A simple email to me

From mom to me:

Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.'

'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers.
'Yuck' says her daughter.
'How about a couple raw eggs?'
'Gross, Mom!' 'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?'
'Mom, those are all yucky!'
To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!'

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful! God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

No Cake for You

Today's announcement that the federal official granted 600 million in education grant really makes me wonder how a kid can grow up in the US. I don't think everyone is given a fair education and a person who works hard will not get the education and future s/he deserves. There are so many programs out there that just grant certain people advantages and put other people in disadvantage situations. Even the criteria that were use to select these school are good indications that things will not be fair for future American. Your ethnicity, you income level, and your state determine what kind of education and government program you receive. Not everyone will be available to compete fairly for the schools, if you choose to continue your education. It is not about your grades, it is not about your activities and it is not about what you do, but who you are. That is becoming more and more true as I continue to see the federal program being introduce into Americans' life. But to get back to the education piece, check out the ethnic population of the states (even just the top 16 that got in), then check out the political parties in which these states favors, and then look at the criteria in which the schools(state) get selected. The facts don't lie. Sad to see this happening and how it will impact future people. The most that will get hurt are not the elite who compete and beat out many. But more disturbing are those people that are in the middle of the pack as they move forward in their education and in their careers. At the middle of the pack is where those bias benefits really make its impact. I wonder how many people notice this? How many people realize the implication for the future generation? Where is the America that claim itself to be a land of opportunities?

Dreaming American

With all the news about health care reform, Google, and financial crisis, I wonder what is United States? I mean, what is this nation becoming? We can have certain people pay more for health care, while other receive free health care as solving wealth inequality. We don't follow another country's law and proclaim that action as free speech. Furthermore we pass off the financial irresponsibility to those who are responsible, by writing things off the books and rotate who is to blame (but yet no specific accountable person identified).

So I wonder are we (US) self centered? How often do we look our self in the mirror? I see how we constant expect other's to FIT into our mold. Yet the world is changing and it is moving forward. The old rule that WE are the only game in town is long gone. Does this sound familiar? Is this much like the GM of the 70s? But now it is not one company, but one country practicing the ideology that we are the center of the world and everything circle around us. If you were to see all the political comments about another country, the change that should take place internally within this nation, and the reform that needs to take place in our financial infrastructure, they all have a common approach. We become cry babies or to be more accurate, we are acting like the two year old that all mothers know about.

So why am I saying this? Because there is so much correlation to what works and what does not in a society. Being proud American (or when we were all at one point) was never about crushing the majority or seeking equality. It was about taking ownership with what was given and making it work. It took biting the bullet. It took sucking it up. It took some open minded thinking about the other side. More importantly, it took entrepreneur and a very capital spirit (not a handout) by all who live in this country.

Everyday Events....Noticed

Strange thing happen to me today. As we are about to go through an earthquake drill at work, one of the managers called from a distance. He approached close to me and apologized for not making my meeting this morning. He explained the reason was because he got an emergency call that he had to take. It was the news that his mother-in-law passed away. As he tells me this, I looked into the eyes of this 6 feet guy with tears starting to overflow. At that moment I was for one shock that he told something so personal to and at the same time I froze not knowing what to say to the man. I felt sad for him even though before I thought he was a real cocky son of a bitch as a co-worker. That friction between us was temporarily halted as a higher issue emerges. I had to leave because I had to go to the evacuation area, but all I can say to him was, "hang in there".

Ironically, during lunch time I got a call from G. Talking about how he always wanted to go snowboarding in Japan and of course complained about his experience with booking his flight back. I told him my plan for the end of this year and he responded with no comment. Maybe he was shocked and didn't know what to say. But as I sat in the car getting ready to return to work, the song "Live like we are dying" played on the radio. Maybe just the lyric or maybe just some freak timing, or maybe now I just start to notice because I am more sensitive after hearing that guy's news, but the song made me wonder what should I do about what I just experienced. The news of a person passing away, a man that drop all that he is at work after learning that news (what matters to him now?), a person wishing he could do, an event that bother him so bad that he needed to complain, and of course the reason why this song was written? All this is just writing down my sporadic emotions. The phrase that comes to my mind with all that I just experience is the statement: "The weights in our lives". Anyhow, not to over analyze things, but I should record some lyrics from that song that spoke so well of today's experience.

Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's to late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
And we could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you,
What would you wish you would've done

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution,
There'll no one on the line, yeah

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

You never know a good thing till it's gone
You never see a crash till it's head on
Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it's gone

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying..

Union Nation

I can't help but to comment. I told myself not to waste too much time on this, but dam I just can't help it. The country that I love is becoming a unionized nation. With the proposals this administration been trying to send through Congress, it is really making me wonder why nobody see the long term destruction they will do to this nation. It will give them short term positive numbers which will appear they are doing something right, but the negative impact will last way after this administration leaves. One person says it best. Almost everything this administration is trying to do is counter to the law of natural selection. All proposal by this administration is about survival of the weak. If look carefully, it is about giving to people without them working for it. What is scary is that the theme of the work by O is very much like how you run a union. So what is so bad about the union? Well if you look at all the new ghost towns and industries that are failing, they all are heavy unionized. The union plays on people's emotional need and that is how they get the support of the large number of people. The development of representation by number starts with recruiting efforts of using one or two incidents as an example of all worker (American). People start building that feeling of hope and inspiration. Yet it lacks any substance, but it draws on pure human emotion. I work around union and I see this happen all the time. What stink about what is happening is that our nation is becoming a giant union. History tell us, when time is good a union plays an important part to product more representation. But when times are bad, a union actually has an adverse effect on improvement and innovation by building entitlement groups. Don't be surprise if things seem unfair, despite general perception, a union world is never fair. If you look at all the bills that been passes and those that are being suggested, they all favor certain class or/and ethnic groups. Abuse will occur in the secret few. Lets be real, if anyone is brave enough to look at the impact, the bill already started to benefit a section of the American population. Start looking at things around you (television, marketing ads, leadership appointments, new home owners, available grants, available education, increase in living standard, and much more). You will soon realize there are people who are benefiting from this and it is not all Americans, only the skewed population. While there are a section of American that are being sacrificed. So why does it seem like it (stimulus plan) is working and yet it seems like it is not. Well because we are in a period of the biggest redistribution of wealth in history. This redistribution will hurt our nation in years to come. We will see other nations progress forward, while we continue the state of trying to survive. Sound familiar? Because this is the beginning events when union form within an entity.

If I've been wrong (in this case I hope I am), but my track record shows that majority of time I am pretty close in my assessment. I write what I observe regardless of party. Unfortunately people just can't see pass what party or what ethnic group they belong to. I truly hope that something will happen to avoid the path we are heading because my future depending on what this administration will do in the months to come.