Thanksgiving Puzzle

I almost forgot that today is the Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., a holiday I usually give prayer to hundreds of thousands of slaughtered turkeys. A long time ago while we were still high school kids ,my brother and I wrote essays about the cruelty of killing turkeys to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day. It was so ironic to watch the commander in chief virtually spared one turkey to show off his compassion while millions of others being slaughtered at the same time. Why not spare them all, huh? Do you think that would tumble the farm industry? Don’t you think that would be environmentally friendly without killing the poor birds? In this environmentally conscious age everybody is talking about preserving our natural resources by recycling, yet we ignore the fact that preserving animals’ lives is actually saving our environment from pollution.

I think Thanksgiving was meant for us to be thankful for the harvest of this year. Isn’t it absurd to kill animals to celebrate our gratefulness toward our success, totally ignoring the fact that animals help us achieve our goal as in the case of farming. We have to admit that we human beings are sometimes contradictory, and we are not sure how to cope with it. We are lost, totally lost in coping with human existence, and we just follow our ancestor’s footstep, not aware that we have evolved substantially since then.

I am hoping for everyone to ponder this issue on your Thanksgiving table. Isn’t it time to give our poor birds a break?

Violin Playing For Senior Citizens

Kevin and I visited a senior home in Champlain Height last night. It was a part of program sponsored by IBPS (International Buddhist Progress Society) to show our respect for senior citizens, especially those who are living in senior houses. We made it just on time despite I had to fight the 6 pm traffic jam on S.E. Marin Dr. Once arrived we were led to the third floor where there were chairs arranged neatly, a very conspicuous guitar missing all six strings hanging on the wall and a piano which had seen its better days perching on the corner. While we admired the neatness and cleanliness of the senior home, senior citizens on wheelchairs started to emerge from their rooms slowly. After a brief introduction of Kevin by the administrator, I believe her name was Tammy, Kevin began to play his violin pieces to cheer up the lonely souls of the senior citizens. Some of them were impassive as if in trance, however, there were quite a few were enthralled by Kevin’s violin skill, and they hummed the song with the flow of the music.

Since most seniors are on the wheelchairs and inconvenient to move in the elevator up and down the floors, Kevin had to repeat his violin playing through all three floors. Though a little hard work, we felt it was worthy after seeing the happy faces and hearing the applause throughout the entire senior home. After all, we had achieved our goal of soothing the most lonely souls of the seniors. Because most seniors were impressed by Kevin’s performance, he was asked to come back with Christmas songs next time, maybe a concert when he is capable of conducting one.

We left the senior home at 7:15 pm, which left me 45 minutes to make it to Point Grey’s Gym for Kevin’s third basketball tryout. At first I thought I had a plenty of time, but the traffic appeared to be unabated. After I got tired staring at the forever red tail lights, I decided to change course by driving inner streets to avoid traffic so that I could make it to the Gym on time. We were lucky to make it at exactly 8 pm sharp, just in time for the tryout. But I learned later from Kevin who told me that his coach’s father was sick so the tryout became basketball practice. Oh well, we had a good night already with the seniors, the basketball tryout could wait.

Novel Study-The Rainmaker, by John Grisham

Rudy Baylor is a rookie lawyer from Memphis State. He’s having a hard time finding a job, so he starts knocking on law offices in downtown Memphis, to solicit any job available because he needs to pay his bills. Even though his boss at the pub, where he waits tables, treats him well but he wants a decent job to pay off seven-year-hard-work at law school.

After being turned down by so many as to make Rudy to a state of depression, his boss kindly introduces his lawyer, also his buddy, who has been a experienced trail lawyer for a long time. Even though Rudy knows that his boss is a nice guy, he suspects his boss has some illicit activity with his lawyer in the skin business (strip bar), and they probably skim some money offshore or somewhere only known to themselves.

Since Rudy desperately needs a job, he accepts the job offered by his boss’s lawyer at a salary based on performance. Later Rudy learns that his new boss specializes in car injury cases, and his boss asks him to stakeout in hospitals where prospects are likely to be found. Although Rudy despises his new boss’s way of making money from the wrecked and miserable people, he reluctantly lurks himself in the cafeteria of hospital where he prepares for bar exam while preying on potential clients. Out of the fluke from his stakeout, Rudy has found a girl named Kelly for whom he admires profusely, you know, a boy in his 20′s is so susceptible to a young and beautiful body by natural instincts. Kelly has a domestic-abuse problem, you know, husband beats up wife when he is drunk and insane. She has asked for help from authority for a couple of times, but hasn’t made up her mind to file for divorce. Rudy steps up and says that he can help if one day down the road Kelly decides to file for divorce. Chivalrous kind of guy in the field of law is exactly what Rudy is.

