Look. Its pretty simple really. Mans inhumanity to man. Corruption. Indifference. Greed. Call it what you will. You Christians call it The Walk of the Flesh. And Buddhists, as do Christians, and atheists and whomever else you can think of see it as mans imperfection. Were all wallowing in the mud pit. There but for the grace of God go I. Pshaw. Its all about the luck of the draw. Hmmmmmaybe. We do what we do. We try to get it right, but we dont always. We misplace our faith. S*** happens. We move on. Some of us try to move toward "right thinking;" try to move further away from our imperfection. Some dabble in the Walk of the Spirit. Some dont even care and revel in every perceived instance of getting over on the next guy. Some of us want to single out a certain country or race or whatever as the main culprit. Poppycock! China bashers. Thai bashers. Russia bashers. USA bashers. Yeah, you cant turn a corner without bumping into somebody with an axe to grind.

Maybe we need to grow up. Move past the angst. Accept reality. Accept that change is far too often slower than is comfortable for us. But it happens ultimately things change. And yeah, sometimes its for the better and sometimes it isnt. Such is life.

Its the students. No, its the school leaders. Its the lure of the dollar, or the remimbi or the baht or the ruble. Whatever! No its you. And its me. Were human. Were imperfect.

Want to talk about China? Want to blame the corrupt system or the business oriented profession of EFL? Ok, go ahead. Want to single out individuals or single schools as the culprits? Ok, go ahead. Whine on. Ill even join in the whining maybe one of us will bring along the crackers and cheese next time. But maybe, just maybe, well take a long hard look at ourselves and realize we contribute to the problem because we are human and havent quite gotten there yet; havent evolved socially. Yeah, were still wallowing in a mud pit of our own making.

Ive yet to meet a Chinese person who could screw me as well as Ive been screwed at home in America. Ive met a few whove tried, and a few whove come close, but Ive met them in many other parts of the world too. Truth be known, my first victimization in the EFL world was at the hands of a joint partnership between an American university and a Taiwan businessman setting up an international college in PR China. Damn Taiwanese he says with tongue in cheek.

Ive yet to meet an American who could befriend me as seriously and honorably and eternally as some Chinese Ive met. My great friendships in America have eroded as easily as if they were beach sand in a winter storm.

So, Ive been here awhile four years now, and I have no intention of leaving. I am of the Earth. Im not an American. Im not Chinese, Im not European. Im just this guy living on the Earth and trying to pass the time, my time, as smoothly as possible. Before long Ill be that ex-pat American (maybe that "loony ex-pat American")hangin in some peaceful place and communing with nature and the locals. Life will go on until it doesnt. But until that time Ill still wake up with a kind of appreciation for life that I could never have attained had I not accepted that we are all of us in this together and that there is no one of us better than the other. Borders and labels are not of my making. Im just here for a temporary ride on the spaceship Earth. Thank god for gravity.