laterunner
Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 245
Kunming City: Road Rage Revelations
For someone from the West, cycling in a city in a developing country can be quite a wonderful way to test just how patient and kind you really are – or aren’t.
Living here in Kunming city in South West China, I use my (t)rusty bicycle almost every day since I don’t have a car. My bike doubles as my workout machine, exercising not only my body but also my character, as on each bike journey I run into various annoyances. Cycling here is definitely a ‘work-out-your-salvation’ kind of workout. I get many opportunities for sanctification through cycling in my interactions with other road users. Take one typical journey as an example…
An electric motorbike suddenly and silently overtakes you, alarmingly close to running into your side. Just as you’re calming down, someone steps off the pavement right in front of you, totally engrossed in their mobile phone conversation. Then two tricycle carts piled high with pineapples block the whole cycle lane ahead of you as their drivers amble along side by side in deep conversation, oblivious to the growing clot of cyclists stuck behind them. The only way round them is blocked by another electric scooter, limping along beside them at geriatric walking pace, the rider hoping he’ll get home before the battery goes completely flat. Further on in the cycle lane, six members of someone’s extended family saunter along next to each other, blocking your way better even than the two tricycling conversationalists. As you’re about to ring your bell, a large blue Chinese truck rumbles up in the adjacent lane and trumpets an unbelievably loud horn to intimidate vehicles blocking its way, jangling your nervous system into being a whole lot more nervous. Several cars hoot a defiant response. Adding another shot into this cocktail of noise, another electric motorbike makes its presence known, piercing your head with its characteristically screechy brakes. And just when you think you’ll have a break from all this at red lights, a tricycle cart laden with a dangerously full load of vomit-like restaurant leftovers destined for some pig farm out of town pulls up next to you and wafts its already pungent stench deep into your nose as it slops to a halt.
These are just some of many road annoyances I face. They all reflect aspects of the local culture and are tolerated remarkably well by the local people. However, I can’t help but judge many of them as ‘wrong’ and think that they just shouldn’t be. None of them are the result of any intentional ill-will towards me and they are all trivial. But sometimes it’s the trivial ‘offences’ that are hardest to forgive, whether real or imagined, and whether done deliberately or unintentionally.
My Chinese teacher once told me how she had met many Chinese & foreign Christians and been impressed by a common characteristic they all seemed to have - ‘kuanrong’, meaning a forgiving attitude to others. She understood that this must be because God had been ‘kuanrong’ to them. She said that this was in stark contrast with the many Chinese who easily take offence at the littlest slight. I couldn’t help but think of how unforgiving I can be when on my bicycle. It’s humbling to think how God can use the people we’re trying to reach to prod us towards further maturity in Christ.
Do you need to be more forgiving, more ‘kuanrong’, towards people who trivially offend you?
‘Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.’ Luke 6:37
‘A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.’ Proverbs 19.11
From a faith filled son.
For someone from the West, cycling in a city in a developing country can be quite a wonderful way to test just how patient and kind you really are – or aren’t.
Living here in Kunming city in South West China, I use my (t)rusty bicycle almost every day since I don’t have a car. My bike doubles as my workout machine, exercising not only my body but also my character, as on each bike journey I run into various annoyances. Cycling here is definitely a ‘work-out-your-salvation’ kind of workout. I get many opportunities for sanctification through cycling in my interactions with other road users. Take one typical journey as an example…
An electric motorbike suddenly and silently overtakes you, alarmingly close to running into your side. Just as you’re calming down, someone steps off the pavement right in front of you, totally engrossed in their mobile phone conversation. Then two tricycle carts piled high with pineapples block the whole cycle lane ahead of you as their drivers amble along side by side in deep conversation, oblivious to the growing clot of cyclists stuck behind them. The only way round them is blocked by another electric scooter, limping along beside them at geriatric walking pace, the rider hoping he’ll get home before the battery goes completely flat. Further on in the cycle lane, six members of someone’s extended family saunter along next to each other, blocking your way better even than the two tricycling conversationalists. As you’re about to ring your bell, a large blue Chinese truck rumbles up in the adjacent lane and trumpets an unbelievably loud horn to intimidate vehicles blocking its way, jangling your nervous system into being a whole lot more nervous. Several cars hoot a defiant response. Adding another shot into this cocktail of noise, another electric motorbike makes its presence known, piercing your head with its characteristically screechy brakes. And just when you think you’ll have a break from all this at red lights, a tricycle cart laden with a dangerously full load of vomit-like restaurant leftovers destined for some pig farm out of town pulls up next to you and wafts its already pungent stench deep into your nose as it slops to a halt.
These are just some of many road annoyances I face. They all reflect aspects of the local culture and are tolerated remarkably well by the local people. However, I can’t help but judge many of them as ‘wrong’ and think that they just shouldn’t be. None of them are the result of any intentional ill-will towards me and they are all trivial. But sometimes it’s the trivial ‘offences’ that are hardest to forgive, whether real or imagined, and whether done deliberately or unintentionally.
My Chinese teacher once told me how she had met many Chinese & foreign Christians and been impressed by a common characteristic they all seemed to have - ‘kuanrong’, meaning a forgiving attitude to others. She understood that this must be because God had been ‘kuanrong’ to them. She said that this was in stark contrast with the many Chinese who easily take offence at the littlest slight. I couldn’t help but think of how unforgiving I can be when on my bicycle. It’s humbling to think how God can use the people we’re trying to reach to prod us towards further maturity in Christ.
Do you need to be more forgiving, more ‘kuanrong’, towards people who trivially offend you?
‘Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.’ Luke 6:37
‘A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.’ Proverbs 19.11
From a faith filled son.
Last edited:
