Christmas Day 2016

Today is another year of Christmas.  I woke up at 7AM and went to a church service, and then gave my mother a visit.  We had a simple Vietnamese style lunch and made some small conversation about each other's life.   This is just like any other year. Same old, same old way of living I call it.

But for some reason this year feels different.  Surely it might be that I have changed so much in such a short amount of time. I am more assured of myself more than ever and confident in my own skin but this seems to make no difference in how this abnormal feeling arises and reveals itself.  While some people take years to become a new and better person, I became a new person in about two months.  Growing up I have always thought I was a shy and unconfident child but this year turned everything around and I found the confidence that I need to survive this competitive world.

Rather than dwelling on this odd feeling I made sure to remind myself to make this Christmas day as the beginning of a new year.  Each new year is a new opportunity.  Though I don't know what is to come, I know that making opportunities is my main focus.

The One Feeling

During my Europe trip I found that writing what I learned and what I saw was the best way to discover my own thoughts and to help my brain process what is going on around me.  Through writing I learned how to trust myself and to make the best of what I have.  Writing is a hidden form of therapy where one can always use it to their own advantage; it may even be better than medicine and the actual professional therapy a patient gets.

The past few months have been a whirlwind of experiences that I have never encounter in my life and writing them down was of no use. Here is one time where writing has been failing me at each step of the way.  I am old enough to know and to what expect out of what is happening to me but the past few months have been out of my own understanding. I am not claiming to be a smart person but I can understand most things in life just by using logic. But the experiences in this past months requires more than logic to help me understand.  I don't know what is to come but I think something is coming and it is taking its time and going at a high speed at the same time. Paradoxical I know. But that is how I feel and I cannot shrug this feeling off my chest.  I used to have a bad feeling toward this "thing" but the more I dig into trying to comprehend its vastness and its definition I find that this incoming "thing" might be bigger and out of my own understanding than I can ever imagine.   I guess all I can do is to sit back, be a scientist, and see what is to come.

You can be resourceful without having the resource.
- TOMS creator

7/23/2015

Lasting Change

If we want lasting change, we have to make friend with pain.

-http://www.lifehack.org/320913/want-lasting-change-make-pain-your-friend

Painful emotions are an extremely effective way to avoid unwanted behaviors. Once you make pain your friend, you can change your life in an instant.

1/2016

“I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.”-Kristin Laura Kreuk's Instagram

early 2016

How Einstein Solved Problems

Einstein once said, "If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the problem."  That is 90% of the time trying to find the problem and the last 10% is used for finding solutions.  The hardest part is to know the exact problem and to know it with certainty and then spend the next 5% of the time in solving the problem.  If we all do this then the world will be a much better place to live and we all can improve our critical thinking skill and as a result we develop our thinking process.  

The Haters

There will be people who just cannot stand you no matter how much you try to be kind to them.  I learn to ignore it through trial and errors and this is the best method to defeat hatred.  If we have tried to mend the relationship, the best we can do is to ignore it and let it slide and move on.  There is no need to explain why we do what we do and how we live our lives.  It is none of people's business and all we can do is focus on our goals and keep reaching for what we believe in

The only thing that matters is how we see things and how it affect us and even if we are horribly damaged by other people's action, we continue to walk and live to the fullest and to the best of our ability.  Till death we depart.  Our goals are a part of us and when we recognize it and when we actually materialize our goals we become a great being, we become a person with a purpose and a great well of hope.

Give Belgium a Break

Turkey authority stated that they had forewarned the Belgium authority about one of the suspects in the Brussels attack on March 22. The suspect traveled to Turkey and had the intention to enter Syria before the Turkish authority at the border stopped him and deported him back to the Netherlands.  Because of this Turkey blames Belgium police and intelligence for failing to keep track of the terrorist and for failure to prevent the attacks in an airport and metro station in Brussels.

I see the point of what the Turkey authority is saying but come on, we should give Belgium a break.  The country is mourning for the victims and the last thing they need is more criticisms and verbal attacks.  And besides terrorist attacks are very much unpreventable. Terrorists can attack anywhere they have their eyes on and there is no way to prevent them.

The United States is known to have the best military force and its police system is very much organized and we have plenty of police on the road and look, the San Bernardino "terrorism-inspired" attack occurred last December, killing 14 people at a government facility in California and this happened right after the Paris attack last November.  But did we blame the Americans for not having a tight security? No, because America is known for its strong military force. Then why are we criticizing the Belgium authority? They did a great job in the capture of Salah Abdeslam, one of the accomplices of the Paris attack, and they are trying their very best to protect its people and prevent further attacks.

My point is there is no way to prevent terrorist attacks.  Most of the attackers are homegrown radicals. They are not refugees or migrants coming from Syria or Iraq. They were born and raise in the country they carried out the attacks and there is no way to keep up with each one of them and make sure they are not planning any future plots.

Rather than pointing fingers, we should devote our time in educating the young people who are prone to radicalization. Most of the terrorists have a criminal background, dropped out of school, and came from a poverty background and they do not feel like they fit in the European society; basically they are considered as the "losers" and outsiders in their society.  We need to use our energy in using education to help these vulnerable young people to see the horrific truth of these so-called jihadist groups.  We need to help them understand that these terrorist groups are criminals who are using them and turning them into monsters that kill innocent lives.  The key is to make education available to the population that has the likelihood to join terrorist groups.  Education is the key to problems in the world and when we use education as the weapon to prevent terrorism, we can save thousand of lives from dying in the hands of terrorists.

Terror in Belgium

At 8AM, Brussels was hit by one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history.  Two consecutive attacks occurred in the Belgium capital within one hour, killing more than 30 people and injuring more than 200 people.  The first attack occurred at the Brussels Airport, north of the city center while the second attack occurred at the Maelbeek metro station, near the European Union institutions.  The Belgium authorities said there were three suspects involved in the attacks and they were seen on a surveillance footage minutes before the explosions at the check-in area.  Two men are thought to have been the suicide bombers while the third man, according to Belgium authority, is to be at large and is on the run.

