Socio-economic inequality

The rights of man,
The rights of those,
who dared to take a stand.

Who fought for justice,
For our beliefs,
And lent a helping hand.

To those of us,
Who today recite,
The phrase, "Yes we can"

Remember those rights,
Are rights hard fought,
Of which shan't be forgot.

Lest the wrongs of man,
Should blind our thoughts,
To all those who have not.

And permit injustice,
Misguide our beliefs,
And let the human spirit rot.

For the rights of man,
Are rights for all,
And hence our duty calls.

To stand abreast,
Against the evils,
Their plans we shall forestall.

For even if we fail,
And defeat looms,
And noble intentions fall.

The rights of man,
Must still be championed,
With or without a plan.

We don't really know which way we swing...

Some people who claim to be liberal,
are often more conservative.
While others who claim to be conservative,
are often more liberal.

Damn, I hope we get this idea through...

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that could be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm of awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.
- Alfred Tennyson

Random self-destructive thoughts...

As human beings we seem to be fixated with the idea of flirting with total self-annihilation in order for our society to progress and move forward. We seek triumph in the face of defeat, we seek glory as we position ourselves closer to being disgraced. The best example of all, however, is that we like to seek peace from within war. Somehow it seems unlikely that we could manifest the idea of peace in war's absence. Or triump without defeat, glory without disgrace and so on.

History seems to show that we have always become worse before we ever became better. Enlightened thoughts and technological advancements have often come as a result of the appearance of ideas with more sinister intentions.

Today, we have this perverse fascination with the horrible images seen on TV, with watching people suffering from great tragedies around the world. This is because as long as we are in touch with the bad things that are happening around us, only then can we come up with good ideas to make the world a better place.

If one thinks about it, it is just completely illogical that if there were no horrible conflicts, major tragedies, injustices and inequalities inflicted by one group upon another - in other words no flirting with the prospect of self-annihilation, we would never be able come up with ways to become a better human race.

The naysayers would probably conclude that because of this we are essentially doomed, and it does remain to be seen if we will come to realize that if we don't become aware of this we may just well prove the cynics right.

The great leap forward!

I think I'm going to China! Back to the motherland! Cina really balik Cina!

All I can say right now is that the feeling of anxiety and exhilaration is coursing through my body intermittently in no particular order because the idea of it is surreal at best if I'm thinking rationally, and absolutely crazy if I'm letting my mind wander off a bit. On the one hand I'm thinking I'll know what to expect since I can speak the language fairly well and know the culture to some extent. I'd like to think I know it since my heritage is Chinese after all despite my somewhat banana-fied personal development. Yet at the same time I think I'll be completely clueless when I actually get there. The thought of it is driving me nuts but also giving me a natural high simultaneously!

In reality, I suppose it's not really such a big step considering I will only be there for half a year. It should give me a good idea about whether I would consider relocating there for longer periods of time or end up staying in a Western country, since ironically I know that part of the world somewhat better. It's going to be a demo version of a life in China, and I can decide later on if I want to buy the real thing.

Let the long march begin!