Thoughts

THOUGHTS ON OBAMA FROM PRAGER

Dennis Prager had some interesting thoughts on Barack Obama and his 20 year relationship with controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

I firmly believe that if Obama loses the Democratic nomination, it'll be solely because of the harm Rev. Wright has done by continuing to be in the public eye, and prevent this issue from going away.

Prager's points were interesting: Wright makes Obama appear shady. Wright is obviously more than just a "spiritual advisor" to him since he has known him for 20 years, married Obama and his wife, baptized their kids, and prayed together on the night Obama announced his candidacy for president. That sounds like they are close friends to me.

With that being the case, how could Obama NEVER have heard Wright's anti-American views? And how did he not hear Wright's "Damn America" sermon the Sunday after 9/11. Prager notes that practically everybody was in some kind of church or synagogue that weekend after those tragic events. Are you tell me that Obama decided to skip church that week? Interesting.

And now, it seems Obama is only distancing himself from the Rev because it's a good political move. It clearly should have happened long ago.

Finally, Prager notes that even though he is not "a McCain guy," he feels McCain's character is much better than Obama's. McCain never discusses his own accomplishments and good deeds (including taking in a Bangladesh baby needing extensive medical care and rehabilitation and eventually adopting her). Meanwhile, Obama's closer life-long friends are all seeming to be shady. Of course, Prager ended this by saying that right-wingers usually weigh "character" heavily when choosing their President while left-wingers favor those who are greater activists in their political careers.

Interesting food for thought.

It was 5 years ago today that Karena and I became husband and wife. And I've loved every minute of it. Here is the entry I posted five years ago:

AN OPEN LETTER TO KARENA

The following is an open letter to Karena that I wrote to Karena that I am letting you all read. Why? I want you all to help keep me accountable in this area. Thanks.

Dear Karena,

I want to make a promise and a commitment to you: I will love you, cherish you, and honor you. Now, I know most everyone says that to their significant other at some point in their lives, making those words not quiet so special. But I truly do mean them.

And I've invited all these people to share into this letter and into our relationship so they can make sure I don't ever lose sight of loving, cherishing, and honoring you throughout my life. See, it's not just a wedding that we're planning for. I'm planning for a marriage -- something that will last a lifetime.

Karena, I want to love you the way Christ loved the church. And in order to do that, I have to know Christ intimately and have a solid, firm relationship with Him. So, I'm trying to cement my spiritual life and walk more closely with Him. That way, I will learn so much about Christ and follow Him so closely that I will begin to resemble Him. Only then, will I truly be able to love you the way He loved the church. That is my sincere hope and prayer for me and for us. I can't wait to go through this process.

And I can't wait until I have the honor and privilege of being called your husband.

Love, Victor

5 YEARS AGO
When I look back on my life five years ago, I see a lot of similarities.

For example, I am currently applying to change jobs to Kaiser Sunset in Hollywood, which is about half the distance from my home. And amazingly enough, this is the entry I wrote exactly 5 years ago today on getting another job:

THE WORD IS OUT
My boss finally emailed the entire Rehab staff at work to tell them that I had resigned to take another PT position at Kaiser West LA. I have to say that it felt very nice to have so many people tell me they were saddened by the news.
The truth is that I've really enjoyed my time here at UCLA primarily because of
the people I work with. Almost all of them are good people.

And that's pretty rare to find in any workplace. And it's just funny how when everybody knows that your last day is coming soon, they start to talk about you like you're dying: "You will be sorely missed." "I'll always remember how Victor used to bring his little lunch bag that mysteriously seemed to carry so much food." "He was a good guy."

Perhaps, looking back at this blog, is a sign of things to come.

GOOGLE STREET VIEW

I have always been a big fan of Google. When I was a kid, I was always fascinated with this mysterious number with 100 zeros named Google.

And then, 20 years later, an internet company that quickly became more than a search engine was born and I loved it. (By the way, I found it funny when my sister told me that people who work there don't like to hear people say, "You can always Google it." They feel they are so much more than just a search engine and want the world to think of themselves as such.)

Google has been good for our family. It has shown how internet companies can still flourish after the dot com bubble burst several years ago.