I was driving to work in this morning and as I listened to the news on the radio, I thought I was hearing things because it didn't seem right.  Belgium just captured the last Paris attacker last Friday and now there were attacks already in Brussels. It didn't make sense to me and as I shrugged off my skepticism and continued to listen to the BBC news, it hit me that there were actual terrorist attacks and Belgium is once again on high alert.

I have been wanting to visit Europe this year again and there is this voice in me saying that, "You should not fly there, Europe is unstable right now and it is better to wait for a little while until things are settled down and calmer."  I felt in love with the continent when I first visited it last summer and I vowed to return to it once again to see what more it has to offer.  I want to see Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Barcelona, and Berlin and with the news of the recent Brussels attack, it shook me a bit as I read the horrific accounts of the eyewitnesses at the airport and the metro station and for the first time in my life, I realize that I was experiencing the fear of going to another country. It does not help any bit when I read a news article stating that a prominent ISIS supporter wrote, "What will be coming is worse" on a Twitter post and this shook me a bit further and all I wanted was to cancel my next Europe plan.

Then I remember I felt the same way last year before I visited Chicago in December as there was a terrorist-related attack in San Bernardino, California a week before I flew to the Windy City.  I almost canceled my Chicago trip as the fear was blooming bigger and bigger in me.  But I kept my original plan--I flew to Chicago, spent a few days there, and had a blast.  The only regret I had would be if I chose not to stick to my plan.

The goal of terrorists is to put fear in us and when we let the fear takes hold of us, we become numb and unable to function in our daily activities. We become fearful of going to public areas, hanging out with friends and family, driving to work, basically going anywhere.  When we let fear controls us, the terrorists win; they have implanted this fear in us and their mission is accomplished.  But when we choose to not to be fearful and continue with our daily life, the terrorists lose and we have abolished their mission.  Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  Terrorists want us to be afraid of them and to be in the mode of fear and we cannot let that happen. We have to stand up on our two feet, fight it, and know what the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.


Note: This post was written on the evening of March 22, 2016.

The Bucket List

In the movie "A Walk to Remember," Jamie Sullivan shares with the love of her life Landon Carter what she wants to accomplish before she dies.  After discovering that Jamie is sick with leukemia and is close to death, her boyfriend Landon set out to help her reach her dreams.  Jamie wanted to become friends with someone she doesn't like, build a new telescope to see the comet, make a medical discovery, and to be in two places at once and her wishes were accomplished.

Each one of us has a desire to accomplish the goals we have and each of us has an imaginary bucket list on our mind that we never really sit down and jot it down.  I find that the act of writing deepens our desire to reach our goals and the likelihood of us accomplishing our goals is at a much faster and greater rate than if we leave them in our thought process.  So today I decided to jot down what are the goals I want to accomplish in this life time--

1. Find a suitable career for myself
2. Own a business
3. Open a restaurant
4. become a mentor who changes young people's lives
5. Create an innovation (s) that change the world
6. Get a tattoo
7. Meet a future president of the United States--any president will do.
8.  Go to a Taylor Swift concert.  Miss Swift is wealthy and her songs resonate to audiences all over the world.  She is genuine in her lyrics and I would love to see her live and in person one day.
9. Travel the world.  I want to land in all continents of the world and see what there are out there.  I find that reading about places is not enough and the act of immersing ourselves in new places opens our mind to the wonder the world.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson once said, "Be your own best advocate--you have to fight for what you want." I learned the hard way on why and how I should be my own best advocate and if it was not the people who rejected me, I would never get to where I am today.  I am grateful every single day for those who said no to me, because of them I set out to do it myself.  The bucket list is the result of me being able to distinguish other people's thoughts and my own thoughts and it is an example of  me being an advocate for myself.

Terrorist Backed Out in Paris Attack

On November 13, 2015, armed men entered a concert venue, bars, restaurants, and a sport stadium, shooting and killing a total of 130 innocent lives who just wanted to have a fun night out in the city of Paris. Eighty-nine of the victims were killed at the concert hall the Bataclan and all three killers at the site were killed at the venue, either by activating their suicide vests or was shot by the police. 

Fast forward to four months later. On March 18, 2016, Belgium police raided a flat in an impoverished Belgium city of Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels after finding the DNA of Europe most wanted man Salah Abdeslam in another apartment that the police were raiding as well.  After the police entered a flat, a gunfight started between the police and the inhabitants of the apartment and there the police found Salah Abdeslam, though wounded on the leg during the gun battle, and the arrest was made after the long four-month search after the Paris attack. 

After the arrest, Salah Abdeslam were questioned by the French and Belgium authorities and prosecutors.  Paris prosecutor Francois Molins announced at news conference, "Salah Abdeslam today during questioning by [Belgian] investigators affirmed that, and I quote, 'he wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France and that he had backed down.” The reason he backed out from the original plan leaves authorities and the public to guess what was the true motive of his escape.  Why did he fail to go forward with the agenda? Did he betray the other perpetrators?  Was he too afraid to die? Only time will tell us why he chose to back out and drove back to Belgium. 

But one can guess that maybe there was a sign of repentance and guilt behind his action, making him to fail in carrying out his devilish and meriless murder back in November.  Mr. Abdeslam is 26; he is at the age where most people are still searching for a stable place in life, whether that is a career, relationship, job, etc. Maybe he came to the realization that night that there are more to life than this mass murder that his friends and brother were about to carry out on the night before November 13.  Whatever the reason behind his action, we can rest assure that lives were saved because Mr. Abdeslam decided to change his mind. 

$300 Bikini vs. $40 Bikini

As summer approaches, the urge to buy a new swimming outfit made me take a quick trip to the nearby Target a few days ago and I ran across a $40 bikini outfit that I was unable to put it down. The top was orange-red with black polka dots and a small bow in the cleavage line and the bottom was a normal bikini; the garment in the waste was three inches in length and the butt cheeks could only be seen half-way when I tried it on.  So I decided to buy the bikini outfit and the receipt showed the total to be $42 with the regular price and tax included.  With that I call it a bargain. 

