Tag: World War II

Improve your like-ability

It’s common sense that when we are liked, we have more influence and opportunities.

Jackson Brown says “Opportunity likes to dance with those already are on the dance floor”.

Sometimes, to improve your like-ability, all you have to do is to show up.

Frequent exposure increases your chances (conversely “scarcity” increases your values).

Something about being with a person over a long time. They have become predictable and familiar.

Their range of expressions and personalities, likes and dislikes, strength and weakness.

Paradoxically, it’s the weakness part that brings people closer. Yet we have been taught to work from our strength and cover up our weakness.

We have not learned to sort out which part of our weakness is changeable and which is not (Franciscan prayer).

It’s the grey middle that tends to creep up at the least expected time.

The wisdom of team teaches us that our weakness and strength can compliment each other.

And that we fight on as one. As a team of 300.

Long time ago, people thought the Homogenous Unit Principle was it. One pure race, or group that all look alike, chances for success are highest.

Of course, we like people who look like us.

And we love the results and productivity.

Yet, World War II lessons have been well learned.

That takes to present day. We will work and play with people who are different from us.

That leaves the improvement of like-ability squarely on our shoulders.

Frequent exposure, good appearance, punctuality, honesty, truthfulness (coming clean) and a little weakness in the mix should do the job.

Above all, like yourself first. Then make it contagious.

 

Chemistry: blessing and curse

Bodies of little ones lined up on the floor (Syria).

Little orphans waiting to be fed and sustained (Vietnam – Agent Orange victims) decades after the War was over.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima, if we can still recall those localities.

Wrong use of chemistry. Shadow effects.

Masquerading rhetoric.

Just as the Dow finally hit its height.

Who would want to rock the boat.

It only takes good men standing by and doing nothing.

Then before long, little bodies lining the street of America and Europe.

A likely scenario.

Not too far-fetched. Or maybe in N Korea, Iran and once thought, was in Iraq.

This time, we want to get it right. To give it a proper and concerted response.

Chemistry belongs in the lab, to make Oreo cookies and not cooked-up weapon of mass destruction.

Conscience doesn’t just belong to men of past era (WW II).

Conscience belongs to us, in the here and now.

In an era of “flat world”, we are privileged to the information just a tweet away.

But it seems to take longer (certainly long enough for perpetrators to destroy critical evidence) for us to formulate strategic responses.

We choose leaders not just to read from the teleprompter. We choose them to represent our interests and conscience.

The collective will and common goods.

It’s that time for leaders to lead, and for history to judge.

If it can take place over there, unpunished, then it can and will take place over here. Just a matter of time. The same time it takes for a few good men to stand by and do nothing. Churchill is rolling over his grave. So are many great souls of the past.

Below-the-belt offenses don’t deserve civilized response. Through the rhetoric, I see men in fear and not courage.

BTW, courage is calculated against-the-odd kind of response in face of danger, not in the absence of it.

Fool’s errand?

On NYT‘s Op-Ed‘s Pages, I found a piece “Asians are too smart for their own good”.

The author brought up a historical parallel between Jews’s admission at Ivy League schools back then, and Asian‘s now.

She neglected another important parallel: Japanese-American got put in internment camps not too long ago. With BRIC‘s second generation, growing up in America, demographic make up will once again be more diverse.

By 2050, Asia will have stepped up to claim its top spot. By then, demand will outweigh supply of needed talent.

White Ivy League students are more than welcome to prepare themselves for the day, same way I was sent to French school, then to EFL schools, then to State School, then to Private schools etc…. Gotta to pay the price of admission.

Not just the tuition.

Besides, with global communication and global commerce, Ivy League Institutions themselves are facing crisis. High-valued professors from these places are moon-lighting and contracted out to the highest bidders in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and India anyway.

I am not sure who has done more learning: professors or students in these regions.

America is still a magnet and market for the likes of Google’s founders, for now.

But the jury is still out for the next big thing. Cisco , Google and GE are agressive in talent acquisition.

A degree from an Ivy League school might get you into the door, but does not ensure your staying there, much less rising.

I am not naive about the climb from within, with glass ceiling and all.

But give society and corporations some time.  First women, then minority. (at this edit, Lean In has just come out – giving modern women something to discuss).

There are no rush to judgment. I understand the timeliness of this issue (admission to college. It’s called Senior panic). But one needs to take a long view back (to WW II at the very least) and forward (2050).

It’s a wonderful and widely connected world. There is no need to play the victim card. Just the value card. After all, the genes and genius cannot be hidden for long. We got Youtube, Twitter and Linkedin. If those platforms are not enough, invent your own “religion”. There is no need to be a follower. Asian families are better at making followers than leaders out of their children.

The weakness lies in its strength: Tiger Mom reproduces Tiger mindset. On that note, Jewish mothers can agree with Asian mothers: “They” are after us. So unfair! Personally, I don’t think it will ever be a fool’s errand for anyone (Asian are a subset) to be overly educated and enlightened. It’s our mission in life.

