Tag: Louisiana

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.

Unbundled incense

In his year-end Opinion, David Brooks of the NYTimes recited a story about people in Louisiana who had lighted a candle for neighbor’s graves.

This year-end here in Vietnam, I saw just that and more…incense, flowers and fruit.

People are either already home or on the way. They cook, clean and cater to many needs, among them, lighting neighbor’s graves.

A girl still in helmet, with parked scooter by her side, spent a silent moment praying, Then she would visit nearby lots, perhaps people she used to know from her village church.

In life and in death. You are not forgotten. A form of social immortality.

I read about a sinking commercial cruise, with captain and his crew escaped first to safety.

Would you want to ever step on one of those “luxury” cruises?

Living in style, dying solo.

I tried to nap today when neighbor knocked on my door to see if I were OK

(perhaps he was “xin” – beer + heat exhaustion). Then the Lion dance team went around the entire block reminding us this is their year, the year of the Dragon.

Flower Festival proudly displays mighty Dragon in all shapes and sizes, Vietnam’s version of Rose Parade.

Young girls pose for photo-ops, maybe later seen on Facebook or scrap-book.

The Earth seems to rumble.

People chat up with “natives”, knowing that whoever is left in Saigon, is from there (as opposed to workers, students and relatives who have gone home to their respective villages in the countryside).

City folks or country folks, everyone is gearing up to give and receive.

The gift baskets, the flower bouquets and the sticky “banh chung” (rice cake) have been delivered. Water melon (whose inside is red, signifying good luck), blossomed Hoa Mai and kumquat trees are on firesales.

Vietnamese talk about “khong khi Tet” – the taste, texture and ambience of Tet.

A sense of utter confidence that Heaven and Earth are in alignment and agreement to bless the pure of heart.

I can’t find no further evidence than someone who stood silently at an isolated grave, then lighted up incense for neighbor’s graves. Candles or incense, US or VN, we all long to live the rest of our lives the best way we know how and periodically to celebrate it the best way we can. Here, this way, is  familiar to most, but somehow, vaguely strange to me. I, however, found one constant: ABBA‘s Happy New Year played over and over to welcome the  Year of the Dragon. Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng!

The more the merrier

Next week, we welcome Earth’s 7 Billionth baby into our human family.

When I was born, relatives came to the hospital to visit (as commonly observed even today, in Vietnam). B/W photos were taken and sent up North for our extended families to “take notes”. The more the merrier. Nobody cared who Malthus was. If you showed up, one more bowl and a pair of chopsticks were all you need. In fact, the most common greeting was “have you eaten yet”. Memories of those early days came to me, often because of large family gatherings, with meals on the altar, and meals on the table.

We commemorated ancestors’ anniversary more than celebrated newcomers’ birthday.

In fact, I found out that my grandfather used to share lunch with more than a dozen people at a time. Obviously, he didn’t need “Never eat alone” advice.

Fast forward to our digital era with Siri apps and Google unmanned vehicles, we find a world obsessed with pharma instead of farming.

Instead of taking vitamin pills (whose latest studies have shown to be ineffectual), people are taking pain-relieving pills, sleeping pills and birth-control pills.

The Boeing 787 flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong inaugurated the Pacific Century, as much as Lindbergh’s American Century.

Population growth tilts toward BRIC countries. Yet in the US, there is a shortage of skilled workers since the babyboomers are retiring en mass.

BTW, to give credits where they deserve, trusted Sales Representatives are still in demand, despite recent push in productivity and automation.

People still buy from people and have lunch (connecting) with people.

Yet Sales has been and still is considered non-academic, hence it is excluded from the curriculum ( per latest issue of  theEconomist).

Back to 7 Billion of us whose life expectancy will be in the 70’s (hint, larger fonts and slower driving).

Besides strength in numbers, we live in the most open-minded global society ever. Even the cash-rich Kennedys had to face “religion” issue when campaigning back in the 60’s. Now, you can be openly gay, happily married and run for public office. What used to be “alternative” has become “conventional”.

