Tag: Hurricane Katrina

2012? Almost

For those who are now living in Tent City due to Sandy, 2012 does seem like a doom-prophecy year i.e. INVOLUNTARY departure from their homes. Others in 20 States, mostly Red, willingly sign a petition to secede (VOLUNTARY departure from the Federade).  Essentially, they want to vote again.

Grow up.

We do have to zoom out and see where we are: globally and ecologically.

A warmer temperature means melting snow for the penguins. A butterfly in the Amazon still has that connection to Sandy, however small. (In the US, one can drive out of any house, to arrive at any person’s driveway; the power of inter-connectedness).

I was walking into a restaurant last night when the power  was suddenlyy out. For a quick moment, I knew how  people affected by Sandy must have felt.

To us, 2012 is just another calendar year.

To them, it’s dooms day.

Once again, the nation is showing its solidarity as in the days following 9/11.

Governor Chris and Cuomo, of Garden State and Empire State, were seen touring alongside the President.

A show of unity and solidarity.

People are hurting.

Groping in the dark.

Tested and bewildered

It happened before in Florida, then down in the Gulf with Isaac and Katrina.

People moved on, but those regions bore the marks of being whipped.

Bent out of shape (tourists would conveniently cherry pick the best spots in the world to spend their hard-earned dollars).

The hypocrisy of pleasure-seeking.

Since when do you hear a doctor take his/her vacation to give vaccine to an emerging nation? I only read about Melinda Gates Foundation doing this.

Meanwhile, we are in wait for another round of doomsday prophecy, often comes at year-end.

Futuristic stuff that may or may not fan out.

Yet we believe. We want an edge, to position ourselves for profit, or to hedge our bets.

Good luck with the rest of 2012. We have yet seen the end of it.

Still with a good two months to go.

I would line up my all-star team right around this time.

To charge out of the gate. To win. To seize the day, the year.

To plan that next play. Winning is easy when planning was hard.

2012 is not over until the planning for 2013 is complete.

Nature as reminder

Scientists just found out that Earth is much older than previously thought. It certainly has a way to maintain itself.  Remember Tsunami and Fukushima? or the Louisiana oil spill and Katrina? At the time, we thought we couldn’t bear the grunt, but one by one, they are now behind us.

Same thing with this summer ‘s drought and consumer sentiment dip.

Yet, it is known that many companies are hoarding cash e.g. Apple .

In NYC, Chinese got in line to buy a few phones, just to hand-carry them back to Main Land.

Those phones were made by FoxConn, Taiwanese who contracted out to Main Land to begin with.

When users need tech support or help from customer service, the calls got routed to India or Philippines. To be cool and hip, one buys clothes that go with the phone.

Again, those clothes are now Made in Vietnam.

There are signs every where to remind us of a wider world out there unlike the man who ” while life goes on around him everywhere he’s playing solitaire” courtesy the Carpenter’s Solitaire.

When we say our bedtime prayer, people in the Far East are off to action. It’s like the story of a hare and a turtle. In a race.

When do we turn around to learn from others, from nature and its permanence?

The best gift we can offer the world and others is being ourselves. By being authentic, we allow them to be themselves as well. Break the ice. Break the silence. Break the barriers.

We are not marketers who try to segment our customer base.

We are people who need people (who make our I phones and our Nike shoes).

Remember, tonight, when we go to sleep, others in the Far East are getting up to punch in, at factories and farms (server) to maintain our data base or make our footwear. Be mindful and thankful that nature and evolution are both working in our favors. BTW, they are talking about I-phone 5 already. It’s a dry summer here, but it rains elsewhere in the world. The machine is off here, but they are humming 24/7 around the world. It’s a different world now but nature stands to bear witness to those changes, as always.

Son Tinh Thuy Tinh

According to Vietnamese legend, the Mountain God showed up early to ask for the Princess’ hand.  The Sea God was half a step late.  Hence, anger turned tsunami, Katrina, Fukushima etc….

