Changing Times

June 4th is a kind of a special day.

As you’ve probably heard or read, some 23 years ago today, there was a student protest on the Tiananmen Square in China that was confronted by the military. Tanks rolled out, so did soldiers and machine guns.

My father was in Beijing. He was there, at Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989.

My father didn’t believe in the cause of the protest as much as he went to support his friends. They were seeking democracy. And they held onto their principle of peaceful resolution...at least the students did.

Yet more than two decades have passed, our society is in the midst of a similar situation; a face-off between the students and the government, a clash between principle and pragmatics. As much as I am pro-tuition hike, and acted on my beliefs, I’ve recently moved on from the conflict at hand. Given state of the world we are in, perhaps it’s time to dissociate ourselves from all the negativity and rediscover what makes us “us”.

I speak from, if I may put a spin on Paul Krugman, the conscience of a conservative. Let’s put things in a greater perspective, the European Union has been battling a monetary crisis for years. The world economy has been adjusting to the forces of globalization. As we, the advanced economies, shift towards a knowledge economy, many parties suffer as a result of the widening knowledge gap. Union uprise, unemployment, companies losing competitivity, and we see our wages drop and standard of living decreases. Meanwhile, crony capitalism swarms the financial sector like a colony of vengeful bees.

On the mesoscopic level, We have a government that operates a different set of rules for women and minorities. We have a media that brings us full of unpleasant news, of endless gruesome murders and tragic accidents. These are the things we relate to on a daily basis, as they dictate our dialogue and conversation. Outside of our conscious minds, we are building up uncertainties and confusion upon layers of stress and bitterness. This is the environment that turns students into terrorists, police into criminals, and friends into enemies. The tuition increase is merely the spark that ignited the passion.

People everywhere are losing their principles, with patience on a short leash; they no longer act on principle, but on compulsive passion. The fine line between passion and anger makes passion a dangerous thing for the moment being.  Do we simply limit ourselves to trash-talk behind others' back? Or have we forgotten about the beautiful things in life?


There are no winners in this. So perhaps the best way to live the times like this is to look inward for happiness and the rare hidden beauty among ugliness.

I will no longer let the environment affect my days. I will do what I please; to pursue my interests, to care for my body, to amend friendships....and live free.

Prose: Storm Restoration

By the time the sunlight stroke through the window this morning, there were no sign of last night's chaos and disorder. The dawn restores all that is wild to a state of normality. I suppose the nature has its ways to balance the orders of things. After all, there is no force without an equal and opposite force, for such are nature's pairs; sky and earth, people and places.

I wonder how could one exist by its entirety? Sky, on its own, is a space of emptiness, structureless, materialess. Earth, standing alone, consists soil, rocks, and metals, but holds no things. Yet nature's forces mix the two, such is how we get the space above, and a foothold below. Add in the laws of physics, patterns of chemistry, and a hint of spontaneity, life sustains. But those, people of antiquity have already pondered, through Greek classics.

I suppose in the modern world, people and places share in a similar dynamic. People, not at the right place, are lost. Places, not having the right people, are without hope. Hostile people creates a hostile place, and a hostile place turns pacific people hostile. What could, then, restore balance the way dawn restores light to darkness and chaos? 

It's not quite so simple. But I'm happy as long as we need not to abide by the place's constraints. Liberated, I feel.

Like the rain drops smashing onto the window, it is no longer dictated by the medium of space or the direction of the wind. Freedom, like nothing else.

Put on a lil tune and enjoy ;)

The End of an End and the Beginning of a Beginning

It’s been over a year since I’ve written in this blog. Oh, was that hell of a year or what?! As those who lived through it with me could attest, it was eventful and exciting, as usual ;)

I think it’s only appropriate that I continue from where I left off. I'm afraid I'll skip the details of the life from beautiful angles.

380 days ago, I stepped into CED-Q Head Quarter first time. I was a coming off my second year of undergraduate, with bare-minimum knowledge of economics. I’ve even wondered how I landed that internship which I clearly struggled for a little while. How silly was I to concern over my work attires!

Whatever doubts I had, have forever disappeared. In my four break-through projects at CED-Q, I’ve become fond of my work, my colleagues, and economics. I discovered an aspect of my interest I never had known, and the constant intellectual challenges facing me each time I step into the R&A directorate. 12 months, I’ve gained the insights into the future of economic development, in which I’ve pressed my fingerprints all over. I’ve done my best, history will do the rest.

This afternoon I cleared my cubicle. I’ll miss the morning greetings, and the evening good-byes. I’ll miss the coffee chats, and Friday lunch-out. All of which, I suppose, could be replaced in my next job. But what about the “leap of logic” my boss took when he assigned me my project? I’m unsure. The chief confided in the person that I am to get the job done. The rest? I can only improve to prove his approval.

With a last walk around the office, I concluded my days at CED-Q with a round of handshakes with my colleagues and friends.

Now that’s in the past, now’s the time to move forward.
A box in arms, the elevator door shut and descended from 8th floor.

I’ll continue to improve myself :)