Awhile back I came across a book entitled “The Private Life of Mao,” written by his longtime personal physician, Dr. Li Zhisui. In one of excerpts from the tell-all tale, Dr. Zhisui wrote, “Mao Zedong was not supposed to ever die. To hundreds of millions of Chinese, he had been not a man or even an emperor, but God himself. For almost two decades, the slogan wishing him a life of ten thousand years had so dominated daily ritual that for many Chinese the words had become fact. Mao’s image was everywhere and so was the slogan. To suggest that Mao was mortal was to risk being labeled a counterrevolutionary.”
But Mao did indeed turn out to be mortal. A little after midnight on September 9, 1976, while surrounded by a medical team of 16 of China’s best physicians and 24 excellent nurses, Mao exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and called it a life.
As I read through the book, it quickly became obvious that Dr. Zhisui was not only Mao’s personal physician, but he was also (or at least he claimed to be) one of Mao’s few political confidants and therefore was privy to some of the most intimate details of the Chairman’s life. He explained that “Mao led an isolated existence, seldom saw his wife or his three children and had no friends.” He apparently also suffered from insomnia, greatly enjoyed ballroom dancing (although it was prohibited right after the revolution as decadent and bourgeois) and also had a pretty kinky sex life. However, I wasn’t truly shocked until I came across the following words: “As a relatively young man, Mao stopped bathing. He considered it a complete waste of time. He also did not brush his teeth, which were always covered with a heavy greenish film. When I would give him a dental exam and press down on his gums, pus would ooze out.”
Yuck! But there it was, staring right up at me in black and white, further proof positive that people (in this case, bazillions of Chinese) just shouldn’t have heroes!
When I was a young man, I got caught up in the musical lyrics of songwriter/singer Bob Dylan (although most of my family and friends never accepted the idea that he was much of the latter) and he immediately became my hero, until I read a book about him which said that having heroes (including him) was just about the most stupid thing a person could do. “Heroes will always disappoint you – because they are only human,” wrote Dylan, and that turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice that I’ve ever come across.
“But you must have some kind of heroes,” a friend of mine insisted when we got to talking about this the other day.
“Of course, I have,” I admitted, “but they all turned out pretty much like Dylan said they would, and I was prepared.”
“Like who?” he asked.
“Well, let’s see, there was Ty Cobb, who was once the greatest baseball hitter who ever lived, but he also turned out to be a racist psychopath; and Charles Lindberg, the brave pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis, who ended up liking the way Nazi’s did things and made anti-semitic speeches around the country both before and during World War Two; and then there was John F. Kennedy, who turned out to be a much better lover than a president.”
“I think I can easily top those three,” said my friend.
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, for more years than I care to count, my wife had this incredible crush on O.J. Simpson and thought he walked on water – until he of course turned out to be God-only-knows-what.”
“My point exactly,” I said.
“But I still think everyone needs heroes,” said my friend.
“Maybe so, but certainly not famous movie stars or politicians or athletes we only think we know,” I suggested. “I think the real heroes in our lives live much closer to home, and maybe all we really need to do is just spend some time now and then appreciating our loved ones and all the other ordinary people around us who give our lives meaning and purpose.”
“But how can you tell which one of those are real heroes — you know, someone really worth admiring?” asked my friend.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, “but my best guess is that you can quickly weed out anyone who never takes a bath and never brushes their teeth!”