Quick! Who said It?
"I understand why African Americans are so frustrated. That's why they cling to their fried chicken and oversized tees. And I understand, too, why, European Americans are so vexed. That's why they cling to their polo shirts and ridiculous pronunciation at football games. And too, the irritation of Latino Americans, who cling to their cilantro and wild, happy dancing in the face of all adversity. And it's a shame for all the Asian Americans. I totally sympathize with their demented infatuation of cameras and mild cigarettes. Finally, I feel the pain of Internet chatters, with their mad addictions to posts, replies to posts, cryptic acronyms, and sheer idiocy. Everyone knows it's the truth... I just wish I could say it better."
Zorfman from Planet Dorby Kom has just sent in his very well equipped armies, who number in the thousands, to invade the county that attacked 10 self-declared rebels. The 10 were obviously the vanguard of a much more sinister intent: the eradication of the all the rebels' sisters and brothers and parents and sons and neighbors and doggies and doggies' neighbors and that guy who came over to find out the score of the local soccer matches but who stayed for tea because he really wants to meet your beautiful sister, whom he's spotted while peering out his window while you pretended to go to church last Sunday.
The invaded country would kill all of them, this was clear. So Zorfman told the the council of Galaxies that this was a florbancruzian (Zorfmanish for "humanitarian") effort to stop the sinister invading coutry in its tracks. And Zorfman laughed at the mention that what he really wanted was for the invading country, which baked delicious southern food called "grits", to be part of the much larger Zorfman's country again, as it was back in the day when Zofrman had forcibly subdued the country and forced all its decent, God-fearing (they called God "Dohg" by the way) denizens into baking all the grits for him and his government/oil baron cronies. So his armies split the offending country in half and killed everybody in their way.
In the meantime the big, bad tough guy member of the Galaxy council, Mulberry, who put forth the proposition that his planet only wanted peace and democracy for all - well, this Mulberry guy refused to intervene in Zorfman's malicious plans, because really, he didn't have that high an opinion of grits and grit-makers and grit-eaters anyway.
And the two people who wanted Mulberry's job, who were getting an awful lot of free Galaxian press these days - well Mr. Back in the Day said he would be quick to condemn the action... if he actually had Mulberry's job and wasn't only trying to get it. But he would want to talk to Zorfman, no matter the case. Maybe even offer him some grits, because he knew where to get some "darned good eatin'". And the other guy, Mr. Gots Me Some Sugar Canes, appeared to jump in the middle of the fray, but later analysis proved that he was merely scouting out a suitable locale for his next freedom-sounding Mad Max biker rally. (Which on Mullberry's planet is called a "photo op.")
Will Zorfman continue in his mad schemes to reclaim the grits territories of the world, killing all who stand in his way? Will Mullberry and his planet continue to shrug their shoulders. Will life continue to be a horrific ordeal for many, while the rest continue to whine about the luxuries they should have and deserve and really only want to turn their papers to the Sports pages and Comics, and to have themselves and their ideals vindicated?
Stay tuned.
The Power of power quite naturally finds us straightaway discussing Beijing. And let's admit right here that there are two very distinct kinds of power there that are, for once, working hand-in-glove: As the world's largest socialist republic labors - quite successfully, in their peerless Olympic Opening Ceremonies last Friday - to impress the rest of us.
One Power is ancient, forged over the centuries by such noble bearings as Honor and Integrity and Harmony. China is a multinational society, old as dirt and precious as clean air - and a template for the world of a society that has struggled, grown, and prospered.... despite the concerted efforts of the Other Power.
And that Other is the brutal regime of Hu Jintao and his fellow Communist.... ahem.....Philosophers, since 1949. For them, Honor and Integrity and Harmony are indisputably theirs and theirs alone to define. And manipulate.
So the question is which Power is the hand and which is the glove? No doubt Jintao, et al, would lay claim to the glove: covered by the veneer that millennia of proper breeding has given the Ancient Power, the modern Dictorial Power boasts to the world the unrivaled sheen of Chinese Artistry and Technology. But make no mistake: the glove would flit impotently to the Bird's Nest floor without the brawn and structure supplied by the hand.
Beijing labored mightily to impress, and to make it seem effortless, natural. After all, this is China, isn't it? Who better to dazzle the Globe than China, with its endless supply of talent cultivated through the centuries.
To take our mind off of the suppression of Tibet.... the death of its monks, the forced exile of its leader; The supply of weapons of mass destruction - which is each and every gun manufactured - to the ethnic cleansers in Sudan.; The disappearance and torture of natural citizens who dare to dissent; The willful loss of half their country, which the rest of the world now willfully calls Taiwan; The instant and unannounced erection of brick walls around poor, run-down areas of the Big City.
Do we fall for this? I know I'm reminding you of events we all know. But now let me tell you this as well, for this also needs to be repeated... endlessly:
The subjects of a government are not the government. They have nothing to do with it. The Chinese people are Honorable. They are wise, passionate survivors. Prosperous survivors. With talent, creativity and heart to spare. Enough to educate an entire globe.
I learned this simple truth by living in Poland and traveling through Russia. My brother learned the same thing by his extensive business ties in North Korea, and less so in Hong Kong and mainland China.
We can, we should celebrate the unrivaled Beauty of these proud and noble people, and the opportunity that this coldly exploitive government has given them. To them the Harmony they pervert up from the serene Taoist, Buddhist and Confuciusian teachings of their past is only the “Harmony” they can enjoy from their injudicious employ of their Power. But it’s the simple serenity of their vast populace that touches and teaches us all.
Power's a capricious thing.... I'm reminded how little of it the vast majority of us actually have. Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac both dead before their time, a lethally jealous Mother Russia seething as it watches Beijing assert itself on the world stage that used to belong to her. More than 2000 people killed in Transcontinental Georgia, the overwhelming majority of them simply in the wrong place - a really wrong place, their homeland - at the really wrong time. Victims of people who want to wield the brutally Dictorial Power.
The moral of this tale? Love the people. Embrace them. Just as Chinese and Americans, Georgians and Russians did (one of each, at least, in an act in itself that wields more Power than most of this world's leaders could ever fathom).
Life can be good. So celebrate the moment before it becomes bad again. Honor those who try to try to squeeze every ounce of life out of this nerve wracking existence of ours. Either we're running for our lives, or we're bored out of our minds because our lives are so far from what we imagined they'd be.
Celebrate. Honor the good among us. And when you feel joy at your own or another's accomplishments - even if they're halfway around the globe, living under a repressive regime that seems galaxies away - express it.
After all, they did.