One day his partner Deck hears that FBI and other law enforcement are trying to nail down their boss because they have seized the evidence to indict their boss and Rudy’s former boss at the pub, which means that they will soon lose their job. Deck suggests for Rudy to join him in establishing their own company, just like other partners who have departed from their boss. Since Deck failed many times in bar exam in the past and not likely to pass in the foreseeable future, he really needs Rudy,who has recently passed the bar exam, to run the show. Deck suggests the scenario of which he goes out to find accident reports and solicit injury cases while Rudy sits in the office to conduct his lawyerly things. And they would split 50/50 of the settlement fees after incurred expenses. This idea excites Rudy, and the Law Office of Rudy Baylor is thus established, with Rudy,the sole lawyer and Deck, the sole paralegal.

Rudy has been working on the Black’s case since the time before joining his former bosses, who are nowhere to be seen, probably on the run somewhere in the tax-free havens, enjoying their sordid money. Black’s case is an insurance scam which results in the death of a young kid who suffers through acute leukemia.The litigation could have been avoided if the Great Benefit Insurance, the defendant, had accepted the Black’s claim and dispersed the money needed for the mallow transplant.The Great Benefit Insurance is greedy, and in no way they would send two hundred thousand dollars needed for mallow transplant without bouts of denials and humiliation against the Blacks. Rudy, being a rookie lawyer, decides to seek justice for the Blacks and to bring down the 450-million-dollar company-the Great Benefit Insurance.

After numerous depositions of defendants and witnesses, the trial begins as Judge Kipler being partial on the Plaintiff’s side. The judge himself is an advocate for the poor and the underprivileged, and it seems obvious the the Great Benefit Insurance is at fault in denying Black’s claim. Rudy works the case day and night with very little sleep, all for the sake of preserving justice for the deceased Donny Ray Black and possibly many others who are too poor to hire a lawyer to file lawsuits on their behave. Besides, this is Rudy’s first trial appearance and first big case to prove himself that after seven years of law school, he still adamantly believes to search justice for all, especially the most helpless ones in our society.

The final verdict gives the plaintiff, the Blacks, two hundred thousand dollars mallow-transplant money and 50 million dollars in punitive damage, of which they will never receive because the Great Benefit has declared bankruptcy and the parent company has skimmed its assets offshore, away from the authority. Although the justice has been sought and the Great Benefit has been tumbled, the bad guy behind the scene will never be caught-that is the loophole of our judicial system. Finally, Rudy drives away from Memphis with his beloved Kelly, with no intention of returning to his hometown, at least for the time being, and he vows to let his lawyer license expire and never to touch the field of law again in his life.

A very good book to read and get inspired by John Grisham’s compelling delivery of his novel. The Rainmaker is no doubt one of the best I have ever read. I strongly recommend it to everyone who is interested in exploring law-relative novel.

Open Letter to Dear Son in Grade 8

Dear Son:

I wanted to write you a letter to chat with you life in general and school work in particular, but couldn’t find a chance until I received a letter, kind of like a bomb to me, from your English and Social Study teacher, Mr. Sale. I would like to thank Mr. Sale for reminding me that you are lagging in these two subjects not because you are not smart enough ( I stoutly believe your intelligence is that of top-rated) but lacking of effort and good work habit. Son, I know you are desperately seeking to join the incoming school basketball team. It’s kind of a hard decision for me to make because I really don’t want computer games, TV and basketball to take away your academic performance. In the meanwhile I don’t want your talent in sports not being exposed. So I came up with an idea- that is I will let you join the team if you can maintain a 3.25 GPA, really a low threshold for a high I.Q. guy like you.