Romancing Saigon

Good luck! Bit it’s better  for you to wait until the scorching heat subsides, before you have a chance.

There are layers to Saigon, like you would peeling an onion.

Cafe Sua Da prices fluctuate from one street corner to the next.

On the main tourist strip, you still find Zippo lighters and even dog tags next to pirated copies of Vietnam War classics.

In fact, you don’t need to visit the museum of war (atrocities) to turn the clock back. The whole city could be viewed as a museum of war. The battle of ideology 1963, battle of Tet 1968 all took place here . Just walk the streets, you can relive the intensity of those struggles. Yet, in danger, there are romances. People live faster lives (translated to shorter ones). Self-immolated monk wasn’t the only one who burned himself to nirvana. Privileged youth are fast-tracking there as well, a phenomenon familiar to US “urban youth” (whose life expectation has  been rumored to be just above the legal drinking age.) Here, it’s already an improvement as compared to back then when widows and orphans were common.

A plane load of orphans took off and crashed just before the city itself “fell” to the hands of victors.

Now, you find bars. reincarnated versions of what used to be night clubs, hang-out places for GI‘s and their unspent payrolls. Today, beers popped open. Conversation started, most of which like two ships passing in the night. And young backpackers, many of  whom with Lonely planet’s guide, searching frantically to geo-ID themselves.

Oh well, drop those guides. Follow your instincts. Live a little. risk a little. Romance it. Don’t expect everything is set.

But then, what do you expect. War time might be over, but it’s still a “war zone”.

Can’t miss that tank on permanent display at Independent Palace.

Yes, you will find romance, but the price is to drop your guards, your expectations and prejudices. Saigon and Vietnam always reward seekers. But serious inquirers only. And the down payment is stiff, once paid in blood during the conflict.

And pain lingers on. Someone has to pay for reparation. It might as well be you. And you, and you. Sorry to pass on the virus which I myself have contracted while romancing Saigon.

Leaders as human

We miss those towering figures from WWII (remember the canes, the hats? and the saying  e.g.”Never never give up”).

It’s a different landscape now  (Apple, Facebook etc… with CEOs without a tie).

So it goes. New world order.  New icons. New  profiles and preferences.

Still, they are human. Supposedly connected with their people.

Leaders of common people.

Know how you feel.

It’s been tough.

We shall overcome.

Let’s tap into that which is best in each of us.

Arouse the spirits of sacrifice. Go beyond the call of duty.

Be the better version of you.

The spirit needs some workout just  like the body. Zumba for the soul.

Go and prevail. Stand tall and stand your ground.

Yes. It’s a new world order, with more participation and information.

BRIC and PIGS. Men and women, in bedroom and boardroom, on the playground and in the background.

Different world. More colorful world. More participation and equality. The future is calling.

Delayed recriprocity

The National Cherry Blossom Parade in the Nation’s Capital.  Washington Monument with cherry blossom in the foreground: picture perfect.

Newly arrived immigrants learned that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French (who coincidentally lead the Libyan incursion this time), and cherry trees, gifts from the government of Japan (twice, before and after WWII).

And so it goes, like the world map sold here, always with the US in the middle as hub of the global world. Everybody came from somewhere else. Hence, the US is involved in everyone’s affairs, often at the exclusion and expenses of its own e.g. (loan to Libyan Central Bank, no tax to GE and a lot of aid to Pakistan, cash to Afghans). Incidentally, it’s Lady Bird who planted those cherry trees the second time around, while her husband was complaining about his forced choice for a war abroad (Vietnam) over his pet project (Great Society) at home.

This time, Washington is more careful when asked by the French to join in a foreign incursion. Limited engagement, and no boots on the ground (Lybia).

Everyone feels like there are two stories competing: Japan’s radiation level and French-led Libya‘s no-fly zone (two huge stories which drove Terry Jones completely mad for attention! I’m gonna burn more Korans if you don’t send a camera crew).

This Saturday, as the nation celebrates Spring time (kids on daddy’s shoulders for a better view of high-school cheer leaders etc…_), let’s be reminded that long ago, the mayor of Tokyo was extending a nice gesture by sending a lasting State-to-State gift to adorn this nation.

My first impression of Washington was formed from those pictures of the Cherry Blossom Parade, including that shot of cherry branches in the foreground with the monument in the background. It’s enduring and eternal (nature’s intangible beauty vs man’s concrete monument).

Now, it’s Japan that needs Washington to reciprocate as it failed to contain its nuclear power plants. There isn’t enough room to store contaminated water. So the Pacific once again becomes dumping ground for oil. Mother Nature takes it all in. And every Spring, she shows us once again the rhythm of life – Spring eternal. Without knowing its future, Japan by a small gesture, initiated a virtuous cycle. I am sure leaders in Washington won’t forget to help victims of the quake as they enjoy the Parade adorned by and centered around those trees , gifts from quakeland. If you can lend money to Libya, you can certainly spare some change for the elderly who are now in line to get instant noodle at high-school-turned-refugee-shelters in Sendai. Delayed reciprocity.