(Original post on Aug 3rd) A friend J I know from not long ago passed away at the age of 37, in his dream peacefully. Although I don't know him that well, but our conversation was still so vivid. His Flamingo/Salsa dance was still flashing in front of my eyes. Everyday alive is a miracle as what Premonition the movie said. Knock my head and not forget what's important.

(Aug 16th) Today I got an update about this friend J. And parallel to this, I had a conversation with another friend yesterday. Yes, some person can get ahead by taking advantage of others, by "interpreting things his/her way", by whatever. By the end of the day, it's either God who knows everything or Me who knows what I do myself. It's how much I serve and how rich my heart is that counts, isn't it? Simply put, is my life in vain (make the world a better/happier place? enrich people's life? or at least have a good time during this journey of life?).

I was reading this junk news (Chinese) (English). It's nothing serious, just how Emma Watson spent her vacation at Nice. And there came the judgment of the reporter saying how spoiled Emma Watson was regarding the hotel $, champagne $, and dinner $. You see this homogeneity in the standard. She was just living her life, right? If someone really wants to judge, take the ratio of her meal to her income times one's income, and see how much one can "justify" themselves to eat?  A meal that is 25 cent?

Media likes to claim their right on freedom, the freedom to speak freely. Freedom however comes with responsibility and respect. One cannot extend the right of one thing unlimited without working/paying for it. This junk news again is nothing serious. It's a simple lack of respect, respecting the fact that anyone is a normal human-being, like you and me. If your sister/family is criticized like so, would you be happy about it? When media is covering more serious matters, they should be responsible for how they could shape a society's future, or simply a under-age kid's future (if watching inappropriate too graphical news). In short, there is no "free lunch" for freedom. It comes with responsibility and respect.

Along the same line of judgment, this is regarding plastic bag. I bought something the other day from Walgreens. And it came with a plastic bag. I then walked to Trader Joe's across the street to buy some other things. A man (carrying paper bags) coming right out seeing me carrying a plastic bag then yelled at me: "don't use plastic bag!". I looked at him briefly and continued walking into Trader Joe's. I usually use no bag or paper bags as a habit by the way. Ironically last night, I read about a research paper, talking how much more C02 and other pollutants paper bags produce, than plastic bags, in the process of production and transportation. Thinking about judgment :-)

Thanks to Ta. The original link at NPR is here. I echo the most with the following three panelists. Simply put, the rising of China is a crisis and an opportunity, for US, Taiwan, and the world. It's a very exciting (that sounds too positive isn't it?) moment of the history we are at.

James McGregor, former chief executive of Dow Jones in China, says: "We've learned that China's a very formidable country tonight and we better be scared of them, because why? Well, China has grown very fast and it's moving very fast, but what has happened during this period? China has been shoving all kinds of problems under the carpet. The carpet's getting lumpy, and the country will trip on these problems, and it's going to be very busy for the next few decades fixing this. Environment: China is trash. Sixteen of the 20 worst air-polluted cities in the world are in China. … Health care: … Two-thirds of people don't have health care. ... The have-and-have-not issue is growing and growing. … This is this colossus that's going to take on the United States."

Daniel H. Rosen, the principal of China Strategic Advisory, says: "Though 800 million Chinese are still poor by our standards, they're striving toward prosperity and not toward extremism. Those people, those toiling Chinese, are the boom that we're here to pass judgment on this evening. While their toil brings competitive challenges for us, we would be gravely mistaken to try to turn back the clock to the failed state China was before this boom began. Prosperity is not an alternative to political change in China. In fact, it's been the handmaiden of it. The totalitarian government ruling $200-per-capita China in 1978 bears practically no resemblance to the Chinese government managing a $2,000-per-capita economy today. Likewise, the Chinese government that runs $10,000-per-capita China tomorrow will be vastly different than the one we deal with today."

J. Stapleton Roy, three-time ambassador serving Singapore, the People's Republic of China and Indonesia, says: "A China that is floundering with a sense of grievance against the world and disaffected with the international system would be a greater danger than a booming China that can feed and clothe its people, educate them domestically and abroad, buy vast amounts of U.S. goods and services, and benefit from the international system. That's a far preferable outcome. Can we handle China's troublesome aspects? Of course we can. … The one requirement for handling any trouble that China causes is that we manage our domestic and international affairs so that we don't squander the enormous advantages that we have. … A booming China offers enormous opportunities for the United States, and holds out the prospect of positive change in the future."