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 I was recently told that I was a very interesting person. I thanked them for saying that and just sort of passed it off without asking for an explanation.
A few hours later, upon some reflection I thought about what was said to me. I repeated that statement in my mind and thought., “No, I’m not that interesting.” I’m kind of boring, even though I’ve experienced some very interesting events in my life. I thought, there are smarter people than me, more accomplished, more creative, and better at almost anything I do.
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 I was recently asked what was one of the most unusual things that's ever happened to me… maybe a fun fact?
I thought about it for a minute and then I realized maybe the best story I could tell was about the time I was detained by the Chinese police in Beijing, China for passing counterfeit money!  What’s your turning point in life? You know that seminal moment that you could look back upon now, and say for certain, that if this or that had not happened, my life and it’s trajectory would have been very different. To be sure there are many, many of these turning points in our lives. But some seem to stand out more than others. What’s yours?
I have contemplated this concept many times in many different scenarios of my life. So many times those moments seemed like they were either spirit led, providential, lucky, or just plain bad! When I first became a freshly minted professor of communication, I got to actually assign this to a group of students to contemplate this idea, process the details, and communicate it to others in a speech in what is called an Ice-Breaker Speech.  I am a self-admitted-late bloomer in life. When I was in high school, I was undisciplined and unmotivated, especially for things that I did NOT want to do! I graduated from college by sheer persistence, and the skin of my teeth, not because I was a good student, but because no matter how badly I performed, I just wouldn’t quit. I graduated from undergraduate with an embarrassing 2.0 GPA. It was about 5-6 years after I graduated from college that I finally grew up a little. Then I wanted to go back and re-take all of my classes to do better.
I went to graduate school in January of 2001, 24 years after I left college with my bachelor’s degree. Upon starting my master’s degree, I was 46 years old, turning 47 just three months later. I enrolled at Roosevelt University in Chicago eventually getting a Master’s of Science in Integrated Marketing Communication, or affectionately known in the industry as IMC. By the way, my GPA from graduate school was 4.0!  I first met Xia Renci, (Sophia), on Graduation Day at Harding University for our Chinese Host Student/Son, Crescent, in December of 2018. After all of the hugs, high fives, and photos had all been taken, we wanted to celebrate with him, and for him. We suggested that Crescent gather a few of his friends and let us take them all to dinner. We met at a country restaurant called KJ’s in a nearby border town of Searcy called Judsonia. Upon our arrival we were introduced to a couple of guys and a couple of girls. I knew Crescent’s roommates Hank, and Leo, but did not think I knew the girls. As we sat down at our table, I made my way around the group to meet them. I first met Lydia, who was very shy and introverted. As I presented my hand to shake Sophia’s hand, I said, “Ni Hao, Wo shi….” she cut me off, beamed a beautiful smile my way, looked at me with a sparkle in her eye, and said in pretty good English, “I know you. You’re Xie Yeye. You’re famous!”
 CJric Zhou, a former student of mine, a gifted photographer and young friend, died on August 31, 2020 in an auto accident in China. Ric, as he was known, was only 32 years old and had been married for two years. He worked for CCTV shooting documentaries for Chinese television. When Ric first came to my Principles of Communication class at Harding, he was very quiet and introverted. He had a soft and warm smile and an inquisitive look in his eyes. I never really knew how much of what I said he understood. English was his second language, and at the time I first met him he had only been in the United States for a couple of weeks. Ric was well like and had a lot of friends.
 In May of 2020, as I posted the grades for my last Chinese Communication Principles class, I paused for a moment of reflection… I took some time to thank God for allowing me 12 great years for the amazing opportunity to teach our Chinese students! It has been a challenge, a stretch, and an exercise of my heart.
 Nie Xin walked into my ESL level Principles of Communication classroom full of energy, and began enthusiastic verbal activity with the other Chinese students. In other words, she was laughing and talking a lot. That was not normal for my new Chinese students. But this was a semester that was starting in January. Spring semesters were always a little different because most of the students had been at Harding for a semester and already knew each other. However, this was Xin’s first semester at Harding. Her English was good because she had transferred from an English-speaking university in the Philippines. Her hometown was Yueyang, Hunan, China, a suburb of the much bigger city of Changsha.
 In January of 2015 there was a gentle knock at my office door. My office door is almost always open, so before I turned around to see who wanted to see me I heard a soft female Chinese voice that said, “Hello, are you Professor Shaner?” A Chinese woman was standing there and introduced herself as Catherine (her American name) and that she was told I was looking for a Chinese language teacher.  One thing I learned very quickly from my many excursions to China is the word guanxi 关系. Almost as soon as I landed and started conversing with others, I was told that I seem to have a lot of Guanxi! I wondered, but didn’t want to ask, what in the world they meant by that? So, I looked it up. |
AuthorSteve Shaner is a professional story teller that delights in traveling to meet new and old friends. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Archives
May 2025
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