Who We Are and What We Are

Who We Are and What We Are

[Preface]

This is my Toastmaster communication program No. 10 speech (inspire your audience) at the SpeakerEasy@SunBeijing club. I include this in my blog because I feel that the materialistic pressure is so high around me, and I have to cry out loud to help my inner self to get some fresh air. "What We Are" is so overwhelming in Beijing and other parts of China. The air is so stifling and we need badly the prophetic voices to develop the spiritual side of ourselves in modern-day China.

[Opening]

I would like to start my speech with an anecdote. About a year ago, I was meeting my wife outside of the Chinese Customs in the Beijing airport. She must have flown on a Boeing Jumbo 747, because there were many people coming out. While I was waiting, I saw the United Airlines flight attendants coming out. To my surprise, the guy next to me spoke to his friend this way, "See those ugly and old flight attendants? United Airlines sends the worst crew to China." It was unsettling to me, and I had to mumble a few words to him to the effect that United Airlines cannot let people go simply because they get old. This leads to my talk today about "Who We Are and What We Are".

[Body]
*We are not created equal*

We are all different and we are all gifted differently. Don't fool ourselves that we are equal. We are *NOT* created equal. What we might provide is equal opportunity to all. To the disadvantaged, we make sure that we give them fair chances to compete and survive. Sometimes, we even need to make special efforts to accommodate groups that need help. To the stronger and more gifted, practice modesty and humility, be kind and be gentle. This defines civilization to me. Thus, to me, what we are is not something we judge ourselves. Who we are is what I use to judge ourselves.

*Who we are*

The very pride and dignity of each individual is derived from our attitude and from being who we are. It is not the work we do. The work we do neither makes us worth more, nor makes us worth less. The beauty and worth of each of us is within us, and it is how we strive to be a better person in the family, community, and society. We compare ourselves against who we were yesterday. Are we making good use of our gift to be a better person in the many hats we wear such as a student, a parent, or an engineer? We should be conscientious of the fact that we respect effort and we pay less attention to the result.

*Toward others*

We should not judge others based on age, physical characteristics, nor gender. We should not patronize and protect for the sake of protection; instead, we should instill self-confidence and pride in others. For others to respect us, we must respect others first. Have faith in human nature and its potential. Make sure that we share the bright side of our human nature, not the dark side of ourselves.

*Toward oneself*

Our work is sacred. We should not feel lowly because of our work or social status. As a matter of fact, I heard my favorite reading again a few months ago. "If anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat," from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians in the New Testament. Working with your hands, head, and sweat is always something to be respected. Our respect for others, our effort, our integrity, and our responsibilities define who we are.

[Closing]

In closing, I suggest that we strip off and ignore gadgets and properties that make us feel good and proud. Forget about the titles we might have. Look deep inside ourselves. Are we genuine, true to ourselves, kind to others? Although we might not be gifted at all things we wish to be good at, do we have the persistence, coolness, and open-mindedness to face the world one day at a time? Be proud of who we are, don't get confused by what we are. And never get bothered by what we are not. We are all beautiful and truthful inside. Make sure that we nurture that every day.
Next time when you see the United Airlines flight attendants, don't write them off so quickly. Think how they show you the safety regulations and how to use the oxygen mask. Think that they serve you drinks and meals. They work with their hands and pride, and they are decent individuals who deserve their paychecks just like we do. Never judge them again by their outward appearances, especially their age. They are not beautiful and subservient objects for us to fantasize about. Shame on you if you still think that way.

[EOF]

Non-profit Organizations to Unleash People Power

I talked about my flying hobby and wanted to come back to look at the non-profit organizations in the context of Chinese modernization.

The best equivalent of the non-profit in China is the non-government organization (NGO). In China, the government seems to be the criterion to delineate everything. And in the US, the 'profit' seems to be the criterion ;-).

In China, it is quite cumbersome to start an NGO entity. It is like starting a new enterprise needing big money and structure. Government leaders and the elites cannot quite trust that people can manage themselves and innovate in the collective sense. In a way, this is true. It is a difficult thing to trust people if they are never educated and trained to conduct themselves independently. To work with others and to be governed by rules and laws takes practice and takes time.