But I hear they've been taking a lot of heat for their Google Street View -- the application on their Maps site where you can literally see what buildings and homes look like in a 360 degree rotation. Of course, people are complaining about their invasion of privacy.

Personally, I don't think it's such a big deal. But then again, that may be because Google's Street View does not extend to my house. Still, I just spent the last hour or so looking up homes of my friends and most are there. I guess that is kind of bad.

YELLOW JACKETS

Growing up, my dad and I used to find yellow jackets making their nests each spring under the overhang of our roof. I was always afraid of getting stung by them, but my dad would go after them aggressively and bring their nest down. He just felt it wasn't good to have them buzzing around the house, especially with kids around.

And as luck would have it, the yellow jackets are at our home now too. In the last few years, I've found them making nests again under the overhand of our roof. I've tried (rather unsuccessfully) to try to spray them. Everytime I get close, it's as if they know I'm coming, they immediately take off and come after me. I've been so scared before that I ran clear around my house and into the garage. Karena thought it was pretty funny, watching me from the window. But Iwas terrified!

So, this past week, I again saw the beginnings of a nest forming. Any good ideas on how to get rid of these guys? I'm too chicken to try to spray them again . . . and too lazy to run around the house again (although I guess it'll again be entertaining to Karena).

WATERING THE LAWN

While growing up, my mom made sure we had "daily duties" during the summer. Those duties obviously included some school-type work to keep our minds from turning to mush. But they also included things like watering the lawn and plants.

It was during those summers that I learned to appreciate watering the lawn with a garden hose. My mind often wandered in amazement at how photosynthesis works and how water's cohesive properties helped carry it up the plant. Then, on a much less scientific level, I also thought how cool a stream of water looks when you put your finger over the hole to make it shoot out farther or to turn it into a spray.

Who ever needed one of those nozzles when you had your finger? I often tried to see just how far I could shoot the water. In fact, I once tried to water the entire backyard just by standing in one spot and pivoting around (it didn't work, but it was fun).

This past week, we discovered our sprinklers for the lawn were not working. So, that meant I had to stand outside to water. And even though I got wet and a little muddy, I have to admit that it was very peaceful standing out there in the quiet of morning. And it definitely brought back a lot of good memories of lazy summer days gone by. So, just for fun, I took off the nozzle that covers our garden hose nowadays and put my finger over the opening . . . just to see how far I could shoot the steam of water.

As a Christian and an American, I find it hard to swallow the way Chinese officials treat dissidents. But speaking as a Chinese person, I find it disheartening that so many people have jumped on the bandwagon in favor of Tibet. I'm just afraid the Tibetan people's standing of living may be worse off than it is now.


If you're interested in similar thoughts on this matter, you can read this below. Granted, it is a little one-sided and a little long, but I found it very insightful:

I listened to an NPR program about the situation in Tibet this morning and the
dialog was fascinating. The first thing that surprised me was that we had normal
Americans (however sympathetic to the Dalai Lama ) acknowledging that normal Han Chinese were targets of violence from the militant Tibetans but this “was a
reasonable and understandable reaction to the Chinese government’s policies”. If the civilians had been Israelis and the militants were Palestinian, or civilians
anywhere else for that matter, would any Americans sided with those who at other
times would be called the terrorists?

The Chinese government has tried to develop the Tibetan economy, maybe with the thought that wealthier Tibetans would be happier and less religious and separatist. The crowning achievement of this was the railroad to Tibet (a very expensive engineering feat given the mountains to scale) that some people hope to extend to India one day. (The Indians are very interested too.) This railroad is creating much new economic opportunity as well as more immigrants from outside Tibet . This railroad was cited by the one of the NPR panelists as one of the new Chinese offenses that forced the civil unrest.

This was the second thing that surprised me. When I
hear the complaints from other remote low economic activity areas, the
complaints are usually the opposite: “The local economy is stagnant, there is no
future here for our kids, we need the government to do something to help the
local economy.” This is the one time when the locals apparently don’t want a
better economy.

