Getting to Know You

Thinking of President Donald Trump’s recent Asian trip reminded me of the 1950’s Broadway musical song entitled, “Getting to know you”🎶 from the show the “King and I.” It was a real life, if not somewhat fictionalized account of the meeting and subsequent relationship of a British nanny with the King of Siam. The Broadway musical and (later) movie highlighted the highs and lows that naturally existed between the different cultures and countries. 

The love, and the fun were juxtaposed against the anger and the frustrations between the East and the West. Yet, I like to think of the dance performed between the King and Anna as a sort of union that does occur between us when we get to know one another and start physically moving in the right direction, as in a dance.That dance can represent the joining of East and West in matters of art, culture, an economic or political dance.

Nothing has changed and while some might think that musical quaint and outdated it nonetheless seems valid today when I reflect upon President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Asia. Some preliminary deals were reached but more importantly a dialogue happened. There will be steps forward and backwards of course but, the President of the United States signed trade deals and production pacts for critical minerals with several nations, including, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan and Australia. We need one another and we should work together for a better world. 

Speaking of dances, I loved it when the new Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi surprised everyone and busted some moves to the song Y.M.C.A.  That was precious. Blessings to her as she begins her tenure in Office. The nation was gracious in so many ways. There were gifts of cherry blossoms. What beauty the cherry blossom represent in this world of growing ugliness. Of course they are beautiful, God created them! What can I say but, that I was touched to hear that one of the meals between the two world leaders consisted of American beef and rice mixed with Japanese ingredients. The dance of East and West perfectly portrayed. Yet some were quick to criticize the whole endeavor and look for flaws. How is this constructive in a world needing of hope?

It isn’t. The world is heading towards seismic shifts a lot of it not good. The United Nations is no help. When nations of the past seemed to be heading in the wrong directions the dream of a world body that could gather and work together for the good of humanity came about. It has utterly, utterly failed and so what is left is prayer, and individual nations again reaching out to one another in earnest and seeing a way forward based on some foundations. Ah, but what basis for cooperation is there? 

Of course Jesus prayed that we would all be one in him. There is a great community of Christians in Asia. Faith in Jesus Christ binds believers wherever they may be. What else can the world agree upon? Here are just a few topics that came up that we need to think about. Drugs. Can we start out with something simple like….fentanyl is bad? What China believes about fentanyl was front and center on President Trump’s trip to Asia. I pray that we can all do the right thing to try and stop the terrible drug trade. Drugs are a blight upon the planet. 

Business. Can we all agree that we must do business with one another and that ultimately it can do a lot to keep world economies strong and healthy? No country on earth has a complete set of resources, goods and services to meet all of their needs therefore trade is necessary for the well-being of every nation. That is humbling and perhaps reflects a godly principle that no one person has all that is needed lest they should brag and we can extrapolate that concept further to incorporate nations.

War. Shouldn’t each country individually examine its’ position and encouragement of wars that are currently going on around the world? Do changes have to happen? I believe that a theme present in the recent meetings between East and West was war and well it should be.

The thing that Donald Trump represents that is infectious is his fresh and non-politcal approach to some of these topics. Having spent the majority of his career doing business inculcated a different set of problem- solving skills than a politician would have. Politics seems to lead to bureaucracy, economic foolishness and impracticality. You can afford foolishness when you are on the top of a political hierarchy that is completely out of touch with the average citizen of your country. That, plus the huge governmental budgets and lack of accountability. 

In business, you have to keep a budget, pay investors and stock holders. You must produce goods and services that people will pay for and if you don’t you go out of business. If you don’t make good and fair business deals eventually your clients will go elsewhere. Business innovation requires thinking outside of the box. I see this outside the box thinking in all President Trump’s recent trips to both the Middle East and Asia. The wheels of the war machine are crushing different parts of the world at the moment. There are awful massacres taking place in Africa, the Russian war has been going on for close to four years and the Middle East is a hot mess and it has been for a long, long time. 

What to do? Let me think…the same old thing or should we at least try something new to break through the inertia and intractability of these seemingly impossible situations? I don’t think it’s right to look for every time a problem occurs in Gaza to prove that President Trump’s approach isn’t working when the world allowed the Palestinians to smuggle weapons and dig a huge network of tunnels under and into hospitals, schools, and mosques for decades. It was obvious what they were planning. This is one of the big elephants in the middle of the United Nations room. 

Another elephant in the room of world politics is China trying to black mail the United States in order to continue unfair trade practices, supporting the war in Russia and not listening to the plea from USA to stop fentanyl shipments. Drugs are an evil thing for China to be known for and there is no justification for what they are doing. You can not go to heaven and deal dope. Repent and be saved. 

China is reeking of old communist stink. Totalitarianism is apparent there. They have stolen intellectual properties from the United States, and spied on us. The talented programmers and engineers in Asian are being wooed by China. Why not stay home and make your own country great. It will not end well supporting China’s growing technology, they are not doing good things with it. There is power in a New Asia to balance and mitigate for China.

There is a new Asia. That Asia has much to offer the world. “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, getting to know you, getting to hope you like me.”🎶 The time has come for us to spend time together and get to know one another better. Nations making their own new type deals, interacting on the world scene and making contribution in diplomacy, business and culture. Helping to solve problems such as hunger, and war. 

There are many outstanding artistic, fashion  and home designers from Asia that can and should be doing more business internationally but, for the divide that exists at times. Still, when I think of fashion, jewelry, and home style I see the influence that Asia has recently instilled upon in me. I am currently reading a book about weaving from Ichi.co. Weaving has taken me by storm as of late. I teach a monthly craft class at my church of the most humble sort. Every month we delve into the history, and some basics regarding a craft discipline. We start with prayer, lunch and then have some good arts and craft fun.

When I asked the class what areas of interest they had and what craft they might wish to explore, they seemed to be of one accord: “let’s try weaving.” Oh great, the one thing I know next to nothing about. Six months later, I have a few hand looms, a 4 harness loom and am reading Ichi.co’s “Small Loom Weaving-easy projects for beginners.” Aren’t these the kind of connections that we should be making? President Trump’s recent visit to Asia and to Japan in particular are some of my inspiration for exploring the world of this embroidery and textile arts writer. She exhibits and sells her handwoven works in Japan and teaches workshops. I would love to take one of those workshops. 🎶 “Getting to know you…”

As a Christian I see God as the central solution to the problems we face as a people and as a world. In our individual life we could have victory over much more that we need to fix in our life by aligning our life with God’s plan. We would start to heal family rifts, community problems and deal more honestly and humanly around the world with one another. Let’s remain open to one another. It is so easy to make excuses for not starting the conversation. Besides opening the doors to commerce, and exchanging ideas for ending wars, for me on a personal level President Trump’s visit to Asia started me thinking about Asian music, products and artistic approaches. Suddenly, when I perused a list of possible weaving books to buy, Japanese titles stood out. 

When asked my opinion of topics to explore in my local Weaver’s Guild, I thought of the unique Indonesian process of weaving and speakers from that region who could teach us via Zoom. I very much look forward to exploring products from the many countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia that met with our President. A fantasy vacation would entail an Asian Crafting exploration. 

Of course details of any trade deal will be debated and readjusted from time to time… but me, I am just a housewife and I want to wear Asian design, buy vases or cookbooks that could expand my recipe repertoire. Maybe, you would like to do that too? Movies, or television series? We already have that on Netflix but all the attention that President Trump’s trip garnered brought my attention back to checking out some recent titles. I am also thinking of volunteering to host a Pastor from the Philippines or Taiwan when they visit some local churches. One thing is for certain, I always feel the connection to other believers wherever they come from on the planet.