2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [47]
For example, Li had had scientific studies done of what kind of music worked best, although he knew he might have to alter that for the Western world. He knew what colors and temperatures worked, he knew the perfect things to say to people who were in great stress, and he knew how to recognize when someone was so far gone that it was best to administer psychiatric drugs immediately, before anything else was even attempted.
One of the things that the Americans did not do was “work the line,” as Li called it. In times of great stress there were always lines of people trying to get whatever help was needed. Li had done many studies that proved the effectiveness of having trained people make physical and verbal contact with patients waiting on line. It might have sounded simple, but before Li it had never been done, not in China or anywhere else. People were only attended to when they finally got in the door. But crowds could create terrible conditions for themselves if left alone, and Shen Li figured that out. Simply having people working the line made everything go better.
Li didn’t know how he could export an entire program or philosophy to the people of Los Angeles, especially since he wasn’t asked, so he started with something small. Something for the children to do while they waited with their parents. He had created small handheld devices with hundreds of problem-solving puzzles that were not just for play, but were designed to take a child’s mind off of the calamitous world they’d been thrown into. The child not only was occupied, but the device communicated with other children in the same line or in the immediate area, so a communal effect was generated, starting with the kids. And it worked wonders. Instead of having hundreds of children who were all strangers and more scared than their parents, a community was immediately hatched simply by having them interact. This—along with line counseling and the right music and feeding people, and a magician or two—well, it made waiting for help almost fun.
Li donated the handheld devices. He had them programmed in English, found out what department in the U.S. government would accept such a gift, and then shipped one million of them to Los Angeles at a cost of approximately a dollar each. And this was how he got his foot in the door of America. The largest provider of private health care in China was, for the first time, talking to the American government. Li saw this not only as an opportunity to do more business with the United States, but also as the first real test of his Eastern methods working successfully in the West.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Brad Miller looked at his one piece of luggage and couldn’t really grasp that eighty years of living was coming down to this. He did not want to leave his condo. No one would tell him what was to happen with his property. This was his biggest investment. How could the government just ask him to leave without giving him a check, or a promise, or something?
He opened the door for the last time and walked out to where a bus was waiting. He watched as some men put up police tape around the entire complex, signifying that people were not to cross—the structure was unsafe, and to enter would be punishable by a fine or jail, or both. He had to laugh. What jail? There is no jail. That collapsed in the first minute. Where are they gonna put me? Jail. What a joke.
He boarded the bus and looked back one last time at the place he loved. He then took a seat and that was it. He didn’t want to think about it again, but he could think of nothing else. He wanted money. Were they going to rebuild and let him move back in? Were they going to offer him a check in Pasadena?
As the bus pulled away, Brad noticed that it was