From: the.wise.one@abel.co.uk   
      
   Practice Jogging   
      
   [during the Western Han Dynasty, 206 BC to 25 AD]   
      
      
   Perceiving an upcoming disaster is not enough to save yourself.  You   
   must also make a plan to deal with it.  The following interesting   
   episode happened in the beginning of the first century AD.  The last few   
   emperors were extremely young.  Some of them were still babies.  A   
   notorious regent named Wong Mang intended to murder the powerless child   
   emperor Ju-Tzi-Ying and snatch the crown for himself.   
      
        A fortune-teller named Zan Win-Gon foresaw that the country would   
   become a chaotic slaughterhouse.  He ordered his family to shoulder two   
   large baskets of rice, each of them weighing fifty pounds, and practice   
   jogging every day for hours.  Giggling and cackling, the neighbors were   
   amused by their peddler-like appearances and exhausting exercise.   
      
        A few years later, the dynasty was overthrown.  Several powerful   
   lords and ambitious persons gathered their own armies and fought with   
   one another for the throne.  A series of battles devastated the country.   
     Cities and farmlands were abandoned.  Tens of thousands of people died   
   of starvation and warfare.  But among the few lucky survivors were the   
   fortune-teller and his family, who not only saved their lives, but also   
   carried enough grain to keep from starving.   
      
        A similar event occurred at the end of the Northern Sung dynasty in   
   the early twelfth century AD.  A well-known prince minister, Tsay-Gin,   
   hired a coach to teach his family members jogging.  Although they didn't   
   have an opportunity to use it, I think it was for the same reason.   
      
        Besides having a keen observation, one must always be prepared.   
   Don't waste time naively wondering whether a misfortune will come or   
   not.  It is irrelevant.  The real point is, are you ready if it does come?   
      
      
   from:   
   "Wisdom's Way: 101 Tales of Chinese Wit"   
   by Walton Lee   
   YMAA Publication Center, Massachusetts, 1997   
   Chapter 5: Keen Perception   
   pages 70-71   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)