In late 2014, pop singer Taylor Swift released a new album called “1989”.  The album won the Grammy award for best album of the year recently and the tickets for her 1989 concert were sold out within hours after they were available to the public.  With her success, no wonder she makes millions of dollars in a year in an industry that many, who want to succeed in the entertainment arena like her, never had the opportunity.   

Recently Taylor Swift posted Instagram pictures of herself and boyfriend Calvin Harris vacationing in a tropical island.  Miss Swift wore a $307 bikini outfit as she posed for pictures with her butt cheek showing.  I could not recognize it was Taylor as she has always been elegant and feminine in her skin-covered fashion and daily outfits.  But for the first time I saw that the sexiness in her pictures as she posed in a picture with her back facing the camera while her face peaked half way looking slyly at the camera. Her bikini outfit is made of laced garments and compared to my own bikini outfit from Target, they look to have the same durable quality and the manufacturing process could have been the same.   The only difference between my bikini outfit and her outfit is the price tag. 

Taylor Swift is reported to make $1 million in a day and earned a total $284 million last year. She owned million-dollar mansions in New York City, Nashville, and even in Los Angeles.  In another word, Miss Swift has all the money in the world to buy anything she wants.  However just because a person has the money it does not mean that what he or she buys is worth it. 

We don’t need to buy a $307 bikini outfit. Miss Swift has millions of dollar in her bank account so there is no surprise that she spent so much on clothing and plus, with a handsome and successful boyfriend such as world-known DJ Calvin Harris, she has to spend on nice clothing to make good impression.  Still I believe the $307 can be spent on other more important things in life rather than the bikini outfit.  The bikini that Miss Swift wore could have cost her less than $50 if the manufacture is not a well-known brand (Miss Swift bought her bikini outfit from the brand For Love & Lemons).   

The $307 can be spent on donating to National Public Radio or the public library to promote education and the continuing of free news for the public, especially to the impoverished individuals in America; the money can be given to public universities to promote stem cell and cancer research or provide scholarships for the students who could not afford to go to college because of the outrageous tuition that American universities are known for.  However the money is spent on, there are more disadvantaged groups and more needy cause that can use the money to the fullest potential. 

Nike brand co-founder Phil Knight donated $400 millions to Stanford University in February with the purpose to prepare the next generation global leaders.  It was the biggest donation ever made to Stanford in history.  The donation's purpose was to change the world and Taylor could have done the same as well rather than to spend the the extravagant amount on a bikini outfit that she might only wear once or twice.  Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."  When we spend money on knowledge, we get more out of it and the interest increases as we spend more on knowledge.

 

All The Weddings on Facebook

As I scrolled through my Facebook feeds, pictures of weddings and babies are popping up at every click.  My old friends are getting engaged and married right and left.  Years ago, I would feel dumbstruck and even a sense of hatred toward people who decided to tie the knot but looking back I realize that my time spending in pitying myself is nothing but waste and that there are better things to worry about.  The world is so big and wide and full of opportunities and marriage is definitely not the answer for people who are trying to find themselves and grow.  There are many ways to grow and marriage is definitely not a one-way path to get there.  Jealousy is a killer of happiness and it is nothing but waste when we spend our time smoldering over other people's happiness while we could do other things.  We can travel and learn about the world or we can go out and make friends with people around the world. The key to happiness is to accept our life and continue to seek opportunities to grow and always keep our chin up.

The World

The world is confusing but the longer we stick to it, the better chance we will understand it. Confusion is the first step to understanding.  Things will make more sense as we go about our life. Patience is the key to understanding.  

Why I Can't Stop Listening to Adele

Five years ago I heard an artist by the name Adele on the radio and paid little to no attention to her.  Radio personality announced Adele won awards and that her songs are played in almost every radio station and still, I paid no attention as I was never a fan of British singers or entertainment before--not even the Beatle could attract me.  I have watched many British movies and was never into them so I thought maybe their singers will be the same--uninteresting, mediocre, not talented.  Lame I know. Just because a singer is British, it does not mean he or she is below or is not as great as any other American singers.  Then in November 2015, I heard the song "Hello" on Adele's Youtube page and was completely hooked to this British singer.  I googled and went to Adele's Youtube page and listened to her songs.  I just could not get enough of her.  Today Adele sold millions of albums and is one of the most well-known singers in the world.

There are many reasons why I cannot stop listening to her music.  For one thing, Adele can really sing. There are millions of singers in the world coming from almost every countries but some do not have a vocal talent that would mark them as a great singer or even worth listening to.  Now I am not criticizing other singers in the world but rather I am shedding some truth in the music industry. Take American musicians for instance---some "singers" do not have the vocal ability even though they sing at concerts and special events and make millions of dollars and the public knows that but still we buy tickets to their "concerts" for the sake of entertainment and admiration of their personality.

Secondly, Adele is confident and genuine.  I can't help admiring her confidence and genuity in interviews.  I do not know if the persona she shows in interviews reflects her true self but all I can say is she makes me want to come back to her music.

Last but not least her love song is relatable.  She does not share much about the romantic aspect of her life but her lyrics gives me better light in understanding my own love life and life in general.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 and still today, the world remembers his legacy and his contribution to pop music.  People still sing and listen to his music to this very day and they remember the good time his music gave them.  Likewise, Adele will be the Michael Jackson that the world knows.  We will remember her beautiful voice and best of all the good memories that she gives each one of us from this day on and to the near future.

Why I Don't Judge Donald Trump

Mr. Donald Trump is running for the presidential position in one of the most powerful countries in the world and recently he has been taken hits from Republicans in the anti-Trump movement.  Mitt Romney, for instance, called Mr. Trump a "fraud" and "phony" and the criticisms were broadcasted throughout the media and the world. Despite the harsh words tossing at him, Trump continues to stand up and continue campaigning with his supporters, hoping to win a spot in the Oval Office this November.  He has said statements that many Republican elders look down on and many Americans have criticized him for saying such statements fearing that he might anger other world leaders and nations once he becomes the next President of the United States. And the most recent criticisms on Mr. Trump is that no one is sure where he stands in social issues.  In fact, Mr. Trump once stated that he believed waterboarding should be implemented but in less than 24 hours after a GOP debate, he does not believe that the use of waterboarding is a wise decision.  His indecisiveness leads public and the GOP leaders to come to the conclusion that he does not have what it takes to be the next US leader.