Vietnam Central region always stands in the way of major storms.

To endure and overcome natural disasters, people fabricated tales to assuage their own pain.

Kids, show up early. Life consists of 90 per cent perspiration, 10 per cent inspiration.

I have had a chance to be down in Houston right after Katrina. To donate calling cards.

To see and visit serial refugees (North-South Vietnam,  S Vietnam – New Orleans, N Orleans Houston).

Di Ha, as known around town, is the owner of Hong Kong Mall, Vietnamese enclave in Bellaire.

Her mall and food court instantly turned relief and refugee center.

I saw younger faces, Red-Cross types. Activists and community workers.

The future of America is in good hands.

All Son Tinh: showing up early right at the crest of disaster.

I read somewhere that on the Last Day, same bed might see one taken up in the air, while the other left behind.

50-50 odd.

Natural selection.

A set of twin might not even turn out the same.

Something about nature and nurture.

Hard to put a finger on.

I just know I need to try harder: one more push-up, another minute earlier, straighten up that strand of hair.

The moral of the story: early to bed, early to rise. Luckily, the older we get, the less sleep we need.

In today’s 24/7 always-on digital world, we need to be vigilant against insomnia.

(Ariana Huffington of Huffington Post is known as Sleep Evangelist).

Technology itself is a double-edged sword. For good and evil.

I like seeing people’s comments right after an article or an advertisement.

Keep them honest and challenged. Two-way communication. Many to many.

Try smarter and harder.

Be Son Tinh, and not Thuy Tinh.

And be a cheerful loser, if late.

People might come around and give you a second chance.

Thuy Tinh could have reacted nicer, with grace in defeat.

Good for Vietnam Central Region.

Good for humanity, natural or man made, Fukushima  vs Hiroshima.

More on Vietnamese tales and take-aways on our next bed time.

FOB, forced off the boat

The LA Times, August 15th issue, ran a story about a Vietnamese fisherman in New Orleans. He has faced enough trial and tribulation a man can afford in one life time: boat people, legal immigrant life, Katrina, and now Gulf oil disaster.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0731-viet-fisherman-01.jpg-20100816,0,4824071.photo

Captain Nguyen is no ordinary captain. His boat has seen no Treasure Island.

And he wears no eye patch.  From the accompanied photo, I can tell he is a chain smoker whose worry is to take care of his clan.  God and country kind of guy.

Twice displaced hence not qualified for any kind of formal assistance.

“Keep filing out forms” they told him (from the BP make-shift town hall meetings).

I saw one of those make-shift operations during Katrina. Vietnamese “villagers” in New Orleans fled to Hong Kong mall in Houston to seek temporary shelters.  We took care of our own type of spontaneous relief.

Captain Nguyen could very well be among those seeking help back in 2005.

The irony of the story is he is now back in line, once again (third time in his life).

Once “fresh of the boat”, now “forced off his own boat”.

I live in W Palm Beach.  Owning a boat there is a sign of prestige.

In mister Nguyen’s case, the same act of AmericanGod-given right became a liability.  Might as well have it repo.

Options? Not much. Opportunities? Ask the other millions of English-speaking American. (Mr Nguyen is so independent, has been in his own world, that even if offered a regular job, he certainly doesn’t know where to start).

So, he has time to talk to a reporter. Or, “can’t wait for the grass to grow” so he can keep busy.

In his spare time, I bet he ponders ” an unexamined life is a life not worth living”.

And that the boat itself is just a floating timber. It gets you from point A to point B. A vessel. And that vessel when docked doesn’t need navigation.

It’s the passenger that needs direction and destination.

In Mr Nguyen’s case, he doesn’t want to get off his boat. He was forced off.

I hear CCRs “on the Bayou” fading in, husky and strong like people living down there in tornado-zones. And I know, they will survive somehow.  Just like those songs, if played again, still evoke in you and me that “deja vu” of a time when we thought we were invincible. BP and the boat people (bp).