Dr. Red Nose’s Diary – Lesson Nine ​ Dr. Red Nose

Today we performed at the hospital. We walked into the room of a girl we were meeting for the first time; she had already been hospitalized for two weeks.

When we opened the door, our eyes met, and the girl looked stunned. But a few seconds later, she suddenly smiled and said, “You’re in our Chinese textbook this semester!” Then she added, “But we haven’t gotten to that lesson yet!”

As the lead subject of the enormous photo on the front page of that lesson, Tiantian, of course, humbly recreated the frozen pose from the picture; and amid everyone’s wildly enthusiastic cheering, reluctantly made several star-worthy appearances.

At the end, Tiantian asked the girl if she wanted an autograph. The girl and her mother were very excited, but since they had not brought the textbook to the hospital, they had to ask Tiantian to sign the “table of contents page” in her Chinese workbook. Next to the line reading “Lesson Nine ​ Dr. Red Nose,” Tiantian left an enormous piece of artistic handwriting.

Another Medical Clown, Moana, was the subject of the main image on Dr. Red Nose Facebook fan page. Knowing that her status was far below Tiantian’s, whose image was printed in textbooks across the country, she very discreetly left only a tiny signature in the table of contents.

Tiantian had already left the room, but was later called back. It turned out that the girl wanted to take a photo with the two of us clowns. “I want to show my classmates!” Humble and gracious Tiantian, of course, readily obliged, posing in a restrained (but unable to conceal her inner radiance) manner as she recorded a short video and took photos with the girl.

Whenever we happen to meet fifth-graders in the hospital who use Nani Bookstore textbooks, the frenzy of an idol autograph session can indeed sometimes be difficult to handle. But as idols, taking on everyone’s expectations is necessary.

This is one of the everyday experiences of a Dr. Red Nose; of course, there are also all sorts of other complicated situations.

While I was transforming into a superstar at the hospital today, at the Weiwuying performance hall, our Dr. Red Nose founder, Ma Chao-chi, had just taken the stage to share our medical clown work with numerous arts and culture figures from Taiwan and abroad.

Although I regret being unable to attend the entire day of fascinating forum discussions at Weiwuying today (I thirst for knowledge), coming to work at the hospital today was a necessary part of daily life: focusing on “doing my duty and returning to what I can do.”

Art is a field of “doing.” Abstract ideas, thoughts, and values must be continuously transformed into concrete forms of action, taking root in a setting as experiences that can be perceived. Even though I could not absorb the precious practical experiences of the other practitioners today, as we focused on interacting with all kinds of children at the hospital, what we were thinking about most deeply was this: what everyone at Weiwuying cares about—the ways and perspectives through which art moves toward human life—can continue to deepen and grow, becoming one source of strength in times of change and vulnerability.

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