Despite his flaws and indecisive positions on social issues, here are a few reasons why I do not judge him:

1.  First of all, if we look at his work background, he has no political experience.  He is a businessman who can make millions of dollars but from all the statement he said on political issues, he seems to be uninformed and the statements seemed to be more on the whim rather than well-thought out.  The GOP candidates who are going against him are lawyers, governors, and senate members who have decades of experiences in the political arena so it is a difficult task to compare them to the businessman that Trump was brought up to be.

2.  If we don't like other people judging us, then what give us the right to judge other people?

3.  Sure, Mr. Trump had said outrageous comments that made the public and other politicians cringed, but it does not mean he meant what he said or understood the full impact of what he said.  He might be misinformed and not educated enough on the issues. We should not forgive or let this flaw slide away easily but we have to keep in mind in order to not be too condemning toward Mr. Trump.

Even though I vow to not judge him, I by no means have any intention to vote for him.  He seems like an honest person who likes to speak his mind (look at the comments he made in the past about Muslim and Mexicans) but experiences will always triumph any other personal characteristics--no matter how attractive the person is.  I would never have a surgeon who has never done any surgery to perform surgery on me and in the same way I would never want anyone without any political experience to be the next President of the United States. Still, I do not want to judge Mr.Trump as he seems to know little on what it takes to be the next President.  Whether we vote or not for Mr. Trump, we should always be objective, non-judgmental, and always look at the fact at hand.

Why We Need to Make Enemies

I learned that it's okay to make enemies.  Not everyone will like you but there will be people who will love you to death no matter how flawed you are.  Making enemies just means you are thinking for yourself and you choose not to let other people decide how you live your life.

A Wasted Life

In 2013, a 14-year-old teen was arrested for killing his high school math teacher.  Today, he is 17 and yesterday a court sentenced him to more than 40 years in prison.  He did not just kill the teacher, but he also raped and robbed her.  During the sentence hearing at a Massachusetts court room, he stood hand-cuffed and he had on an expressionless face; there is no sigh of remorse, guilt, anger, and sadness on him.  He looks like a lifeless person standing in the court but he is there, still breathing and can still function like any healthy human.  The victim's family was present in the court and as they listened to the sentence made by the judge, the victim's mother described the killer as "pure evil, and evil can never be rehabilitated."

No one can fully understand the full anger and resentment the victim's family has toward the perpetrator.  One thing that crossed my mind as I read the whole story of this 17-year-old is what a wasted life he has.  The perpetrator was only 14 when he committed the crime.  The world needs people to make a difference and he could have been one of them.  A person lives on average 70 to 80 years on this earth and those years outside of imprisonment could have been spent doing something great.  He could have invent the next technology that would cure cancers or the next invisible cloak for the military in fighting zones. But instead, this 17-year-old will have to spend the next 40 years of his life in a dark room behind bars.

As a social service worker, I have had clients who were jailed for numerous reasons--murdering, white collar crimes, robbery, arsenal, etc. and many of them saw their time behind bars as something they wish they did not have to go through.  They do not want another person to be in the same shoe as them and they hope no one will eventually.   We have one life and we have to make good use of it.  Committing an act and then getting jailed for decades is a wasted life and it is a life we should never be in.  We all have the brain and the imagination to do something great in  life and we have to make most of it.

Why Politics Matters

On a recent National Public Radio episode, a journalist covers a story of why Americans choose not to vote.  One young gentleman from a Southern state stated that the wealthy has all the power and the politicians have the wealth.

As a child of immigrants, I am very much familiar to poverty.  My family had a booming business in Vietnam that my parents took years of hard work to build and when we decided to move to America, we came with only a few thousands dollars to live on.  The money was used to pay the rent in the earlier months and to buy the necessaries such as clothing and food.  I can remember my mom and siblings rummaging through the clothing rack at second hand stores to save every penny we had.  The inability to speak English prevented my parents from getting a decent job and they ended up with minimum wage jobs in factories near our home.  Living in an impoverished condition is no stranger to my family.

So I understand when an American coming from an impoverished family does not believe in politics and the view of how little important is their votes.   Whatever their reasons on why they do not believe in politics, there are many reasons why it matters, and will always be.

First of all, politics affects every part of our lives, from the food we eat, to the water we drink, to the car we drive. There are different agencies within the government sector to take care of the import and export of the food in America.  There is even a government sector that takes care of the water we drink.  The Department of Motor Vehicle is a government agency that takes care of the car we drive.

Secondly, it affects our income and how much we take home from a pay check. As an employee we pay tax to the government and the people who determine how much tax is deducted are the politicians.

Lastly, it determines our future. The politicians decide on what to do with the budget our country has and how it should be rationed in which part of the America sectors. Should the money go to education? Should it go to the military and defense? Should it go to medical researches?  Base on where the money runs, one can say one chooses a career or a job base on how well the industry is.  If we want to be a doctor, we need to know there are jobs out there and that the government is not getting the way of us working in our medical practice.

Politics is a tricky subject and many people get heated if it is brought up in conversations.  Whether we believe it or not, politics encompasses a large part of our lives and when we choose to live in the shadow and not acknowledging its existence, we become illusional.  The reality is right there, whether we choose to believe it or not.

Apple vs. the FBI

Recently the FBI has asked the technology company Apple to unlock the iPhone belonging to one of the perpetrators in the San Bernardino attack back in early December 2015.  Rather than complying to the request, Apple refused to unlock the phone because the action will invade the company's privacy policy.  In addition, if Apple opens the phone, their iPhone products, the company claimed, will be vulnerable to other hackers as they can see it is possible to access the inside of the phone.  Authorities stated that Apple is acting like an adolescent and their stubbornness stems from the fear of bad publicity for their business.

