One thing I find particularly helpful is regular stretching. I’ve taken up yoga through an audio book subscription that I have, and find it very helpful for opening up the points of tension in my body that grow in this modern phenomenon of staying at home boat-loads.

(to the tune of Let it Snow)
Society in general outside is frightful
And yet the world is still delightful.
Because no matter how much we know
It don’t show, it don’t show, it don’t show…

Microsoft still has dead-slow updates
And people still are plugging Facebook.
China doesn’t really need the hate~
100-plus years of pained humiliation at the hands of Western and Asian hands don’t always lead to openness. Frustration should be expected.

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So, let’s talk turkey.

In the modern world, we have the pandemic, open conversation about social castes in America, international trade is affected, and hurricane season is right around the corner.

We don’t need to plug hate into the world. It’s counterproductive.

Did you know that about half of the kids in junior high school in China don’t get to go to high school? They’re tested into other situations. Maybe a vocational school… That’s where the folks on the production lines come from. The middle years test knocks them straight into another path. Such is life.

How’s your life?

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Are you doing well? How well? How do you feel about the modern world around you and the concept of keeping it going? Do you like high-technology materials? All the boats and planes that use computer gadgetry to navigate require motherboards that require a design of material known as rare-earths materials, of which China controls about 90%. Also, they have the production staff that can create a wealth of items, from iPhones to t-shirts for a fraction of what the American manufacturing market would allow for. This difference is so big that we can put those things on boats and ship them to other parts of the planet for less than making them locally.

I’ve seen reports that nearly half of the nation (China) lives on a disposable income of less than two hundred dollars a month. Apparently, I’m in the upper half of the top 1% with my 50,000$ a year income. So, are there billionaires? Sure. Tons of them. But what isn’t here is the shared culture of plenty that much of America knows.

This is one of the best 40-year segments that China has ever seen. Certainly for a few hundred years, dating back to the Ming and Tang Dynasties. And lots of folks are really excited to have health care and cars and fine clothes and 5G. And why not?

When President Xi decided to pour more cement than the world had ever dreamed~ he eradicated varieties of diseases that the US hasn’t known since before WW2. Replacing dirt floors in a home is a huge health matter. That was excellent~

The US accuses China of trying to benefit itself, yea. But who doesn’t? Mr. America-First could go a little light when someone else wants to be protective of their own home soil.

Though I’ll go ahead and say that I think the govt. of China would do folks like me a favor by relaxing some of those restrictions, to be honest. I have a very difficult time banking as a result of the international disagreements, among other lesser struggles such as using phones that need the Google platform to update and social networks that allow me to keep in touch with my family and friends.

Regarding social matters: When my American friends ask about Tibet, I mention Hawaii and the Dakota hills. They seem offended, and aghast that I would do such a thing… Well,,, what? Ask the royal family of Hawaii about how that went down… Ask the folks who are the Indigenous Native Americans how they feel about the modern Euro-Americans driving around in their cars on roads that cut through land that was taken by force and lies.

Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong are all, indisputably part of the mainland of China. Just as Hawaii is part of the US. If there are a million Muslims in education centers in Xinjiang, how are the people who speak against this not even more inspired to address the million black men and women in the US in jail for non-violent offenses? Population-wise, China is about 4x the size of the US, so that ticks the per capita value of the conversation a little heavy on the US to answer questions…

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And to its credit, it is openly grappling with those questions today~ But they do instill the need to not point fingers. You can’t pick on your brother for having a messy room if yours is still a mess. And that’s just what is. So let’s clean up our room and maybe check in on our brother after that’s done.

I’m not at odds with America. I love the US. It’s my home. I’d love for it to be unquestionably worthy of all the lives that have been lost in the name of defending liberties that are all too often neglected in the very cities our soldiers come home to, to visit their family and friends.

This season is punctuated by the killing of George Floyd, and what it showed to the people who needed a video to understand how rotten the system has grown. When I read that the officers of the same police force days later slashed tires in a K-mart parking lot of about 40 cars, including numerous vehicles belonging to journalists, again – caught on video, I’m just set aback. It’s like they are doubling down on the grotesque behavior that they don’t understand is wrong. So yea, your force will be de-funded and rethought.

A great template is Camden, New Jersey. Read up on how that happened. That worked.

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I miss New Jersey.

I grew up there. My dad went to Camden High. I have lots of relatives in South Jersey.

I also go back to Seattle, and Virginia, and West Virginia, and when I get the chance, Nevada, California, and Montana, and Colorado… All true~ I’d keep typing, but you get the point. Had a great time in Pennsylvania, still need to get to Maine. Loved hanging with the folks I got to know in Mississippi when I went down after Katrina. Loved the woods of upstate New York, and of course, the Big Apple, best place for pretzels in the country~ Hah~

On the real~ I love the US and will always call it home, but like any nation made up of people, it is in need of serious attention when it comes to how things are run.

One of the things that I like about China is that it is so comfortably a meritocracy. Sure, there was talk of purges when the new guy came to the helm… (What is “draining the swamp” a call for?) But do you remember what people used to say about China?? It was said to be corrupt through and through. That’s exactly what he went after. I saw it with my own eyes, the mayor of a town I lived in 6 years ago was thrown in jail for misusing huge amounts of money, for tearing down affordable housing to build mansions for his friends. He deserved a jail cell. Sometimes a purge is needed. Ask any hippy.

Now, the system is very different. I think it’s worth allowing this new China the neighborly peace of being allowed to stand on its own strong legs without someone necessarily needing to take a swipe at them.

Interestingly, one of the biggest movements in the country is the educational system created in Switzerland called the International Baccalaureate (IB). It basically takes the Scientific Method, weaves in holistic critical thinking, and applies a specific series of thoughtful ideas to wrap up an educational experience into a well-balanced diet of information, research, reflection and multi-media production. Through this method, they are creating critical thinkers for the next generation on a broad scale.

They have a system that welcomes revolutionary change like clockwork every five years, and a meritocracy in order to arrive at the positions of leadership. It is well worth respectfully studying.

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Certainly, I wouldn’t say that it’s a system that would work in the US. Similarly, the American system would never work here. Traditions dictate different social needs, and that’s fine. But we can learn from each other.

One of my favorite lines from the IB system is where it says something about how many ways of going about a problem are reasonable, and they congeal it into a thought (sic) “Just because you’ve got it right, doesn’t mean that someone who is doing it differently is doing it wrong. There are many ways to be correct.”

So, look up Camden. They did a good job. I miss you and hope to see you soon. Take care~

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