In the late 1950’s , Chairman Mao Zedong of China implemented the first stages of his Great Leap Forward, an effort to move China away from a predominantly agrarian society to a modern industrial and political power. One of the first parts of the GLF was the Four Pests Campaign.
The Chinese government identified four scourges on their society and set out to eradicate them. They were: rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows. It was determined that these four animals were destroying Chinese health and their food supply. (Sparrows ate the seeds for various crops). The entire population of mainland Communist China was mobilized and motivated to rid their country of the Four Pests.
To make a long and weird story short, they succeeded in purging the country of sparrows, driving certain species to near extinction, but since sparrows fed on locusts, those populations exploded unchecked and devoured a large percentage of the country’s crops which led to the Great Chinese Famine in the early 60’s, resulting in the deaths of over 20 million people.
That’s the very definition of the concept of unintended consequences!
Every one of us has our own personal Four Pests Campaign. We might call them our “if only” list. These are not things that would improve your life if you had them, these are things that you think would improve your life if they were gone, eradicated or eliminated from your life entirely.
Debt, disease, discouragement, depression, discord, etc.
Get rid of these things and your life is better.
A friend of mine who owned his own business mentioned that his work would be a lot of fun if it wasn’t for customers. (he was joking…I think) I am sure that teachers, doctors, car mechanics, retailers, scientists, salespersons and star athletes have their own lists of Four Pests they could live without.
Authors, publishers and even agents have their own individual lists of Four Pests.
Publishers would like to get rid of:
- Risk
- Competition
- Failure
- Change
Authors would love to get rid of:
- Distractions
- Rejection
- Wasted effort
- Author platforms
The list for agents probably contains some of the same elements of the author and publisher lists.
Funny thing about the items listed above, while all of them have some varying levels of pain associated with them, they are also the very things that make publishing interesting and challenging. It is also those things that sharpen and hone our skills. Maybe you have heard it said about any number of other worthwhile pursuits…if it were easy, then everyone could do it.
The “pests” you have in your life are also the tools that God uses to sharpen us and make us rely more on his faithfulness.
And all those great fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5? There isn’t a qualifier that those are present in the absence of pests. They are apparent in spite of pests.
By the way, more recently, China implemented a new Four Pests campaign, replacing sparrows with cockroaches, which no one complains about killing.
Hi Dan,
I love that you included author platforms. A friend of mine is starting a blog, and as I’ve discussed it with her, I’ve struggled with the need for doing blogs as part of our author platform.
Time wasted versus time well spent is my dilemma. I continue to blog though because that is what agents suggest, and I trust you all.
Enjoyed your post today. Thanks!
I have a huge wild lizard in my backyard that fits this concept exactly. He gives me the creeps, but without him my yard would be overrun with bugs, particularly scorpions, and my plants would be infested. His presence has taught me that God can and does use the “pests” in our lives to grow and benefit us, and learning to deal with them builds character. In writing, some of my pests have indeed been painful, but they’ve made me a better writer. I don’t want more than my fair share of the rascals, but I can appreciate their worth. Great post :-).
Great post, Dan! Yes, we need to be careful what we pray for . . . or try to exterminate in this case. We never know what the unintended consequences will be. 🙂
I’m learning that anything God allows into my life is there for a purpose. Even if it prods me, causes pain or irritates me. God uses those things to draw me closer to Him, to help me see how much I need to depend on Him. We live our lives for Him in spite of the pests, right?
I’m learning to walk through the pain, holding tightly to His hands.
And for the record: I have no problem with anyone who wants to exterminate cockroaches. 😉
Hi Jeanne,
My daddy once told me to be careful what you pray for because sometimes God say yes. And we better be ready.
The publishers’ list could also apply to authors. I’m finding that WWII, the era I write, has gotten too crowded. Editors have mentioned authors in other publishing houses under the same parent company as the reason they’re not interested in looking at my work. I do feel the sting of competition and failure. And change is in the near future; when I finish my WIP, I’ll risk trying another era.
Great post!
And the fruit is there not only despite the pests, but because of the pests. If you ask God to make you loving and joyful, he’ll give you unlovely people and hard circumstances. If you ask for him to teach you to be peaceful, he’ll give you conflict. If you ask him for patience, he’ll make you a writer. 🙂
Haha Sally. Patience is a good fruit for sure.
I agree Dan but still struggle with that last pest as an author. I know we need it, but I keep thinking about doing what God has gifted us at and wanting to see Him move mountains…
I get it. Maybe if we could view platform as an opportunity to connect with people it can be less of a pest. For sure, it goes against the grain of less extroverted people.
At first I was just gonna say AMEN to your message. Absolutely true. But I had to (in my frustration at the moment) mention another irritating pest…Microsoft Word. But then I can’t imagine going back to typewriters either. (<;
…or white-out, or correction tape, or retyping an entire page. I barely exhibit literacy with an ability to easily correct things. I can’t imagine how I would sound without it!
Good solid post.
We can learn from the past. Chinese leaders thought they were doing the right thing but killed millions of people. The corps of engineers thought they had built the perfect defense against flooding in New Orleans. What we don’t know can hurt us. In James we’re told where to find the wisdom we need. The Lord may not work the way we do, but He knows the beginning from the end.
I trust my agent. I trust he’s not shooting in the dark and that knowledge gives me peace.
Good post. 🙂 I feel like there are a lot of pests in my writing life right now. I just hope I can work through them to good result.
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