Listen to my audio narration of this essay above. Parts 1 and 2 are now un-paywalled and can be read here and here. You’re taking this way too personally I know that no good empirical evidence supports the familiar stereotypes about birth order. But as the middle child — the second of three boys, with a sister who came along a few years afterward — I was the peacemaker in the family in just the way conventional wisdom says middle children tend to be. When my parents fought, my instinct was to find a compromise, remind everyone that there are deep reservoirs of love to be drawn upon, keep them from escalating and fighting dirty, and —when necessary — physically separate them and shuttle messages back and forth. I seized the car keys so my mother wouldn’t drive off angrily, as she was wont to do. I chided my father for his reflexive, smug seizure of the rational high ground and his maddening disdain for emotion.
Thank you for putting out this three-part series. One can only imagine the time it took to come up with the multitudinous incidents in your life, to digest them yourself, and organize them into a coherent whole. The discussion of therapy was particularly poignant. In many ways this whole series has been, shall I say, therapeutic for you, at least as therapeutic for you as it is informational for the rest of us.
I have been listening to you for years, and never written, your gift for introspective thought, your agility in adjusting to the left turns that an interview always presents, your assembly of precise adjectives, and, yes, your political leanings have become second nature. The piece of the puzzle that you have brilliantly filled-in is the answer to the 为什么 (why) question. (I sense that there is even more that could contribute to the picture, but this is a wonderful start.)
Hi, Kaiser. It must have been 20 years since we met in Beijing for the first time. You were writing a profile for a "northern china cotton farmer" when we chatted in the office of my first employer, a commodities trading company.
I learned so much more about you and your mom & dad from this 3 episodes. Let's keep in touch.
Thank you for putting out this three-part series. One can only imagine the time it took to come up with the multitudinous incidents in your life, to digest them yourself, and organize them into a coherent whole. The discussion of therapy was particularly poignant. In many ways this whole series has been, shall I say, therapeutic for you, at least as therapeutic for you as it is informational for the rest of us.
I have been listening to you for years, and never written, your gift for introspective thought, your agility in adjusting to the left turns that an interview always presents, your assembly of precise adjectives, and, yes, your political leanings have become second nature. The piece of the puzzle that you have brilliantly filled-in is the answer to the 为什么 (why) question. (I sense that there is even more that could contribute to the picture, but this is a wonderful start.)
With gratitude and respect, -- Dennis
Hi, Kaiser. It must have been 20 years since we met in Beijing for the first time. You were writing a profile for a "northern china cotton farmer" when we chatted in the office of my first employer, a commodities trading company.
I learned so much more about you and your mom & dad from this 3 episodes. Let's keep in touch.
Forrest Hu (from Singapore)