Son, I have been trying to tell you that a good work habit and diligent attitude toward everything is very important in life. When you graduate from university and start looking for a job, most employers are judging the qualities of prospective employees in terms of work habit and attitude toward life, and of course the expertise of a particular field that’s required. When you undertake a task or project, you should take your time to think and plan instead of rushing it with sleazy work. The teacher, being a fully trained professional, is able to judge between a diligent effort and rushed one. It’s a fair system in which hard work deserves its reward and poor work deserves a poor grade. It is really you who mark your own grades; as a motto goes- how much input equals to how much output, and everything is up to you to decide.

After you really try hard and unleash all your potentials, you still don’t feel comfortable in the enriched program, then I will pull you out of it. Before I do that, I want to see your diligent effort. Son, you are way capable of doing more than what you have achieved so far. Don’t let your talent sit idling. By the way, do not insult your intellectual quotient. Anyway, do your best and start kicking some ass. I am looking forward to seeing your next progress report, and I hope is a much better one. Please don’t drop me a bomb like this time, because I have a weak heart.:)

Love, dad

Flying Loonies, Unnerving Mind

Rain splatters on the windows, alarming those who are deep in slumber as if telling them that it’s time to wake up for a new day ahead. As usual, people of this electronic-obsessed era start off the day by checking possible e-mails and what’s happening in the world. After that making a pot of coffee to go with hasty breakfast to wake up their senses, and thus getting ready to have a productive day.

Everybody is talking about flying loonies due to faltering greenback and high crude oil price. It seems that there are lots of people exploiting from the unusual speed of appreciation of loonies. Canadian dollar was 95 cent v.s. greenback two month ago, and now it is close to $1.10 v.s. greenback, a whopping 20% appreciation in a short period of time. As a result, banks are packed with frantic customers waiting to buy U.S. dollar so they can shop across the border to make their hard-earned money work harder. After learning from the media that it takes hours to pass the border due to overcrowded Canadians “betraying” their own country to shop in the states, some zealous shoppers are willing to wake up in the godforsaken hour to avoid traffic jam near the border. I wish them good luck, and I hope the border guards get raised because of the overwhelming crowds.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that flying loonies is not solely attributed by sagging U.S. economy but also by the Chinese government thinking of replacing the world-leading currency by more “stable” Euro or Canadian dollar. By “stable,” of course, they mean good return of their money or investment. Can you imagine 4000 billion U.S. dollars being pulled from the states? The result could be fatal to U.S. economy. Of course, the Chinese government is not stupid enough to do that to harm the economic health of both countries. But it is a strong political card they have to manipulate with U.S.. Well, we little guys just sit at home and watch as the economic turmoil unravels itself.

Blah blah blah….from economy to maketplace

The marketplace was very bleak the past Saturday, and I thought that was because the strong Canadian dollar enticed shoppers flocking toward the south of border to buy merchandise at great deals. I wouldn’t blame them. I mean who wouldn’t when they could save a bundle, provided that they must have patience to wait in line for border inspection-I heard sometimes for hours.

I saw vendors sitting at their booths anticipating customers, but very few paid 75 cents at the door. The owner of the marketplace was not worried because most tables were booked despite vendors whining for lacking of customers. Since the marketplace is the only one of its kind in the Greater Vancouver, the owner is not going to worry about his business being bad until, maybe one day down the road, some unforeseen competitor coming from nowhere to challenge him. And then it would be too late for him to do anything because the turnover rate would be landsliding toward the competitor, assuming a generous and caring one.

Lots of people do not understand that people who work at the marketplace make very little money, if any, because they have to pay their tables and costs of merchandise. They usually do not go by how much money they make per hour, as in general practice of labor compensation, because the income varies from vendor to vendor; as a rule of thumb, however, most are making at around minimum wage in an o.k. day and much less in a lousy day. Once in a while we have someone who bought “hot” stuff selling in the marketplace, and in that case the income is incalculable. However, the law enforcement has been very unrelenting for those who sell stolen goods. They have been around the marketplace often enough to shun away illicit activities;besides, they have asked the owner of the marketplace to check everyone’s ID and source of goods at the time of application for selling at the marketplace. Ironically, when the stolen goods disappeared, so was the prosperous business. It seems that there is no longer any good deal anymore no matter how hard vendors try to get rid of the old stuff they have been staring for a long time. This is exactly why being a small vendor in the free enterprise is so pathetic. It is true that we are living in the tiny niche of the big guys and praying that they will somehow give a little space of survival to us, the hopeless group. But I am sure that one day the big guys will take over everything and the hopeless group just has to make a living under their payroll, and the meaning of free enterprise will be forever forgotten, only to be found in the history book of the world.

