三 (three) 人 (people) 成 (attain) 虎 (tiger)
Do you remember this Psych 101 conformity experiment? You are shown 4 bars, and you're asked which among the three bars on the right corresponds most closely with the single bar on the left. First, you confidently answer A. When one of your classmates says it's B instead, you think, "he's crazy." When another one answers B again, you pause. When yet another answers B, you start doubting yourself. Then the entire class answers B, and you find it difficult to dispute unanimity. Even when the answer seems crystal clear.
In the story of 三人成虎, there was no tiger. Once upon a time, a worried adviser asked his gullible king whether he would believe it if someone told him a tiger walked into the market. Of course not, the king answered, there are no tigers around here. Well, all it took to sway him was three persuasive fibbers.
Will you be able to resist the truth in numbers?
密 (dense) 雲 (cloud) 不 (not) 雨 (rain)
Dark clouds before rain usually sound ominous, foreboding. Why has rain ever become such a negative word? Ask a farmer praying for it. He would be overjoyed at the sight of gathering rain clouds. Just when will it pour? It hasn't... yet. The clouds are getting fully saturated.
There is hope.
Any minute now.
亡 (lose) 羊 (sheep) 補 (mend) 牢 (pen) 
So, your sheep runs away owing, supposedly, to some shoddy construction.
What do you do?
Well, don't have a cow, man. It doesn't spell utter futility, although some people choose to interpret it that way. A similar saying mocks you: fixing the barn after you lose your cow, or just closing the barn door after the cow is gone, why, that's pointless, pointless, pointless.
Really, what seems more foolish than setting out to repair your animal's abode after the ingrate vacates its premises?
Apparently, a lot of good can come out of it. A broken barn could prove to be a break instead.
In other words, you could certainly learn from your mistakes, build things better next time.
Yes, better late than never.
***
Character 牢
Check out the barn roof 宀.
Under it lives a cow 牛. Neat!
***
小 (small) 貪 (desire) 大 (big) 失 (loss)
A la "penny-wise, pound-foolish", this is somewhat close to the feeling you have when you get a parking ticket after trying to save a few quarters. A student risks 小貪大失 when he fails to resist a party night before an all-important exam.
Like contestants on "Deal or No Deal", people sometimes take a seemingly fair gamble, and sometimes, they win. The prize may not be theirs to begin with, but still, it's heartbreaking to watch someone lose everything, even when you have no initial sympathy for their irrational misjudgment.
梅 (plum) 林 (woods) 止 (stop) 渴 (thirst)
Okay. Just a little bit of history. (Bonus fact: My grandmother's family name was 林, and I am partial to forests. Orchards, too.)
***
This goes back to Jin Dynasty, to an emperor with many names, who allegedly had ten thousand concubines. His rule was 265 - 290.
So anyway, he and his soldiers, on their way to attack Eastern Wu, got lost, wandered around for a while, and ran out of drinking water. So he came up with this bright white lie. "Dear troops, there should be plenty of plum trees that way, and the branches should be bearing plenty of tart fruit." Hearing this, enough saliva formed in the soldiers' mouths to last them long enough to reach their destination. Or so the tale goes.
Fantasy is sometimes used to (seemingly) satisfy an unreachable goal. And even a poor substitute can be surprisingly adequate. Temporarily.
photo by Sharon Hahn Darlin
針 (pin) 小 (small) 棒 (pole) 大 (big)
Have you ever had a scary experience and wanted to show off? "...you wouldn't believe what happened to me last night... I was walking down this dark alley... "
For entertainment's sake, no one should blame you for turning a toothpick-sized pin into a large baseball bat.
異 (different) 口 (mouth)
同 (same) 聲(sound)
Alternate version: 異口同音
Would it be uncontested unanimity?
Complete solidarity?
Forced consensus?
Mindless parroting?
Mocking parody?
Reluctant repetition?
Apathetic agreement?
Harmonious chorus?
Resonant echo?
Tautological iteration?
Collective wisdom?
Whatever it is, you are in concert.
Play me a true tune.
事 (event) 必 (must) 歸 (revert) 正 (right)
This is willful optimism.
That things are bound to end up being right, just, lawful, and good.
It's perhaps harder to imagine this scenario amid inevitable greed, inevitable bubble, inevitable crash, inevitable debt, inevitable bailout, inevitable taxes, inevitable poverty, inevitable recession, inevitable war...
But there are also such things as inevitable bottom, inevitable recovery, inevitable growth, inevitable reward...
... inevitable justice, inevitable peace?
Ultimately, inevitable humanity.
Or else, the world will rightfully go to the dogs.
image: dkimages.com
