They have this term here in China 'XinHaoNanRen' which translated directed means 'new good man'. There was a couple that visited here over the May holiday they have here. The girl told me I fit this title. I don't drink, smoke. I get up early and go to bed early. In general, I try to be a good person. Last night I mentioned to a chinese girl I have become good friends with whose English name is Rachel and given name is Zhang Xiaobo. She said that there was no man that was truly a 'new good man' according to the high standard it represents. I think in my head if only she knew Gordon B. Hinckley.

    It is sad to see the decline of morals in this country. Ironically historically Chinese are very moral. As wealth entered the country so did immorality. Most of the immorality is coming from America. They want to be like Americans. Friends and Sex in the City are popular here. They think it is common for Americans to talk about sex openly like in Friends and sleep around like the characters supposedly do in Sex in the City. But then there are still many who are very traditional in their perspective having been raised by goodly parents.

My friend Rachel is one of those traditional girls. She always dreamed of being friends with her first boyfriend for a year before officially dating. Actually it is common for traditional chinese to know each other for a long time before marriage and never do anything immoral during that long friendship and courtship. They tend not to express their love so openly in speech or through physical affection while in the getting-to-know-you phase and after marriage only doing so in the solitude of each others presense. Love seems to be something though less romantic that they feel deep inside them. Rachel has never seen her parents kiss or show affection but she knows her parents love each other deeply.

    One man put it to me this way: When you are young you say I love you to express it. When you are older you never say but you show through your actions. When you are too old to do anything, you just feel it deep inside and your eyes convey the deepest messages of love.

    I have seen this love myself a few times here. I once saw a very old couple walking down the street holding hands leaning on each other. They both looked too old to walk alone without the help of the other. You could see a love radiating from them that they had for each other.

    Reflecting on these ideas I think about the type of person I want to be. I hope I can become the type of man that my wife and children one day can say that I am a 'new good man'.