Thursday, January 24, 2008

Pride, Noses, The Bearded and The Short Chinese

Pride does many things to a man. It showers one with dignity and a sense of achievement. It also provides one with a feeling of self-respect and personal worth.

Then there is an often spoken line, "walked with your nose high in the air" and there again, I began analyzing the meaning of that phrase. As you may know by now, my concentration span for something as trivial as this is as short as an eyeblink. Yes, it was a heartbeat before, but now I am playing with different words and don't you try scrutinizing my wordplay, young fella.

As proverbs and confuscious sayings are often recited by bearded men and short Chinese, I so read its meaning with curiosity and a snicker, but no longer than a nose twitch.

Hmm.. do proud people really walk with their noses up in the air ? No, of course not. At least, I didn't think so, not literally, no, my friend. Not before I met my Danish employers whom I've had the pleasure, mispleasure and then misfortune of working with for a year. Anyhow, these are well to do people, people with money and class and most amusingly, high noses.

There was a day when I saw my Danish employer, Allan strutting into the hotel lobby, a proud man as there ever was one and to my fascination, his head was titled at an angle so that his nostrils were exposed, front facing to anyone who was walking towards his direction. And mind you, it wasn't a natural tilt and the way I observed, it must be uncomfortable for him and most likely disgusting for nostrils spectators.

This has lead me to believe that there is more to bearded men, the short Chinese and the balding philosopher than meets the eye. Apparently to me, their little riddles and cliches while amusing and oftentimes bewildering when read at face value, may indeed hold hidden meanings that when deciphered may well provide much insight, amusement and even appreciation for the selected few.

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