好文_Are you blessed?

Are you blessed?

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married…you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful…you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you prayed yesterday and today…you are in the minority because you believe God does hear and answer prayers.

If you can read now, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

心得_電影_I Am Legend

After watching for the fourth time on my commute bus, I decided to write something about it. Personally, I think it’s a great movie! I’ve always love movies acted by Will Smith. He’s one of my favorite actors. I am Legend is a little different form his other comedy type of works. The issue is kind of serious. The animation is pretty cool. Since I went to Manhattan in the summer of 2007, I could recognize some of the scenes in the movie. They must spend a lot of money on animation and decorating the scene. It was quite worth it anyway.

The story is about a dedicated biologist who survived from the infection of virus. Needless to say, he was the last person on Manhattan. Luckily, there was a dog to be his company. Living alone seems impossible in our modern society, he tried to manage it. There’s no one to talk to, so he talked to his dog and those human-like models. Maybe it was some kind of mental disease after being isolated for such a long time, but how can he find a psychiatrist? lol With the absence of business activities, he can only hunt for food or tried to get some canned food. However, I’m quite curious on how he get water… ha~ Anyway, he had been staying on the island trying to get the cure for the disease. Till one day, some guys overheard his radio broadcast and accidentally rescued him. This was the turning point of the movie. It is said that “If a door is closed, God will open a window for you.” One of the girl asked him to listen to the sounds from the bottom of his heart. I was quite sure he wouldn’t listen because his life was miserable before he meets them. The ending is kind of sad, but it also pointed out the universal truth that “We don’t listen!” Whenever one is facing a big challenge in life, it is rather important to calm down and listen to the voice. That voice is likely to give one some hints or inspiration in a way that one can get out from the valley of death and risen.

Thinking about being alone in a world full of danger or hostility, I couldn't help shivering. The idea of mutated viruses caused the extinction of human being has been one of the most popular themes in disaster films. There’re a number of films talk about the same issue such as 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. I would say that they share some common ground in their themes. These films usually portray the hostility and loneliness among humans when there’s a break out of disaster. People fight for those scarce resources so that they could be the one who survive till the last minute. It is our hidden nature or instinct that connects us with those plots. What would you do if your city is infected? What do you expect the government to do?

This kind of movie always reminds me the scene of SARS in Asia not long ago. People who were infected with SARS were quarantined in hospitals. Not allowed to leave the place, the patients and medical crews must felt like being sentenced to death. As you can imagine, how tough it would be for the doctors who stayed there? The government must struggle balancing between human right and the well-being of the entire nation. That’s no easy decision, too. Fortunately, most of them made it and recovered from the deadly disease.

心得_書評_Wonder about the wonderful 60s

在唐諾的推理小說導讀中，有段討論是關於六零年代的美好與哀愁，嬉皮的年代，對許多人來說，六零年代是美好的，反戰，大麻，搖滾，革命，性愛等等，她們稱自己是花的小孩，我對60s也是存在於一種幻想，一種純粹搖滾樂的幻想，也許是一種對於約翰藍儂崇拜而產生的幻想，直到讀到這篇文章才黃粱夢醒，思考到flower children另一個鮮為人知的面向。

唐諾談到這些參與這些嬉皮活動的人們，雖稱不上是菁英或是社會棟樑，也理應是思想較深沉的一個族群，否則也不會從各地前往參與，當然其中難免有些盲目追隨者，這些人不在他討論之烈，無奈隨時間巨輪推進，Flower children沒有逝去，也沒人注意到他們變老，他們僅僅只是變平凡了，焦點從他們身上退去，鎂光燈暗去，像是開過的花苞ㄧ樣，由週邊的茂盛的植物所吞噬而不被注意，趨於平凡對這些人來說是個詛咒，也許是比死亡還更痛苦的詛咒，試想若當年他們沒加入嬉皮活動，或許在九零年代以及今日，他們應當是各領域當中執牛耳者，我對於是否有人因此替他們感到ㄧ絲婉惜質疑，就像麥克阿瑟所說的"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"，老兵不死，只是凋零，讀到這裡，我不禁為這份凋零感到些許的惆悵。我的惆悵不光是來自對於六零年代的婉惜，還包括對於生活中一切的恐懼，這恐懼我想就是對於未來的不確定性感到存疑，將之簡化，更深層一點的意義在於思考自己生活的目的，找尋生活的重心，李偉文醫師說過：「當我們不斷地往外追尋，靠著外在的事物來界定自己，這樣的心靈是不自由的。但若我們能往內傾聽，聽從心底雖然微弱、卻一定存在的聲音時，心靈才會是自由的。」 當初抱持浪漫主義精神的嬉皮學生，或許心中早已有這透徹的覺悟，我的惆悵對這樣的他們來說是多餘的，應該說，我還沒完全領悟到那份透徹，還沒修得那份真。最後，唐諾在書中也引用到一段”Eight Million Ways to Die” 中的結尾禱告詞：「主啊，請賜我平靜，能接納我無法改變的事；請賜我勇氣，能改變我可以改變的事；並請賜我智慧，讓我能分辨這兩者的不同。」平靜、勇氣與智慧或許是我ㄧ輩子必須探索與學習的課題，我想我是該活出自己的世代，在這個世界找尋我的定位。