Why I Write about China or a Series of Unfortunate Events

First they raped the woman who washes feet, but I am not a woman, so I did not say anything; they fished for more registration fees, but I have no car, so I did not say anything; they killed the prisoners Hurry & Scurry, I am not a prisoner, so I did not say anything; they beat the journalists who expose the truth, but I am not a journalist, so I did not say anything; they arrested the people who petition the government, but I did not petition, so I did not say anything; they demolished houses to make way for the Olympics, but I do not own a house, so I did not say anything; They arrested human rights activists, but I’m not willing to sacrifice myself to help someone else, so I did not say anything; they arrested scholars who criticize the government, but I am not a scholar, so I did not say anything; they gang raped a female high school student, and then let her transfer, but I have no daughters, so I did not say anything; they took away the cooking utensils of the man who sells baked potatoes, and beat this poor lame old man, but I do not sell potatoes, so I did not say anything; they caused housing prices to skyrocket, I do not buy houses, so I did not say anything; they suppressed the Uighurs and the Tibetans, I am neither Uighur, not Tibetan, so I said nothing; they arrested those young people who dared go to Tiananmen to bring flowers, I didn’t think of going, nor would I dare go, so I said nothing; they arrested Zhao Lianhai who had the baby who drank contaminated milk and got kidney stones, but my family didn’t have a baby with kidney stones, so I said nothing; they arrested the house church members, but I don’t believe in religion, so I said nothing; they arrested those political folk who talk online, but I’m not interested in politics, so I said nothing; they arrested Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren who spoke out for the victims of the earthquake, but there wasn’t any earthquake here, so I said nothing; They arrested the eldest son of the Liu family, the stutterer, who was just playing around, but I neither play those games, nor am I a stutterer, so I said nothing.
Then for no reason that I can explain they arrested me, and I discovered that there was no one left beside me who would say anything. (Credit for this post goes to the German Pastor Martin Niemoller, who first wrote, "First they came for ..." and to one of my friends in China who posted this series of events, but shall remain anonymous. The translation is my own.)

A Perspective on Compassion

I have been thinking a lot about compassion lately; how it gets played out, what it means, why it is important. I really see it as key for our society right now. I was very happy to see Karen Armstrong, a prize winning author on world religions and God emphasize it. Ms. Armstrong has called for religious people from all over the world to create a Charter for Compassion. Religious leaders including the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu support it. It is to be unveiled this week, November 12, 2009.

Compassion is really very simple, it comes down to feeling each others pain, seeking each others happiness and doing something to make for happiness and avoid suffering. Doing unto others as we would have them do to us, and what is not pleasing, don't do to others, this is the core. In Judaism, the Torah says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Rabbi Hillel, said, "What is not pleasing to yourself, do not do to others..." It is a simple concept contained in all the major religions. It is our world heritage, a strength that we have moved away from in our attempts to more clearly define ourselves. You can hardly find people who would consciously say no to it, yet we don't always carry it out. Rather than defining ourselves away from each other, we should be building a greater unity, and compassion is the key. Our world requires it of us.

In my view, the world and especially the United States is over full of bureaucracy and prisons. Do you realize we have more prisoners than the Chinese?! I, for one, am not willing to set China up as a role model. But actually, China is a place to look at when we think about where we have gone wrong. China's first dynasty, the Qin, the one responsible for a unified written Chinese language, the unification of the Great Wall, the standardization of weights and measures, the Terracotta Soldiers, and a lot more, took rules and regulations, rewards and punishments to the extreme. The Qin way of going about the unification of language was to burn books that didn't meet the standard. When Confucians didn't follow the standard philosophy, they were slaughtered. The Qin were so good at punishing, that you could count on being killed if you were a conscript laborer and didn't get to the designated meeting place on time. (That's how so much got done in the Qin) In fact, that is how the dynasty came to an end: A large group of conscripted workers were delayed by a rainstorm. Rather than show up late and be killed, they decided to revolt, and there were many others who joined them. Bureacracy, prisons, the death penalty, the Qin, were good at it. Sustainability, they were not. The dynasty lasted less than 20 years.