Two months after the deadly attack in San Bernardino, which left 14 people dead, authorities are still in the blur on the exact motivation of the married couple who carried out the attack.  They rummaged through the couple's condo in Redlands, California and their belongings and what is left is the iPhone of the perpetrators. The phone is one of the last few hopes to understand the motivation of the attackers.

Despite how much Apple reasons on why it refused to follow the FBI's order, there are many reasons why Apple should do what it takes to open the phone.

First of all, unlocking the phone will unravel the mystery of the San Bernardino attack.  The two killers were gun downed in the battle with the police and they left little trace of the reasons why they carried out the attack.  Fourteen innocent lives were lost within a day and their family and friends are still healing from the lost of the important people who were once in their lives.

Last but no least, this will allow the public and authorities to understand the mind of not only the perpetrators in the San Bernardino attack but also the mindset of future killers, or terrorists even. The terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has given threats to attack America and knowing more information about the attack in California last December will aid the law enforcement to guard the country better. It is best to learn from what transpired in the past than to have to go through similar episodes in the future.  The past is the best teacher to learn from and we should use this opportunity to retain the lessons from it.

The future and safety of America are dependent on the law enforcement and the more understanding we have on why a killer performed a mass shooting or other unlawful acts, the authorities will have more control over on how to protect us Americans.

Banning Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is popular around the globe but recently one country has taken a negative view on the holiday.  That country is Pakistan.  The district Kohat in the north-eastern of Pakistan, for instance, banned the celebration of Valentine's Day for the reason that the holiday does not coincide with the Muslim faith.  The districts is governed by a religious political group and is surrounded by conservative tribal areas but despite the strong dislike of the holiday, the action has not been confirmed yet and that there are talks where the ruling was ignored due to the unpopularity of it.  In addition of the action, Pakistan's president denounced the holiday, stating it has no relation with the Pakistani culture and should be avoided.  The statement came from the belief that the holiday is a Western tradition and is conflicted with the Muslim culture.

Here we see the conflicts between culture and politics.  Who will win in the end? Due to the unpopularity of the banning, it is good to say culture is winning in this battle so far.  The people who ignore the banning in the district Kohat decide to keep the tradition, despite how much the politicians in the neighborhood are against it.  But how long this will last is solely dependent on the politicians in Pakistan. Culture verses Politics. Not to sound too morbid, but politics will win.  Politicians have all the power in the world to turn an idea into a reality.  And those that go against them can fight but they will have to one day succumb to the decisions of the politicians or else face unwanted action against them.  Take a look at the Nazi era. Many opponents were against the ideologies of the Nazis and they were put on trial and killed and many had no choice but to follow what the leads of the Nazi party wanted.

Knowing this we need to be more conscious of who we choose as the leaders in our country and to know what despite how many laws are out of our control, we have the right to vote for the nation leaders that would best suit our needs as they decide on what laws to pass and what to keep.

On Friendship

Growing up, I always wanted to fit in. I tried out for cheerleading and even color guard, and joined numerous clubs in order to find that one group that would accept me for who I am.  Then years later I learn that that is not the right way to find friends.  In order to find friends, we have to accept ourselves and then find a group of people who accept us for who we are.  It is easy said and done of course and that is the challenging part of this situation.  As a teen, there are too many hormones that cloud our mind from thinking clearly and on how to choose the right people to be around.  Growing up and life experiences do make it easier to see the perspectives and to understand the situation and of course the yearning to fit in is still there as always, we cannot run away from it as it is a part of the human nature.  But one thing we can do is to always remember that we will find that someone who will love us enough to stand our gut and to be there when we truly need him or her.

New Addiction- the Presidential Election

I am addicted to keeping up with the Presidential Election.  There, I admitted. I cannot get enough of the news update of the presidential election in my land country called America.  The candidate Donald Trump cannot stop making me laugh; no one has ever said a group of people (in this case Muslim) should be banned from a country that as diverse as America.  Mrs. Hilary Clinton are so confident in her stand that she signifies a great role model for millions of women in the world, Ted Cruz was born in Canada and he proves that "natural born" does not mean that a person have to be born in the American land in order to be the next president and despite  how much the public supports Mr. Cruz, I found myself to be confused what the Founding Fathers meant when they wanted only a natural born person to be the President of the US.

I am 28 and was never interested in politics when I was younger. Not until college that I took voting and politics seriously. Despite my new interest for politics in college, I found myself to steer away from it due to the dramas that the campaign--or politics in general-- can generate.    But this election grabbed my attention for what it is and I cannot take my eyes away from it.  Maybe I outgrown my apathy for politics and saw it in a different light as I age and see how relevant it is to my own life. Maybe the election is just a different monster than before and it does a better job in entertaining viewers--despite how other developed countries in the world do not like the comments that some of the candidates made.  For whatever the reason, I cannot take my eyes off this election and I am actually fine with it.

Who We Should Spend Money For

I bought Lush body products for the first time. I bought a face mask before and due to the fact that the company sells expensive items compared to the generic brands that the drug stores have, I vowed to never buy anything from the store again. However, I dropped by a Lush store a week ago and bought two soap bars. One is a bubble bath soap bar with a rose scent and the other is a bath bomb with a honey scent and I felt in love with them instantly at the store, so I had to get it.  The two soap bar cost my wallet $20.  When I got home, I realize that I need to have a bathtub of my own in order to use them and I realize that since I share a bathroom with a few other people, there is no way I can spend one hour on my own and not having anyone complaining to me about hogging the restroom to myself.  Due to the luscious smell of the items I bought, I decided to keep the soaps and promise to myself that I would find ways to put them in good use even if I will never use them in a bathtub.

The Lush soap bars helped me see that a key to happiness is to treat yourself out. Buy something that you always wanted. Buy that one shirt that you always crave, buy that one perfume that makes you turn heads over heal every time you put your nose near it. Do something that makes you afraid. Plan that Asia trip that you hold off since college.  Eat an expensive and good meal at a restaurant. Make reservation with that one top restaurant in your hometown and dress up for the night.  And best of all remember that you are doing this for yourself, not for anyone else. Not for your parents, your siblings, your friends, your boyfriend or husband. You are doing this because you deserve it.  We learn to appreciate ourselves and to think for ourselves as we choose to do what we want, rather than having other people dictate us on what to do with our life. We only have one life, make the most out of it and know that we deserve it.

