What Would Have Happened If All The Terra Cotta Warriors Needed To Sit

By Khadi Madama
Quick-Seat Chair Wellness Coordinator

Discovered in 1974, the Terra Cotta Warriors, buried during the time of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di, remained unknown to the world above. They occupied a massive underground tomb, created as a kind of metaphor to “protect the emperor” from marauders. More than 8,000 warriors and their horses and chariots are all standing at the ready. Some are kneeling on one knee for various eases of deploying a weapon. It was an absolute dream of mine to be able to visit one of the traveling exhibits, which I got to do at the Franklin Museum in Philadelphia a few years ago. The minute that one enters the rooms designated for the massive exhibit, one feels a kind of time-travel moment that takes place, as if one is transported. They are life-sized, each unique, and they are spectacular.

At that time, I was still recovering from an ankle injury, and after a while, I needed to sit. There wasn’t a place to sit, as my mind drifted to our quick-seat chair. A few of those strategically placed around the area in cool brown with a Terra Cotta Warrior motif on them would have not only fit in like a glove but would have made being able to sketch or photograph the figures a whole lot more enjoyable. After all, one doesn’t just breeze through an exhibit such as this. One “walks among them” slowly and allows oneself to be immersed in the magnificence of them, studying them. Each one is different from the other. No two Terra Cotta Warriors are the same. Each has an almost mesmerizing expression. However, no amount of mesmerizing was going to cover up the pain in my ankle, and no way was I leaving the exhibit!

I began to think about the Warriors. The only place where they are seated is in the chariots and that accounts for a very small proportion of them. I started to imagine what would have happened if they needed to sit. Of course, they can’t, but with my healthcare background I began to think about how much lower back pain they would have from standing or marching that long. How stiff they would be, how fatigued, and how much those knees would be aching from holding that kneeling position.

Don’t we all feel like those Terra Cotta Warriors from time to time? On a long march down a long corridor, waiting in line for something that we cannot leave because it’s vital for us or a loved one? And when the fatigue or aches set in, don’t we feel stuck like the Terra Cotta Warriors in that tomb, invisible, unable to find comfort, and having to wait sometimes for a very long time?

I found a place to sit, but I had to exit the exhibit and return after my ankle stopped aching. When I re-entered, the Warriors seemed to have expressions that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was the relief of my ankle pain, but I felt sad looking at them because they seemed so real, left alone for countless centuries after being entombed since the year 210 B.C.E. with nowhere to sit, to rest, to relax their weary bones.

Fortunately, today, hospitals, medical centers, veterinarians, government buildings, complexes, and airports all have access to our own time-tested Quick-Seat Chair, so none of us have to feel left with no place to sit ever again.

Quick-Seat Chair. Temporary Seating That Closes Itself