The long holiday is going to end soon and I am back from my holiday.
These two weeks were not exactly relaxing because I had to work on the house chores alone. Trimmed the grass, mopped the floor, washed the car porch, and cooked meals.
On top of that, my parents were constantly having problems with the computer, and the culprit was the crappy Seagate hard disk: it just died a few months before it is 5 years old. Luckily Seagate still covers the warranty and I just sent it back for repair. This is so far the second failing Seagate disks that I have had, while there are a few more similar cases happened to people around me. Way to go Seagate!!
The issue that lingers in my mind this few days is not Chinese New Year, but the incident of of Joe Stack piloting a plane into the Texas IRS office.
First of all, I am not a supporter of violence, and I fully disagree with what he did. His action would only kill and harm the poor employees who have no relationship to his plight.
What set me thinking is this: when a country like US is hit by suicidal attacks done by foreigners, the knee-jerk reaction is labeling those people as terrorists. Those people are against the US government, therefore by definition, they oppose freedom, peace, liberty and whatever shit the government claims to represent. Now, an American killed himself by similar method, and I observe the mainstream media try to isolate this case as 'abnormal' and starts to portray him as lunatic.
If you believe what the media tells you, then you should stop reading this blog. Go watch TV, watch the news, and feel really good that American government has freed the poor people in middle east (but got thousands of American soldiers killed, oops, we must sacrifice something to achieve greatness, right?), serves you well (but don't get sick, because you still have to pay, and pay dearly), and has your interests in mind (Who cares if you are jobless or poorly paid? But we must save the rich bankers! Bail them out with your money, and let them take obscene amount of bonuses at year end, hey banks are very important for the country).
I can't believe how a fine country like the States can rot in this way, and the more amazing thing is: the people are still abiding!
What do you expect us to do then, you may ask. Good question. As I stated earlier, violence is not the answer.
There are two options you can consider. The first is to exercise your suffrage, write to your representative and tell that person your thoughts. However I recognize this option is usually futile because you need a number of people who are rational, who can think independently and won't follow the crowd. If you look at people around you, you will find a lot of them have NO brain activities. All they know is watching TV, having sex, and having sex again.
For example, try to ask "What is your goal in life?", and I bet you will get answers like "I want iPhone", "I want LV", or "I want to look like Lindsay Lohan".
And this brings us to the second method: Vote with your feet. Explore a country that you like, get a permanent residentship (PR), stay there for a while, and convert to the citizen there if you really like that country. If Stack had considered this option, he would leave the country, started a business in countries with relatively liberal tax policies like Singapore, or Hong Kong, most likely he would avoid the frustration of the IRS treatments, and could live longer and happier.
Really, I recall a saying by a management guru that goes something like "when a good manager meets a crappy company, more often than not the company will win".
In other words, when your house is on fire, your first reaction is to put out the fire, but if that fails, will you grab a chair and die together with the house?
Same goes for a messed-up country and a smart person. Run like a cat.
P/S: I heard the term patriotism, well, patriotism is bi-lateral, the pre-requisite is the country loves you and treats you well. Go figure.
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