How I Vote for a President

I have been voting for the past ten years and at each event, I found myself to be apathetic and intrigue at the same time. I voted in the Presidential elections, California governor election, state laws, and too many I could not recall. I was involved in choosing the first Black president for America and even worked as a canvasser after receiving my undergraduate degree, going from neighbors to neighbors to get citizens to vote. And despite how politically active I was, I was always on the fence on who to choose as the next leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world.  

The presidential campaign for 2016 has been different from any other elections. I found myself to enjoy reading the news about what the candidates said and even laughed occasionally as the candidates attacked each other with rude and harsh comments.  Presidential hopeful Donald Trump, for instance, cannot stop make me laugh.  His controversial statements not only surprise me but also add a little excitement to the usual more serious debates for a presidential election. Mr. Trump boycotted a GOP debate because of a row he has with the Fox News facilitator Megyn Kelly in the past.  Then of course the more serious politicians Ted Cruz and Hilary Clinton who I found to be very much excited to get to know as they gain more supporters in the states.  Despite how entertaining the presidential campaign is so far, I still vote on the next America leader base on these factors:

11. It does matter who we vote for. Many Americans are apathetic and believed politics do not affect them so they choose to opt out of the privilege to pick the next leader of the US. False belief. Politics affect us every single day.  How much we pay for our taxes and how our tax money is spent is base on the politicians of our country.

22.  Experience matters when it comes to being a leader of a country. As a first lady,Hilary Clinton watched her husband formulated laws and dealt with national problems  and she went on becoming active in politics, becoming a senator of New York and ambassadors of various organizations. Experiences will triumph good personal characteristics and brain power, no matter what the problem a nation has.

33.  Whether we are alive or about to die is base on the politicians. They are the individuals who make a call if the military should be sent out to protect the nation. They create laws that affect how the military should be used in which case scenarios on a daily basis.  

Politics plays a large role in our life. If we do not believe it, we are living in an illusion. We have to wake up and see the reality of our political system and we need to make the choice to be active in politics. Voting for the next leader of a nation is not an easy task, but if we use our brain and logic, we will at least choose the best of all the candidates, even if he or she is not perfect.


 

How to Think Like a Genius

The Geography of Genius

In a recent episode of Talk on Google, author Eric Weiner discussed his latest book "The Geography of Genius." The book discusses the characteristics of a genius and it stresses the type of environment that cultivate the so-called genius in our history.  Mr. Weiner traveled around the globe to explore the habitats of where many world-known genius lived in; he explored Athens, Hangzhous in China, Renaissance Florence, Enlightenment Edinburge in Scotland, Calcutta, Vienna, and Silicon Valley with the purpose to study the genius in the past.  He walked on the foot-steps of Socrates in Athens and Mozart in Vienna and tried to uncover the key factors that separate those genius from the rest of the population.

Gene verses the environment: which has more influence to a person? Social psychologists have done numerous researches on the topic and the general consensus is it depends and that both factors take part in shaping a person.

I believe the environment has the greatest impact on an individual.  Of course genetics play a huge role in how a person turns out in life but many individuals who have a born disability did not let it takes control of them, rather they let their ambitions and willpower to take control of their lives. And the result is they blossom in life and they succeed in areas in life that they could never thought of.  For instance, Serbian-Australian Nick Vujicic has a rare disorder called Phocomelia, a rare condition where a person is born with no limbs.  He struggled mentally and physically as a child but he came to accept it and used his physical state and life story to inspire other people. Today, he is a motivational speaker helping people to find hope and meaning in life, and he even runs a business that hires thousands of people.  He had social supports from friends and family and was able to overcome his disappointments. With this being said, it proves that one's genetics do have an impact on a person but how we carry out our lives depends on the environments greatly.  Nick's environment helped him to overcome his disability and he grew and became success in life.

The author Eric Weiner is right, genius are shaped by their environment. They are the product of their own personal experiences and the environment cultivates the genius.  There will always be roadblocks in life, there will be people who put us down and believe we are no good and we are damaged and cannot be fixed. But--there is always a but in most aspects in life-- what they said do not have to be our reality. We can make a big difference in our life  and change for the best. We cannot let our gene dictates us.  We are the creator of our future and our environment is in our hands, ready to let us mold it.

America, the Land of Billionaires

As an American, I live among some of the most ambitious people on the planet Earth.  America is always ranked as one of the richest countries in the world and it has the most billionaires compared to any other countries despite how young the country is, and in fact, the richest person in the world, Bill Gates, is an American.  I live in California and here Americans fit the stereotype of being ambitious; we live in a state that is most expensive and hardest to survive in. The cost of living here is always higher than most states and in order to pay bills, you have to have a job or two.  Those who cannot afford to live in California relocate to other states for financial reason and they choose to live in states where the cost of living is more affordable. 

I came from an immigrant family where we came with nothing but a few hundred dollars that my mom saved up back in our home country Vietnam.  My parents had to work in low-waged jobs before our family was more financially stable.  I can remember my mom saving plastic bottles and use them as water bottles in order to save some cash and we had to recycle bottles of waters to bring extra cash in.  Twenty-one years later, we are more financially stable and most of my siblings have stable job so we are able to be financially independent from my parents and the government assistant.  Some families, however, never get out of poverty and continue to live in the cycle of poverty for generations.  Chicago, for instance, is one of the most segregated city in the United States; and within driving distance, one can see the well-off and upper-class white neighborhoods and the impoverished black neighborhoods. America is a great place to live but it definitely has differences on how people live out their lives base on the income they make.  

America is not perfect but I find that if we want to succeed in life, we have to use every given opportunities wisely.  Living in America is an opportunity.  Billions of people in the world would do anything to live in this land and cherish what it has to offer.  We should take every opportunity to succeed and know that there are chances out there for us to succeed.  It takes determination and motivation but it is possible if we believe. You never know, you might be one of the billionaires one day and America is a place where that dream can become a reality.  

