke to all
of us at a retreat we had in the springtime and gave
us each a copy of your book. This summer when I was
packing up to head back to Taiwan I grabbed your book
off my shelf and decided to bring it with me to read.
So there you go, your book made it all the way from a
retreat in Michigan in ‘06 to a park in Taipei, Taiwan
2 and a half years later. My British house-mate has been eying it
on the bookshelf so we’ll see if we can’t
internationalize your readership even more.
I’m glad to hear you’ve been busy with another book.
I’ve heard the book business isn’t the easiest nut to
crack so its great to see you succeeding. If you
decide to do a tour promoting it here in Taiwan let me
know!
My wife and I really appreciate your prayers. Thank
you.
All the best,
Michael Jefferies