Ha Jin - Mar 21, Sunday Fun & Chair Class

From an immigrant, the dangers of generalizing or stereotyping , anywhere. Translated from the original Chinese, by the poet.

CONCRETENESS AND CLARITY

You pointed at my face and said, “How

could you let one person's memory

embody a billion people's experience?

This is like letting a dot represent

a vast surface - a distorted reality!”

A billion is a huge number.

Even Einstein

might be wary of it.

What do a billion faces look like?

How do a billion voices sound?

Not able to hear or see clearly,

you would have a head stuffed with clouds -

there'd be the same story for everyone.

Give me solidity and clarity.

Let me see one face, then another;

let me hear one voice, then another.

Big numbers can produce

only confusion and fraudulence.