A Picture with a Thousand Words

As I perfused through a collection of pictures from last year on CNN, I ran into a photo that spoke to me more than any picture I have seen in my time of existence on this earth.  It is a picture of migrants collecting rainwater in Myanmar.  People say a picture speaks a thousand words and this picture spoke to me a thousand words.  These migrants came from Bangladesh and Rohingya and they hoped to settle somewhere in Southeast Asia; they went by sea hoping to find a new home in a new environment and to seek a better life.

This story is no news to the Vietnamese culture.  The people in Vietnam fled their country in 1975 right after the communist took over South Vietnam and many chose to travel by sea to the new land, hoping to find a new life there. Many of them landed on an environment that welcomed them while many were not fortunate and they died either by natural causes such as starvation, ship sinking, thirst and many were robbed and killed by pirates in the body of water surrounding Vietnam.  Similarly, the picture of the migrants in Myanmar is definitely familiar to many immigrants who had to go through the travel on the sea to get to a new land.  In the picture, the men were collecting water from the rain. They are standing in a shack and they are holding metal plates and water bottles to get water from the open air.  The men are dark skinned, lank, look malnourished and with the physical condition they are in, they would eat and drink anything they have their eyes on.

The picture reminded me how grateful for me to live in a country where I have clean water and  not have to live in an environment where I am dependent on rain water. The worst thing that can happen to California is the drought and despite the warnings of the shortage of water, many people I know-- and guilty of myself-- to not give much attention to the problem.  Us Americans have big land mass and there will never be a point where we have to drink rain water. There are Californians who collect water in rain barrels but the purpose of it is not to drink, the barrels are used to water plants with the intention to reduce the drought.  Sometimes we forget how blessed we are to have all the necessary in life and a picture can remind us how fortunate for us to live in a place where we do not have to worry about the necessary in life.

Pictures: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/world/gallery/year-in-pictures-2015/

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You Know You Are A Grown-Up When...

You Know You are A Grown-Up When:

1. When someone criticizes you, you stay calm, try to understand it, and then move on if it is incorrect.

2. You travel for the sake of self-improvement, not with the purpose to post pictures on Facebook.

3. Facebook gets boring. You want to go out and explore your city and meet new people.

4.  You know what you want out of life. You know what type of job you want, you know what career you most want and the money that goes with a chosen career becomes less of a matter.

5.  You realize Prince Charming only exists in the world of Disney.

6. If a guy rejects you, you move on and realize that there are men out there who would treat you 1000X better than the last one.

7.  You become friends with your parents and siblings.

8. You move out and pay your own bills, car insurance, rent, and you make sure you mark the due date of each bill on a calendar.

9.  You own a planner.  

10.  You believe in quality over quantity.  While that Forever 21 jean makes your butt looks great, you spend $40 more dollar to buy a quality pair of jeans from Gap or J. Crew.

11.  You enjoy staying in on a Friday night rather than going out.

12. You learn to say no and you mean it.

13.  You don't know where the future will lead but you are okay with it.

Why We Should Use Wikipedia

As a college graduate, I was taught by professors that we should always be aware of what we are reading, whether it is an academic work or in an entertainment reading material. It was ingrained in me for the four years in college and one cannot forget it if it was hammered in them for that long. I was brainwashed by the American college system and the skill became a part of me till now.

On January 15, Wikipedia turned 15.  I can still remember the first time using Wikipedia back in high school over a decade ago.  I was new to using the internet (or World Wide Web) so Wikipedia was definitely a challenge to navigate. Before using Wikipedia, I had to flip through rows of encyclopedia books in the library whenever there is a research paper assigned; my comprehension in English was minimal so it was definitely a challenge to have to read all those thick and dusty volumes of books that might have contained out-dated information. And besides it was time consuming while I could use that time for reading or sleeping and preparing for the next day of school.

Over the years, Wikipedia gained popularity and many college students depend on it for the quick and current information that it provides. Opponents say it is cheating to use the website and that the information can be incorrect.  After using the website for over a decade, I beg to differ on the criticisms that it has been getting for the past decade of its existence.  Here are the reasons why we should continue to use Wikipedia:

1. It is free. Shall I explain more?
2. It is useful. We can find any information on it and use it in conversations in social gatherings, school projects, and our daily life.
3. The information is generally accurate. Of course, there will be time where the information may not reflect reality and this is why we always have to be aware with what we are treading into. Also just because an information is in a academic work, it does not mean it is correct. Every piece of writing is prone to error and our job as a critical thinker is to recognize it when we run into it and to always take any information in with a grain of salt.
4. Best of all, it saves us time from looking up the information.  Why spend the time flipping through books and random internet websites when the information is just a click away?

I am not working for Wikipedia or endorsing it in anyway. The above writing is from my own personal experience and I hope it can shed a better light on a resource hat has helped me survive in my daily life and academic work for the past decade.

The Seconds Before Death

January 7th marked the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris a year ago.  The attack left a total of 17 deaths with the 10 victims came from the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.  The two gunmen were killed two days later in a city north of Paris after the manhunt that left the country in a high alert. The gunmen marched in the magazine's headquarter and knew who they wanted to shoot, and they exited the building with their mission accomplished. The dead were the well-known staffs of the magazine which has published controversial cartoons of Muslims for the past years. In November 2011, the office was firebombed after an issue with the picture of Muhammad was published on its cover and despite the tragedy, the magazine stood by what they believe and continued to publish. 

All that aside, in a video recorded by a resident showing the killing of a policeman by the two gunmen, the assailants stopped a black stolen car, got out, and shot a police officer. While the police was injured and still alive on the ground, he looked up at the assailants one last time as the gunmen approached him. One gunman shot the police on the head and he was dead in an instant. 

