From the Bench

 

 

2008- THE YEAR OF THE RAT

 

At 5AM I turned on the tube to get the latest on the stock market. The day before, it had plunged 370 points. It was too early for America, but the international channel had a Chinese lady who I assumed to be a market analyst. She was discussing the Chinese New Year, 2008, the year of the rat.

It was unclear to me what the Chinese brown rat portends for the year, and I'm not sure it was completely clear to the Chinese lady; however, I am a bit skeptical of forecasts based on animals. Or stars, moons, palms, or tea leaves, for that matter.

Here's the reason. Many years ago I was introduced to the twelve-year Chinese animal calendar through a place mat in a Chinese restaurant. One of its more ominous warnings was that a "horse" should never marry a "rat." Being a "horse" (don't even think of carrying that comparison any further), I discovered, on closer investigation, that the beautiful lady who sat across from me, who had, with limited assistance from me, produced the three beautiful children beside us, was.....a "rat"!

This cross-germination of horse and rat may not work in China, or even "eharmony.com", but it has worked fairly well for us these many years.

Our union may be anecdotal, however, since the rest of the morning news did indeed predict a ratty year. "Super Tuesday", the political media event of the moment, had ended in a big day for John McCain, a neck-and-neck race between Hillary and Obama, and stock market futures that still looked weak.

So far, so bad.

I decided to dress and take a walk. Maybe the fresh air would clear my head and erase the gloom. Alas, it was raining.

Maybe the Chinese are smarter than I thought. I'm going to start taking those fortune cookies more seriously.

C2008 Dave Nelson