If someone is doing wrong, make a rule for it, and designate the punishment. It seems that this is the trap we have fallen into. (I know, we are not so severe as the Qin, but...) I look at my work as a teacher, and what is overwhelming is the bureaucracy. The education code has become a massive tome, (that's one letter away from tomb). All of the regulations for how to handle students, teachers, principals, situations... its untenable. I certainly don't know all the rules. No one could possibly know all those rules. I look at all the paper work I am responsible to fill out, it is overwhelming. As many teachers complain, it is cutting in to our ability to teach the students. The requirements by the state on the school districts are also overwhelming, hence the tendency toward increased staffing at the district offices. In the current economic crises, this can not all be maintained. Looking around at society, I don't think I am so unique, bureaucratic forms seem to be necessary for so much. Then I look at the prison system here in California, it is also becoming untenable. More and more we have built. It certainly doesn't seem to be stopping crime. Some argue that it perpetuates it as a training ground and communication network. I see it competing with education for funds and worry. There is still not enough, prisoners are being released into society due to the shortage of funds. More rules, less schools, more prisons seems like the direction we have been heading for too long. Why do we have to have all of these rules? To keep us on the right path, but obviously it is not working.

Many have argued that we need a new mythological framework from which to unite the greater populace of the world, but it is clear there is no myth that holds all of us together. I have thought about this a long time. People aren't ready to give up their religion, or their atheism, and it really isn't the democratic way to give up your religion, or atheism, nor does it respect diversity. But compassion, this key component of all religions and yes, science has had a lot to say for it too, can play an important role in bringing us together. By bringing about a resurgence in compassionate action, everyone trying to do the right thing, everyone talking about how compassion works in our houses of worship, our schools, and our workplaces, we can make a difference. It may be the glue that brings society together. A society working on compassion would need a lot fewer rules and prisons. Compassion means concretely figuring out how to help each child learn, how to help people stop engaging in crime and ultimately how to build the human endeavor. It means, getting our priorities straight. I think we can go much deeper in our practice of compassion.

I look forward to the unveiling of the Charter for Compassion on November 12th with great hope. I hope you do too. We need a change in direction, and putting compassionate action at the fore has great potential. For more information and perspectives, please see the Charter for Compassion web site at: http://charterforcompassion.org/

We Refuse to Believe that the Bank of Justice is Bankrupt

I recently heard a Yale professor say, the often ignored, but most important part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech is the first part. I agree, and am reprinting it here. I believe it is applicable to all Americans in their struggle for decent health care. I have also included a translation in Chinese, for my Chinese friends who have their own Civil Rights struggle. Although the Chinese people will work out their own way, I believe King's words are an important inspiration and very applicable to the Chinese people's struggle for their rights.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

今天，我高兴地同大家一起，参加这次将成为我国历史上为了争取自由而举
的最伟大的示威集会。

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

100年前，一位伟大的美国人——今天我们就站在他象征性的身影下——签署了
《解放宣言》。这项重要法令的颁布，对于千百万灼烤于非正义残焰中的
黑奴，犹如带来希望之光的硕大灯塔，恰似结束漫漫长夜禁锢的欢畅黎明。

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

然而，100年后，黑人依然没有获得自由。100年后，黑人依然悲惨地
蹒跚于种族隔离和种族歧视的枷锁之下。100年后，黑人依然生活在
物质繁荣翰海的贫困孤岛上。100年后，黑人依然在美国社会中间向
隅而泣，依然感到自己在国土家园中流离漂泊。所以，我们今天来到这
里，要把这骇人听闻的情况公诸于众。

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

从某种意义上说，我们来到国家的首都是为了兑现一张支票
我们共和国的缔造者在拟写宪法和独立宣言的辉煌篇章时，
就签署了一张每一个美国人都能继承的期票。这张期票
向所有人承诺——不论白人还是黑人——都享有不可让渡的生存
权、自由权和追求幸福权。

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

然而，今天美国显然对她的有色公民拖欠着这张期票。美国
没有承兑这笔神圣的债务，而是开始给黑人一张空头支票—
—一张盖着“资金不足”的印戳被退回的支票。但是，我们决
不相信正义的银行会破产。我们决不相信这个国家巨大的机
会宝库会资金不足。因此，我们来兑现这张支票。这张支票
将给我们以宝贵的自由和正义的保障我们来到这块圣地还
为了提醒美国：现在正是万分紧急的时刻。现在不是从容
不迫悠然行事或服用渐进主义镇静剂的时候。现在是实现
民主诺言的时候。现在是走出幽暗荒凉的种族隔离深谷，
踏上种族平等的阳关大道的时候。现在是使我们国家走
出种族不平等的流沙，踏上充满手足之情的磐石的时候。
现在是使上帝所有孩子真正享有公正的时候。

(translation not mine)

Twitter and Facebook

Just a short note to say how amazing twitter is (facebook too). Having conversations around the world with people literally in 4 or 5 countries of the world at times, and understanding each other better than in a town hall meeting.