Dreams from My GrandFathers

As I began to unwind for the weekend; I picked up my copy of a kickass, new periodical, called Monocle , which JP kindly, gave to me to check out (Monocle is now available at the Loading Bay). “A briefing on Global Affairs, Business, Culture and designs” is the magazines tag line and as it suggests; it is filled with some very interesting, thought provoking articles, and has a real sense of global coverage; not just the usual Eurocentric and Americana BS that gets propagated by the media. Not that I have anything against Europe or the US, but there is certainly a lot more to the world!

One article in particular, really stood out for me. Entitled “My Last Meal”, this piece is the narrative of a well known, successful Art Director/Designer from Tokyo by the name of Kenya Hara. Hara San describes his perfect last meal, the meal that he would have before he dies, to be rice with karashi mentaiko spicy cod roe. It may sound exotic, but if you’ve ever been to Japan it’s a simple traditional Japanese dish prepared at home.

I really like the fact that in his success he is still very modest, which is very contrasting to the “I’ll-over-indulge-till-I’m-sick-from-the-most-opulent-cuisine-known-on-earth” mentality, that is experienced today. It’s the typical “good-enough-for-me” mindset of the old-guard Japanese and reminds me of two great men, in their own right: my grandfathers. Since I was young I have always been told by other people of what amazing people they were. Both of them grew up in a war ravaged time, and back in those days Taiwan was under Japanese rule and they grew up on the very Japanese based principles of modesty, dedication, dedication and more dedication.

Sadly my one grandfather passed away about two years ago. He was the deputy -headmaster of a prominent school in Taiwan, and turned down the cushy positions of headmaster and regional super independent on many occasions. Because he felt those positions, were too administrative and would have taken him away from his true passion, teaching and shaping the potential of young minds.

During his last days he had a severe lung infection and was critically, ill in hospital. But it was only in these last days that I realized how influential the man had been. One of his old students happened to be the head of medicine in Taiwan and had a prominent role in heeding the spread of the deadly SARS pandemic. Even after 40 years, my grandfather’s mentoring was not forgotten. And such was the respect shown for the teacher –student bond; that he did whatever he could to assist in making sure that my grandfather received the best medical attention that was available.

My other grandfather, lead an equally passionate life and from humble beginnings dedicated his life to build a career in the agricultural development of Taiwan. He worked his way up, tirelessly, as a young intern to become the 2IC (second in command) of Agriculture in Taiwan; and developed a process to consolidate the efforts of farm workers, to the mass packaging and branding of agricultural resources, for export as finished products to overseas markets in Japan, Europe, and the Americas.

He later retired to a less stressful position as CEO of one of the major dairies in Taiwan (Haha whenever I visited when I was young...there was an endless supply of Chocolate milk...every kids dream). To this day whenever he takes on a task, no matter what it is he dedicates his all to accomplishing it.

Many economists believe that the agricultural revolution is what led to the industrialization of Taiwan and thus the eventual, economic prosperity of the country; Taiwan became known as one of the Asian Tigers. It is quite amazing to think that my grandfather was one of the individuals to be at the forefront of this.

However with all his achievement he is by far one of the most humble and modest individuals I have ever come across, to the point where he is borderline eccentric.
It had never occurred to me how successful he actually was, as he still lives in the same small, old house, where my mom grew up. And based on that; for a long time I thought the stories told of his accomplishments, were a ploy, fabricated to get me and my brother to work harder. Until one day he asked me if I were so kind to accompany an old man to water some plants at his other homes.

Walking with him, the man doesn’t drive by the way and has no intention of ever owning a car, I was astounded to find the first house was a ridiculous 4 storey, 10 bedroom mansion. One of many might I add, as the next few houses we visited to water the plants, were equally big and impressive. When I enquired why he hadn’t decided to live in these other homes; he simply replied that there was no need and that the house that he lived in “was good enough”.

With the same old-guard mentality apparent in the article from Monocle, even my writing of my grandfathers in this fashion would probably perturb them and be too boastful. It is strange how we tend to measure success through material success and the above example just goes to show that I am certainly not exempt from this either. Looking back I believe I have some big shoes to fill, but looking forward, I believe I have a lesson to learn in modesty and I have yet, a lot to accomplish!