As parents, we cannot prohibit babies from walking for fear that they'll fall. We have to let them try and fall and hurt themselves at times. This is the only way they'll learn to stand up and walk by themselves. A parent watches on the side to help them and comfort them, and sometimes teach and discipline them as the circumstances may call for. It is in faith that we believe that we shall not be in a vicious cycle and that our children can never succeed to stand up on their own.

I read one quote from an interview with someone who went through the Cultural Revolution in the 70's. The man said that the net effect of the Cultural Revolution is that no one can longer trust anybody anymore. It was food for thought. If that's true, this was a deeply wounded people and nation. Fortunately, younger generations grow up and have a chance to shake off that burden and gain confidence and trust again in personal relationships. They will be able to build up a new community. The collective power can then be unleashed to serve the common good of mankind.

The line between personal freedom and complete chaos in the society is self-rule, respect, and awareness of the common good. The law and regulations are there to guarantee order and fairness. The lawmakers and the enforcers of the laws cannot be the same entity for obvious reasons; when necessary, the interpreters of the laws interpret and they have to be completely independent of the aforementioned entities.

Similar to many titles in the computer trade books, one day I would really like to see the book and the action entitled "People Power Unleashed" in China.

English with an American Corporate Accent - 001

I was in Los Angeles for a business meeting this past March. The three-day meetings tested my endurance and adjustment to jet lag.

Since I had to ask to my non-native English-speaking colleagues from time to time for the subtle meanings of the word/phrase usages, I jotted down some of them to share with those who might be interested. It works best if you can find a native speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

• Put those projects in your list on the parking lot for now. [Put them on hold to wait and see.]
• That's skunk work to me. [That's labor-intensive work and is not too rewarding.]
• We are going to fiddle with the schedule in real time. [We are going to do the adjustment for the schedule on the fly.]
• Are you ready for prime time? [Are you ready for the real presentation?]
• Now, I see a perfect storm developing in that project. [The project is going to see lots of troubles soon.]
• Other than a few expected speed bumps we'll hit, this project should be easy to execute. [We expect to run into a few obstacles here and there in the normal course of execution; it will slow us down a bit when that happens.]
• If you two don't talk right away, I see a train wreck in the horizon. [A train wreck is a big disaster.]
• They are throwing a curve ball to us. [A curve ball in baseball jargon is a ball with unpredictable direction and speed.]
• Let's reconvene at 10 of. [Let's meet again 10 to 3 o'clock. We assume that now is 2:50 p.m. and at times people use the minus scheme to align with the hour.]
• We'll have to see when this new initiative gains traction. [We have to see when this new initiative gets accepted and gets visibility.]

2008 Chinese New Year in Nanjing and Shanghai

Republic of China's Presidential Palace in Nanjing. This political reality is still there in Taiwan although many things have changed and evolved. People with a Taiwanese background should visit this interesting place. Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China and this is why the Father of the Republic, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, was buried in Nanjing.













Nanjing's entrance gate to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum. I really liked the unassuming sacrificial hall and the marble coffin.















One of the entrance gates for the Ming Dynasty Emperor's tomb in Nanjing. The first Ming emperor was buried here. The capital was later moved to Beijing.















Nanjing's QinHuai River night scene. This is a beautiful place, but a little bit too commercialized.











Nanjing's old city wall. It is the longest in China as far as city walls go; only a small portion remains today.













Nanjing's to-be-torn-down sign. The most eminent sign in the rapid modernization of China today. Talk about central planning here!











Shanghai's neighboring town ZhuJiaJiao's old post office. It is one of the first post offices, established about 100 years ago.











Shanghai's Nanjing East Road is a pedestrian-only street now. People enjoy shopping and strolling in the relaxed ambiance.










This guy was playing saxophone from the third floor for the street audiences. He was good at playing the popular oldies.

2008 Chinese New Year in Beijing

Riding and pushing (with two iron sticks) along the so-called ice-car in Beijing University's campus lake (Yet-to-be-named Lake).















