I am the (Stone) Egg.

This morning I discovered that last week, Murakami Haruki went to Israel to accept the Jerusalem Prize. But before he went, there was an open letter urging him to consider the implications of the accepting a prize from the Israelis. In the end, the man went and in his acceptance speech said that, “If there’s a high, street(?) wall, and an egg breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg. No matter how right the wall may be, how wrong the egg, I’ll be standing with the egg.”

You can see bits of the speech here:

…and there’s more of his speech here too.

Then I got caught up reading the arguments/discussions going on in the LJ community, if that was the right thing to do or not. To be honest, I don’t get it. Perhaps I’m just too simplistic. The political angle (e.g. accepting the award implies he condones the Israeli Government’s actions) didn’t occur to me when I saw the news, instead my first thought was that finally, finally someone is using the power of the media to spread a positive and humanitarian message.

I wish people were less concerned about whether his actions were right or wrong, whether accepting the award was political or not; there are few areas in life where right and wrong is clear as black and white – most of the time we are wading in morally grey waters. And it doesn’t matter if someone is thinks about or is interested in discussing politics or not, our actions are our politics – which is why I respect Murakami for using this as a platform to make a statement. And really, no one has the right to judge Murakami for accepting the award. I’m sure he’s not blind to the irony that it’s a prize for the “Freedom of the Individual in Society”, but I’d much rather we focused on his message and remember that instead (even if I’m not too keen on the egg analogy ;))

This probably got my attention this morning because I related to Murakami’s Egg message. Of course it’s not a big deal like what he was referring to, but I feel a little like Murakami’s Egg at work these days. I hate it when people try to control me. Wasn’t freedom the whole point of working at this place that promised that I can “design my own schedule”? And that there’s no minimum number of lessons I have to fulfill? Now I got this guy who’s trying to manipulate my schedule (and I’m not quite sure yet, but possibly using me to help sales?!).

Even if I take into consideration that they are sponsoring my visa, I’ll clear at least 180 or more lessons this month, which is above average, so I reckon a better strategy would be to approach those who are offering fewer lessons to open up a few more here and there. I’m already putting in 6 days a week, and I often open a lesson here and there, so he should really STAY AWAY from me. You’d think anyone could figure that out. And ultimately, what ticked me off is that he asks WHY I’m closing lessons. It’s none of your business!!!! I think it’s ok to try to persuade me to keep the lesson open, or ask me if I can open more lessons, but NOT acceptable to ask me why I’m closing lessons. I FEEL LIKE IT. CAN?

I’m really trying to see where he’s coming from, I’ve even asked the Universe to help me understand(!!)… but beyond meeting the target number of lessons, I cannot see any good reason for this control freak behaviour. I guess I’ll have to keep trying. I feel though that if a branch cannot meet its target number of lessons, the underlying problem is not with how many lessons are open for booking, but the quality of its instructors.

Ok, rant over. I may be an Egg but I’m made of STONE! and I thought this new blog would be so rant/emo-free. RawRRRRR. haha. On the positive side, I’m still enjoying the teaching bit and I’m so thankful that I get to meet so many wonderful people in the process.