Generally speaking, people who sell at the marketplace have below-average education. However, there are exceptions. I once came across someone who was from a foreign land and who had been a surgeon in his homeland. Because Canada did not recognize his credential from his hometown, he ended up selling used merchandise at the market. He vowed to work hard to become MD again, but he just didn’t have enough financial resource to start over from the beginning. Last time I heard from the market hearsay, he somehow manged to start up an auto parts business. Also there is some retired history professor who sells at the marketplace on the weekend to kill time. I chatted with this professor at one time in the cafeteria in the wee hour while waiting for the dawn light to emerge from the east. He told me all the goodies in his good old day as a professor, and he felt that time had gone too fast on him. He reminded me to conquer time and not to let it slip by too fast. I feigned my agreement to take my course of time management, but I knew by heart that time is a very sly machine, too invincible to be conquered by anybody.

Anyway, the marketplace is a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. If you think everyone works there belongs to the low class citizen, then you might want to re-evaluate your assessment. They may not appear decent and attire themselves neatly, but don’t make your conclusion without talking to them. I am sure there is some kind of quality hidden behind their ragged appearance for anyone to explore. That’s is one of the reasons that I love to work at the marketplace- to explore all walks of life.

China, forever boisterous

Recently the U.S. government has awarded Dalia Lama the highest U.S. civilian metal despite boisterous protest from the People’s Republic of China. From the U.S. perspective, Dalia Lama is a person who advocates peace, human rights and harmony for all people of the world, therefore he deserves the highest civilian metal. From China’s perspective, however, Dalia Lama is an outcast who seeks autonomy of Tibet within China, therefore a rebellious citizen, who should be condemned by the people of China. It’s so ironic that a good model for all civilians in one country is a rebel in another.

In my opinion, China is a communist country, and the belief of democracy seems otherworldly to its government. If Tibet were to be one of the states in the U.S., the situation would have been entirely different. All Dalia Lama needed to do was a referendum to decide the autonomy of Tibet. It’s unfortunate that Dalia Lama was born in the wrong country. Well, if he were born in the U.S., he wouldn’t have the problem of seeking independence anyway.

The situation is very similar in the Taiwan’s issue. The Taiwanese government has been seeking for independence of Taiwan, which is forever forbidden by the People’s Republic of China. To the Chinese government, Taiwan is a province within China, despite Taiwan Straight separating them. China is demanding the world to understand that Taiwan is its “son” who had been banished and who had misbehaved and ran away from “home” in the past. Though Taiwan has run away from “home” for over 50 years now, it is still constrained by China in any international forum ,if this forum ever implicates in politics in any way. Obviously, China, the “father,” is not happy when its “son” Taiwan is doing very well, which is not a good sign as far as human nature is concerned and not a good finesse as far as political influence is concerned. It is unconceivable that a father by affinity not only lacks support for his son but also oppresses his son’s space of existence. If my son had run away from me for any reason, I would have supported him surreptitiously any way I can, and I would have felt very happy to hear his success in life. If my son ever decided to move out on his own for any reason, I would be happy to hear that he is able to support himself. Well, there is really no reason to get mad or boisterous about that; in fact, I would be delighted and proud of my son’s achievements in life, and I would brag about it to all my friends. From my son’s perspective, I would be a good father who understands that nobody can cling to things he/she likes forever, and sometimes letting them go is actually a better way to achieve harmony.

Anyway, I hope that China understands what I have said, and suddenly feels enlightened by this simplicity of politics.

Freedom of Cyberspace!?

Everybody has the most inner-most words to express, but sometimes it is too hard to say them out in front of acquaintances. Since the invention of blog community, the problem has been solved. Now everybody can express anything one desires to strangers in the cyberspace without worrying possible person-to-person confrontation. Since everyone uses alias (well, almost everyone), therefore one’s privacy of identity is preserved so that inner-most emotion can be fully oozed to release one’s pent-up anxiety.

