A teacher who is also a good friend shared this short film with us. Running about 5 minutes, the story is simple but heart wrenching. In it are a father, a son, a sparrow and an unconditional love of a parent for his child.
As we get increasingly pressed and tossed about by this world, it is only too easy to forget what a little time and patience means to those we love the most.
Even though this photo was just taken with my camera phone, the result is still breath-taking but definitely does not do justice to actually being there in the moment. Manila Bay is really a sight to behold and the eerie red glow easily conjures up images of American carriers and Japanese planes flying overhead for history buffs like me.
Too bad the surrounding restaurants and poor maintenance along Roxas Boulevard takes away from the beauty of the sunset, but a cruise along the bay will erase all that very quickly.
I finished the book- fascinating in some parts, especially riveting when it comes to the plane crashes. Gladwell’s a great storyteller, but just like Blink, I think this book falls far short of defending its premise- acknowledge the cultural legacy to fix today’s problems.
(1) Your Family matters- To me, most of what he says is what most Chinese (and Asian cultures) believe in anyway. Where you come from matters. It’s only the Americans who have come to believe that you can escape from your legacy by merit alone, on the sweat of your own back. Isn’t that why everyone calls it the “great American dream?” You can make it big in America in a way that you can never make it big anywhere else unless you come from the right background.
(2) Practice, practice, practice- his many examples were summed up in a single sentence by Edison. “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” So, is 10,000 hours a revelation? Err, nope. Only the lazy would like to believe that the successful did it without having to work hard. So I didn’t think he needed to delve into so much … although the birthdate thing, yes, that was interesting, but that was all about …
(3) Luck- again, such a Chinese thing isn’t it? When you are born matters. In fact, many Chinese parents today still think the Dragon year is the best year to have your child so the smart ones make sure they don’t have their kids on that year when competition for everything will be the toughest.
(4) Cultural Legacies- The rice paddy and wheat field thing is also interesting in how it shapes culture- but he just disregards the entire northern half as well as the western half of China altogether. He’s just talking about the Southeastern portion! Why has such a small part of the country affected so much of the rest? The Han Chinese work ethic, I really don’t think, came from the back breaking rice paddy days. Partly maybe, but not largely. Why?
If rice paddies lead to industriousness and that in turn leads to being good at math — erm, note that not all Asians (who all are rice planting countries) are good at Math, only the Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Koreans.
Also, he notes that while the Chinese are not planting rice, they are doing something else with their time to make ends meet. It’s not the rice paddy that is making them work hard. Maybe its the bloody overpopulation- to many mouths to feed. I dunno, but its not the paddy. So … you know, this rice paddy thing, nice, but no cigar.
All in all, I think the book is great at starting conversations and linking things that you wouldn’t otherwise think had a connection. But as a book that really makes you go wow, and then provoke further thinking … nah.