The closest to death experience I had was when I was six. As I stood in the kitchen doing my oral hygiene, an episode of laughing attack hit me and I choked on the water that I had in my mouth.  Seconds later I became blue in the face and found myself to have a difficult time breathing and luckily my dear mother was home and ran to me and started doing CPR on me and I survive.  I remember to not have any thought as I found myself grasping for every bit of air and trying to regurgitate the water that entered my windpipe.  Maybe because I was too young and did not have much life experience so there was no instant thought or memory. But what about the people who got killed in the two Paris attacks in 2015.  What run across their mind the seconds before they died?  The Paris attack in November 2015 left 130 people dead, majority of the death came from the shooting in the Bataclan theater and most of the deceased were young in their 20s and 30s and still had much to look forward to in their life.  Did the people who died have time to think about their love ones and did they have time to remember the happy parts of their lives?

Death seems like a scary thing and it is an experience that no one has any recollection of. Is death the transition to another life, another earth, a better place? We don't know and no one knows.  The victims of the Paris attacks did not have more time to accomplish what they wanted in life but those of us who are still breathing at this moment still have it.  We still have time to travel to the places we have always wanted to, we still have time to show to another person that we love them, we still have time to get that one career that we always wanted to at a young age, we still have time to reach our goals.  All we have is this life, this one life and we have to make use of it to the best of our ability, because we might not have another life, another chance to enjoy the experience that many people call life. 

In Syria, Children Eat Leaves from Trees to Fight Starvation

Starvation. It is an experience that many of us have never gone through but millions of people in the world have to go through it every day.   That is Syria in 2016. Activists in Syria reported and showed pictures of Syrians starving and  dying because of the lack of food. Pictures of an elder man with ribs protruding from his chest, lying down his back and of a child crying wearing nothing but a thin cotton pant.  These starving Syrians come from a small town called Madaya, south of Syria, bordering Lebanon. The children and older men of the town eat  soup made from leaves and grass. And if they want rice, that would cost them more than $100. Yes, dollars. More than most Americans would ever spent on a kilo of rice.  Some children have not eaten for more than seven days.

Hearing these stories should make us feel grateful to be able to live in a country where we have all the necessary. If we have a roof over our head, then we are safe. If we have enough food on our table, then we are blessed. Millions of people do not have access to a shelter and even food and they do not have a choice but to live that way as it is the way of life for them.  For most of us, we should use this opportunity to count our blessings every day and to remember that every meal that we eat is an experience that millions of people in the world do not have. 

When A President Cries

During a speech to the nation yesterday, US President Obama proposed an executive gun law where gun sellers are required to do a background check on their customers.  Every president has have proposed a law before so there is no big deal but what makes this speech different than others is that the President put some emotions in it.  Rather than stay firm and strong as a man, he cried as he spoke about the killing of children in the town Newtown in Connecticut in 2012 and other victims in gun violence for the past decade.  We are taught that in order to think clearly, we have to remove any hint of emotions in our life.   But sometimes emotions can be a good thing. Having emotions shows we are still humans and we care, rather than brushing every problems away and coming up with a solution, like a programmed robot.  Despite the fact how he is the leader of the United States, Obama is still a human and he has emotions.  And best of all, the crying shows he cares and in a time of trying to put a change in effect, we need someone who cares behind all the fact at hand. 

The End of A Chapter

My favorite show How I Met Your Mother ended in March 2014 after ten years of being on air. Today is the year 2016 and I can still enjoy the series when I replay it on my laptop.  In an interview with the lead actor Josh Radnor, who played the character Ted in the show, he and the cast felt it was the right time to wrap up the show and the timing was in their own plan and it did not come as a big shock.  Likewise, in life, there will be chapters of our life where we will have to close and move on. When we choose to close certain parts of our life, we sometimes do it grudgingly and unwillingly but when we look back, we see how it benefits us and how it was the right move. When we move on, we open to new opportunities for our future instead of reliving the past.  Closing a chapter of our life means we have decided to live the presence and not focus on the past and move with where life takes us.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Chinese philosopher Xun Zi once said, "Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity."  Is human nature really evil?  In the movie The Stanford Prison Experiment, Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo wanted to see the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner and prison guard from August 14 - 20, 1971.  He interviewed a group of 70 students and chose 24 of them, giving them the role of either a prisoner or a prison guard in an experiment conducted in the Jordan Hall, in the Stanford Psychology building .  The participants came from middle class families and were mentally stable.  It intended to last for 14 days but it ended only after six days of the trial. Unexpectedly, the prison guards took their role seriously and began treating the prisoners as if they were real convicts.  The guards humiliated and used physical force to make the prisoners do certain tasks that the prisoners refused.  A few prisoners left the experiment early due to the mental torture that were inflicted on them.

The experiment shows the label of a person produces behaviors and it causes the person to act certain ways base on the label.  The worst part about the situation is that the person does not feel bad about their action because they see that it is their duties to do so.  It is the duty of the prison guard to be firm and show no leniency toward the prisoners.  And that the more authority a person has, the more risks he takes to mentally or physically harm the other person.  I wonder if each of us were given a label as a prisoner or a guard, would we do the same? Would we still be submissive like the prisoners and be harsh like the guards?  And despite how fictional the label is, would we forget our identity?

The experiment did no physical harm to the participants but the psychological effect is apparent through the actions of the participants after the label was put on them.  The study shows how our human nature is prone to being evil just by putting a label on us.  So is human nature naturally evil? Are we prone to inflict harm on other people?  At the end of the movie, a new student took the role of a prisoner after a few prisoners exited the experiment and he saw the brutality and the harsh treatment that the prison guards were inflicted on the prisoners.  The new prisoners refused to do what the guards ask them to do and they pointed out the harshness of the guard and how the experiment has gone too far.

As humans, we are prone to evil but like the new prisoner demonstrated, we can sense it when we see one.  We can smell and see evil from afar and we can choose to do something about it.  I used to complain to my mom that our American government spends so much time interfering other countries' business; for instance, America is involved in the Syrian refugee rescue because of a civii war in Syria and many of the refugees need a place to stay for their own safety and for a better future and the United States offers to take in a number of refugees. I used to be against the action but now I am all for it.  As humans, we cannot see evil and let it gets on with its cycle, we have to do something and make the world a better place to live.  The Stanford experiment shows humans are capable of evil but at the same time, we are capable of seeing goodness as well.