Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Life is priceless

We hear the phrase "Life is priceless" bandied around all the time. Yet, is it true?

Life is precious no doubt, especially our own. Yet my life is not priceless. If the sacrifice of my life could save all humanity, I would not hesitate to make that sacrifice. Now, I admit that it is not likely that I will be called upon to save the world from Armageddon. So let's put the bar slightly lower; I would be willing to give my life to save my whole family.

Now you are going to criticize me and say: "You are sacrificing your life to save another, so life is still priceless". All right. Let me toss away all lofty talk.

To be frank, every day we choose convenience over life. Millions of people die in car accidents every year, yet we still continue to drive. Obviously, this convenience outweighs the lives cost in the eyes of society. You might argue that it is not a certainty that anyone will die, and it can be prevented with care. To this I respond that it IS a certainty that SOMEONE will die in car accidents somewhere in the world, no matter how careful we are.

Many other human activities carry a necessary loss of life, yet we continue to do them because the loss of a few lives is worth it to maintain our modern lifestyle. Mining, shipping, military activities, spaceflight, the list goes on.

So don't tell me life is priceless. It's precious no doubt, but not priceless.

Monday, September 12, 2011

MidAutumn

It's MidAutumn festival and everyone is holding lanterns and eating mooncakes. We always associate this festival with warm family gatherings, but there is a deeper, more martial meaning to it.

Hundreds of years ago, China was ruled by the mighty Mongols. The people were oppressed and yearned to throw off their chains, but there was no chance to formulate plans as group gatherings were banned. One day, a wise man hid messages in thousands of mooncakes during Midautumn, telling the people to rise up, and rise up they did.

So now when I look at little kids holding lanterns I keep wondering whether there are grenades hidden inside or not...

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Kids nowadays

People always say "this generation is useless". This statement has been repeated throughout history. I have read that they found an ancient Roman stone carving with the words "The next generation is lazy and dissolute and will surely cause the downfall of the world as we know it".

We always hear older people say "kids nowadays don't know how it's like to have a tough life", which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. It's precisely because our economy and society is advancing that kids get softer. I'm sure this phrase was repeated through history.

Parents today: "You kids have aircon and Internet, you don't know how lucky you are!"

One generation back: "You kids get to eat and go to school, we were chased by Japanese soldiers!"

Three generations back "You get to travel on a car, we had to ride horses!"

Ten generations back: "We had to hold a sword, you get guns!"

One hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays are so lazy, they have to make shapes on paper to remember things, we had to carve on stone!"

Five hundred generations back: "Kids nowadays use this round thing to roll stuff around, we had to carry stuff!"

One thousand generations back: "You kids think you had it tough with that fire of yours? We had to eat raw meat!"

So yes, I hope my kids are softer than I am.