Skiing in Beijing? Yes, but most of the snow is man-made during the night. The slope was not too bad for us intermediate skiers.











Riding the sedan chair (palanquin) the old-fashioned way. Normally only wealthy folks or officials ride this. The bride gets to ride on this on her wedding day as well.










Amazing sea of people on the first day of the Chinese New Year at the Temple of Earth in Beijing for the "Temple Fair". We went at 9 a.m. and it was not as crowded. The picture was taken around noon. We spent about 3 hours there walking about and the nostalgic feeling of the old days was great.








Standing on the lake of the Summer Palace, only in winter though. With our toys and paper/plastic flying fish on hand we bought from the temple fair in the morning.















Summer Palace in winter time. See the people on the iced-up lake?

Basics of Flight and Flying in the US

In my Toastmaster project #8 speech "Get comfortable with visual aids," I decided to try to explain the basics of flight to non-flyers. You can find the "Basics of Flight" presentation in PDF format by click the link. I would like to acknowledge that I found the materials I used for the the GIF files, on the Internet. I cannot name specifically any person or organization since I do not have a record of it now. You can search on "Basics Flight" and you might be able to see some of the GIF files I used in the presentation.

Flying has been my hobby for more than 20 years, since my Berkeley office mate took me to the UC Berkeley flying club based at the Oakland airport in the early 80's. I am instrument-rated and have about 600 hours of logged time. See this picture of a Cessna 172 parked in front of the Squadron 2 Flying Club at the RHV (Reid Hillview airport) in San Jose, California.

Flying gives me a real sense of freedom, and viewing the city from being able to fly as a common citizen is unthinkable to my colleagues in Beijing.

Years ago, I took my 8-year-old nephew on a flight. On our flight to North Philadelphia airport from Morristown, New Jersey, I let him handle the yoke, gently going up and down and turning left and right when we had really smooth air.

I told him that the airspace belonged to us commoners, that is, the people, and that the military is just carving out certain pieces in the name of national defense. As long as they don't overdo it, I don't mind. My sister told me not to give such liberal thoughts to my nephew's young mind, as they were living in Taiwan at the time. Very often, I called in to the military airfields for permission to fly over to save time, and I don't remember that I ever got turned down once. It tickles me still that I could do it as simply as that.

I recall one report from the English CCTV program a year ago that showed some Chinese farmer who had assembled his kit plane in the countryside and was the test pilot himself. It was amazing to me. I found the farmer not only talented but definitely courageous. However, the CCTV reporting had a different angle looking at this news, saying that this daring individual had violated some laws. It was not clear exactly what law this farmer violated, since the concept of general aviation and the regulation of airspace are just too new here. I would bet that the Wright brothers would never have had a chance here to do their first powered flight and to open up a new era in human history.

Government and society should guide this positive energy to innovate, and to create new and better things for mankind as a whole. Flying is not rare in the US, but not that common due to the perceived risks in learning to fly and operate an airplane. The last statistic that I remember is that there are about three quarters of a million private pilots registered in the United States. This is about 0.3 percent of the general population. Many pilots belong to this non-profit organization AOPA (Aircraft owners and pilots association).

I like to talk more about non-profit organizations in another posting in the context of modernization of China.

English with a Chinese characteristic - 004

English with a Chinese characteristic - 004
This is the "004" installment of this series.

• Grammatical Errors
  
  (Verb that needs a preposition.)
  Almost everyone complains the bad traffic. -> Almost everyone complains about the bad traffic.
  He has to fill an application form. -> He has to fill out an application form.
  


• Odd Phrase Usage
  
  Even you have the time, don't do it. -> Even if you have the time, don't do it.
  
  
  
• Difficult Pronunciation
  
  (Tendency to add a vowel between successive consonants. Listen carefully and practice.)
  Edgar, against, chevrolet
  


• Choice of Words
  
  He refused to use throwaway chopsticks. -> He refused to use disposable chopsticks.
  
  
  
• Easily Mixed-Up Words
  
  train versus subway
  customer/custom/consume