With the prodigal son home, now comes the hard part. If this blog is to work, if this blog is to gain traction, it must produce fresh, frequent and fascinating content. Life is already busy and if I focused my entire efforts on Award Expert I would have more near-term income and a less hectic life. But that is not the life I want to have.
125 countries into this world we call home, I have a lot on my mind and a unique story to tell that will unfold each day on the blog. You’ll see even this week that things are going to get very personal, very fast.
Here’s the reality. I am taking a big leap of faith in pouring my heart into this blog, for time is limited and the alternatives are tantalizing. Beyond Award Expert, I am a lawyer by training and have viable options in that field. I still have contacts on both sides of the aisle in Washington and have built a network of allies in the aviation and hospitality industries. I think of myself standing atop the Champs-Élysées in Paris and looking down the various boulevards, each representing a different path (and each leading in a different direction).
So here is what I have set up for myself: the Great Leap Forward. The name, of course, is borrowed from the period of 1958-61 in the People’s Republic of China in which the communist government set in motion a number of polices that aimed to transform the Chinese economy from largely agrarian to an industrialized powerhouse.
You would be right to note that the Great Leap Forward was inhumane, unjust, and downright barbaric in practice: in no way should my borrowing of this term be thought to signal my support for any facet of China’s Maoist polices.
The Great Leap Forward also failed.
China will still eventually surpass the USA as the world’s top global superpower, but the Great Leap Forward and later Cultural Revolution were colossal failures that hindered the development of world’s most populous nation. So why would I use that term?
The ends do not justify the means but my goal is similar to China’s: work excruciatingly hard now in order to build a future empire that can stand among the great nations. I have squandered six years – now it is time to work and I am determined to make up for lost time. But I soberly realize I am navigating through landmines and that the road to hell is paved with good intentions…
So I invite you on this journey with me that will plumb the depths of my organizational and literary talents and soon make clear whether I have what it takes to be a serious blogger. One thing is certain: it will not be talent alone that will make or break this endeavor. I not only welcome your feedback but encourage it. Bon voyage.
So excited to start reading your stuff. I enjoy your writing style already– it is much more professional than other travel blogs.
One thing, second to last sentence, “this” should be “thing”
If you ever want an editor, I am a college student on the same path you took and would love to help for free if you want!
Thanks
MattW, Thanks for your kind words and the correction. Is your e-mail you provided in the comment a valid one?
Any Chinese readers? Did I get my Chinese right?
Kinda tasteless name, don’t you think? On the low end, historians estimate 23 Million folks died as a result of the Great Leap Forward and the associated famine.
With these sorts of titles, I always err for over the top parody.
…you are comparing your hard work to come and the sacrifice of the last 6 years to that of the deaths of millions from starvation, families torn apart, classes of civilization executed or imprisoned and centuries of culture lost?
Silly, over privileged blogger.
To put it in terms you may begin to understand, this parallel is worse than 14 hours in the back of a UA 747 with the overhead TV and audio looping Frozen…and that’s probably how many parents travel.
I hate that mainstream culture has romanticized utilising the likeness of those like Mao and Castro. You’ll never see people ever photoshop their face onto the propaganda of WWII Germany.
Am I taking it too seriously?
Perhaps, but to make the preemptive statement that you make no comparison to the inhumane policy, and yet still use it; which perpetuates the cycle in written and art form. How about just saying it’s like UA rebuilding since their CO merger….too close to home for you? At least all we lost here was a Tulip and a program.