In the baby- boomer generation, if one would like to express one’s feelings or whatever came to mind, writing diary was probably a prevalent way to do so. However, one’s diary was very private, only open to oneself or some intimate love ones with whom one would like to share. For some gals common practice was to lock up their diaries and store them in a secret place. Remember the old diary book with key lock? In this age of blog revolution, keeping secret becomes an out-dated phenomenon, because one is opting for revealing inner-most secrets through blogging. When there is no one to talk to, when everyone is getting mad at you, and when your relationship is getting nowhere, the cyberspace always opens its door to welcome you, regardless of your age, race, gender, or what have you. Through blogging, one feels the release of tension and anxiety, even if one is a social imbecile. Thanks to the invention of cyberspace-today’s social forum for the not-so-outspoken, the reserved, and the silent group in the real world.

Betty is a 27-year-old working class girl who stresses out often from her job, and she is tired of finding another relationship because she believes that there is no such thing as love as we have seen from countless movie and television shows. She is frustrated by the difference between the fantasized world and reality. As a result, she often buries herself in her bedroom during her time off, trying to sleep her life away, totally putting her social life away. Occasionally, she will go online to chat with internet friends with whom she has never met, and she wishes she never has to meet them. Though she understands that she is not going to achieve anything from random chatting on the net, it is always good to find something to kill time. Through the virtual world, she is free to express her fantasy, yet afraid to make it a reality, because reality is ephemeral and fantasy is for good and always under her control. So, romancing the net suddenly becomes her habit, which is worthy for her to immerse herself in her spare time. It’s not hard to guess that the net is her forever friend, though impassive, who is always at her beck and call. I guess that’s her freedom in the cyberspace.

Betty is a created character, but there are lots of people like Betty in the world nowadays. The computer has doubtlessly brought the people in the world closer through internet connection. But are we really free in terms of emotional gratification? Or, we just have found a new way to bury our emotions and lock ourselves in a room like prisoners being incarcerated?

Destiny #1

The cold chill at night pierces through my bones and my heart, reminding me that I still dwell in the North, catalyzing my yearning for the cozy climate in the South. Gone are my courage to go back to the past, my youth being devoured by the time machine which only moves forward relentlessly, and my undying motivation and ambition to succeed in this material world. It is so predictable that one’s mentality can be changed through what the society provides us, and, you guess correctly, time will filter one’s ambition to make one suit the system.

The fate has no physical presence, but it will gradually materialize and emerge from nowhere to tell one that one has been nailed pretty well, not even the best nail puller in the world could rescue one. Even if it had been pulled, it would be an entirely different nail-a rusted and bent one that draws little attention. Destiny is something to make one succumb to what one is given, whether one likes it or not;that is why it is called destiny to begin with. Actually, it is best to live with it, or cope with it, shall we say, because no matter how hard one tries to change it, it remains the same.

I am not saying that one cannot change one’s destiny to the better; I am saying, however, one does not want to change one’s destiny deliberately. I believe that only through doing good deeds that one is able to change one’s destiny to the better inadvertently, because the heaven, or God, loves the ones who work hard diligently in a righteous way to benefit humanity, not the ones who work hard in a self-centered manner to achieve individual goals.

Now I believe in destiny and the way it is tailored for me. Now it commands me to raise my kids in such a way that they will benefit the society they live in and the entire human beings as their ultimate goal. All of a sudden, I come to realize that the worst is actually the best after all, as if being enlightened by Buddha’s teaching that every individual has an in-born Buddha seed within themselves to reach the destiny #1. Now I respect every individual more than before, because every one of us is a precious creation to the human existing. By the way, don’t forget the fledging seed within every one of us, why not make it big and glorious?

The Eyes Don’t Lie

As life progresses, one reaches over the top of hill inevitably. One might have confidence about oneself in terms of appearance and physical stamina, however one’s eyes usually don’t lie about one’s seniority; it is like a tree stump which reveals its age once being chopped down.

My brother and I are both over the hill already, and both of us are annoyed by deteriorating eyesight. We have not changed our prescription of eyeglasses since college days. Though we are proud of it, our eyesight is getting better in seeing faraway objects and getting worse in reading with our near-sighted eyeglasses. Quite often we have to take down our eyeglasses to read books and to visualize clearly what is on the LCD monitor.

Even though my brother is very proud of his boyish look, he has to succumb himself to this unexpected predicament. Sigh….life is a fair game…..no matter how beautiful or how ugly you are, eventually it all comes to the point where your eyes don’t lie.