And the new China’s middle class. Boy oh boy! When they shop, they shop till they drop. I happened to witness their Japanese counterparts in the late 80’s half-way to Las Vegas, at an outlet stop. I wonder how much more aggressive Mainland shoppers will act after their wins at the table.

Back in the late 70’s, after the Oil Embargo, many thought we had reached the “limits to growth”.  Somehow, we managed to clean up Alaska and Louisiana, Hiroshima and Fukushima .

The MIT and the MITI, Korean and Vietnamese, all work hard in a race against the Machine. When Malthus predicted that we had reached Earth’s limits, he did not foresee the coming of the Machine. German software engineers help VW propel  pass Toyota, while Samsung pass Sony and Apple in tablet sales. Bring it on, globally.

Long ago, when we commemorated our grandmother’s anniversary, my mom  always planned extra bowls and chopsticks . The more, the merrier; but I can now put away the extra bowl and chopsticks, since proponents of automation argue that machines don’t sleep and eat. Win-win. Will see.

Time to reflect

Year in review. A look back at the decade that was.

We reflect so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Our brain can play trick: stand aside or step back, then press rewind.

I can still recall incidents when I was 4, or 7 and especially my first puppy love

(in this case, the song was “Super Star”).

The trick: embed those memories with a tune you heard during those times.

Do you remember where you were when you first heard the Bee Gee?

John Travolta and Saturday Night Live.

Or when I first heard “He ain’t heavy, he is my brother” performed by my high school band.

Quite impressive to a 6th grader at the time. (as of this edit, I finally entered the school after 41 years away).

Here were those guys, as tall as could be, with gadgets and instruments.

And they played well: no single person tried to stand out. One harmony one tempo.

I did not realize then, that’s team work at its best.

Later, we would learn team building (camping, school band and group white papers).  Instead of intramural sports, we got inter-school fights.

But that’s part of esprit de corps (dared to wear the school emblem on one’s shirt while various high schools were at war).

Through school, work and families, I learned the value of being part of a team, which is more than the sum of its parts.

When team works out, there is nothing like it.

But it takes hard work.

A lot of chipping in.

Until it’s your turn to receive.

Then you realize, “he ain’t heavy, he is my brother” works both ways.

This past decade has been tough: two recessions, two wars, twin towers and two incidents in Louisiana.

We need to double our efforts. This is not a time to reflect. It’s time to act.

 

Our dichotomy

Abundance or shortage? Keynes or Milton Friedman? The quants rule? Human beings are selfish or empathic? what is the optimal point for happiness?

Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the Union, yet ranked the Happiest. New York City crime rates are at the lowest in decades.

South Korea, always at war, yet always connected.

And forget what you think you know about China i.e. traditional, passive-aggressive (all these may still be true with interior China). At least, their nouveaux riche haven’t behaved as counterparts in the US (Vegas limo and strip club): they bought Lenovo and Hummers.

Since the New Year, we heard that celebrities have been arrested almost every other week (Denver, West Virginia).

Fear of success.

And then, the real 17+% unemployed in the US, fear of failure? Sedated and in need of Shock treatments.

The age of adjusted expectations. Self-correcting amidst progress and plenty.

Fast toaster (Subway). Bullet train. Slow bureaucracy.

One advertising slogan “I hate to wait” came to mind.

Cultures and companies proceed at different speeds.

Search and rescue teams are now leaving Haiti. Their time and mission has come to an end.

Mid-term relief organizations now take ober. Then long-term sustained development NGOs will stay the course

piling on top of the 10,000 counterparts who had already been there before the quake.

News organizations such as CNN and CBS have stepped up to the plate, proving themselves worthy of our attention.

But then, where were they during the Iranian post-election showdown? Twitter ruled back then and there.

So we go back to our dichotomy of Command/control vs consumer/citizenry movement, Keynesian vs Milton, and

whether human nature are empathic or dog-eat-dog ? The Net is neutral. It blinks and waits for our clicks.

No wonder teens are into Vampires, a state of not living, yet not vanishing. Perfect commentary about our current state of ambivalence.

Poor surviving but wounded Haitians! I could not finish the evening news yesterday. Maybe we are empathic creatures after all.