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Words of Wisdom

RIP John D Birchenall

2012-08-17 01:01:11


Wow, what's happening. People die left and right.
It's crazy.

But this death could have been prevented.

John was a stubborn idiot.

I know John since 4 years. Since I went to Hong Kong the first time. I decided to make a stop in Shenzhen, the world’s capital for cheap electronic consumer goods. By that time I have been making my first attempts selling I-phone clones. Since all of them are being traded in Shenzhen I went to the electronics market to get a better view on how that business works. By accident, I ran into John. An American guy who has setup his own trading office in the middle of the market. Unlike most of the Chinese traders who have no idea about the products they are selling, John impressed me by exactly knowing everything about electronics. He first supplied me with copy phones for my web shop, but then taught me a lot about new products which are up and coming. He had all kinds of net books exactly a year before they made it into the market. He used tablets before apple planned the I-pad. That time running tablets on Linux software. (Android = Linux based application) Many products he showed me were great, but hard to sell, because it takes marketing to introduce new gadgets. Exactly what Apple did. But John liked himself in the role of the underdog. And he could be very stubborn. A year ago in August 2011, John was diagnosed with cancer. I told him to go for chemotherapy as quickly as possible. The earlier the treatment begins the better the chances for a quick recovery. But there were some huge problems in his attitude. John who is a newborn Christian, had the idea that “chemo” would kill his soul, so he began seeking for some alternative treatments. At that time just having Steve Job’s death around the corner, I told John, is that how you want to end? Don’t be stupid by believing into miracles. Go with what really works (Chemo). He remained stubborn. Spoke about Christianity and lots of other useless spiritual hocus-pocus
which is based on belief, but has no facts or statistics supporting it. So to be honest after several moth of just going back and forth about the same topic, I became tired of talking. In my own words. “I cannot teach a dog how to speak.” just around April this year John sent me photos. Showing him with a huge blain on his neck, resulting from his growing tumor. That time I already knew it’s too late for him. Especially when doing treatment in China. In Winter I already offered him to pay him a flight to France if he was willing to do Chemo there. A treatment might be too expensive in his native country. The US of A. He refused. And in April he would still refuse and said he has a chance if he went with the more progressive doctors in Guangzhou. But those guys were just running tests which he had to pay for, but no results. Last month before I went to Ghana I already knew his time was almost up. So a good friend of mine went to see him. He was somewhere in an apartment in Shenzhen and badly needed assistance. But as always he was too proud to accept help. I suggested him to go to Hawaii, where he is originally from, but he did not want to leave. I guess there was still some bad blood between him and other family members. Since I knew him to be very stubborn, he would not even make peace on the verge of death. John died on the 31st of July. He became 63 years old. I cannot feel sad here, because John was an idiot. His death was unnecessary. He died because he was stubborn. If he took a bit of advice from people who cared he would be ok, by now and enjoying life.

Rest in Peace my friend. On one hand you were a very intelligent person, but on the other hand a totally stubborn idiot.

Once you have cancer. Do Chemo!




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