In the past, when I thought about Tibet , I used to have an anti
communist knee jerk, wishing freedom for the "oppressed" Tibetans. I also wished
independence for Taiwan because the PRC was communist and anti freedom. I don’t
think of the PRC like that any more. China is a country going through tremendous
changes and with a government that is firmly in charge. This will probably
change over time, but for now it is good to have a government that can do what
is right, to build infrastructure, and not always have to worry about opinion
polls and getting re-elected. I have talked to many Indians who wished they had
a government like the Chinese. If you imagine that China was the US and Tibet
and Taiwan wanted to secede, you probably would be less sympathetic to the
secessionists. At least Lincoln was.

I now view the Tibet issues as an inferior economic system being unable to defend itself against a stronger economy that is taking over what looks like unclaimed or at least under exploited territory. It is less extreme, but it is the same process that wiped to the Native American culture. Historically China started controlling Tibet in the 1200s. (The Mongols who conquered China in 1271, the Yuan dynasty, took Tibet in 1244. China has exercised some control over Tibet ever since, so the Chinese claim to rule Tibet is more ancient than any border in Europe . The only time Tibet had real self-determination was between 1913 and 1951 because British interventions and China’s internal turbulence and civil wars (and WW2 and Japanese invasion). When China reasserted itself in 1951, it gave Tibet Proper special autonomy but some outlying areas in the east, closer to populated China , were treated as China
Proper which meant “full land redistribution” communist style. This was opposed
by the old local land owners (aristocrats and monasteries) who rebelled. The
rebellion spread to Lhasa but was crushed in 1959. This is when the Dalai Lama
left.

From what I can tell, Tibet was not a good place to be in 1951. Most
people were serfs and there were even slaves, signs of a very poor and backwards
country. For the average Tibetan in Tibet Proper, things only got better when
the Dalai Lama left and full land distribution was implemented in Tibet Proper
too. It is always possible to play an “us versus them” game, just look at the
“ethnic cleansing” in old Yugoslavia , and the same happened in Tibet .

While the average Tibetan benefited from the Chinese takeover, both economically and from a human rights perspective (imagine how strange it is to think of the PRC
as the bringer of human rights, but it is true!), it was always easy to find
Tibetans resenting the Chinese. To me, this is the main reason I have changed my
view on Tibet and China .

It seems to me that it makes perfect sense that Tibet stay part of China and as time goes on becomes more and more integrated. The main opposition to this inevitable trend is the old elite. This elite pushed a self serving and backwards way of life that was completely non competitive with the rest of the world. The normal way of fixing Tibet would have the oppressed majority kick out the old oppressors on their own, including predictable problems such as some level of anarchy and economic hardship. (This may happen in neighboring Nepal , even though Nepal is much more advanced than Tibet was.)

China ’s takeover avoided that necessity, but because of our support for the old
regime there is always a ready loudspeaker for, and instigator of, any local
discontent. It helps that the current Dalai Lama is very charismatic and that
Tibetan Buddhism is non violent and attractively philosophical. The crass truth
is still that people want to use religion as a divisive (us versus them) and non
progressive political force. Would we be as sympathetic if the Tibetans were
Islamic?

I’m certain that the upcoming Olympics are part of the reason for the
current unrest. China views the Olympics as a coming out event, and views a
possible boycott as a disaster. Everybody knows that the Chinese response to any
challenge will probably be more muted than it will be after the Olympics . I
have even heard rumors that the Dalai Lama himself encouraged the initial
demonstrations this week as “our last chance for independence”. While I like the
Dalai Lama as a person, I can’t support him as a political leader because a) I
prefer not to mix religion and politics, and 2) I can’t support the politics of
the Dalai Lama regardless of how good PR he gets.

SCRIPTURE UNION DEVOTIONAL GUIDES

Three months ago, I purchased Scripture Union Devotional Guides for Karena and me and one for each couple in our Young Married Couples group.

I figured for those of us who were older Christians who may have gotten lazy or just gotten away from doing daily devotions (like me), this would be perfect. And for those seeking or more newer Christians, it would be good to read a little bit more about God on a more consistent basis.

But alas, the road to good intentions doesn't lead anywhere. Before I knew it, I was back to not doing them.

But since we got a new book for the next 3 months, we've decided to take this opportunity to rededicate to spending some time each day with God. After all, He deserves our best each and ever day.