Blog for cheng2

We arrived at Washington D.C. on June 14th 2007. The airport is almost the same as that in Beijing. I felt little difference and the atmosphere is so comfortable that I actually felt that I was at home.
It took us less than half an hour to fly from D.C. to Richmond Virginia. We met the interns from VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) on our arrival. I was quite impressed by their hospitality and friendliness. We checked in at GRC late into the night. Tied though I was, I could not fall asleep that night (or we should say it was actually early in the day back in Beijing).
The next day, we got up early in the morning and took a short trip around the VCU campus. The building structures are different from those in Beijing, back that is not the thing that has impressed me most. The most strange thing that I feel is that there are so few people on the street. It feels good actually. You know, China is a big country with the largest population in the world. Back in Beijing, we see crowds of people here and there. Now in the US we have more space than ever and it is more comfortable.
Despite the time difference and those different buildings and different people, we do not feel any thing uncomfortable. We are different in our skins, hairs, and languages, but we all people of the world, I believe some day we can even share the same culture.
As our individual world is becoming larger and larger, the world as a whole is becoming smaller. I am so happy to have this opportunity to come to the US, to experience a different culture, and also to bring our Chinese culture to those friendly US people. I am looking forward to this new experience and I am sure we will have a good time here.

We may look at things from different perspectives, but we judge right and wrong almost from the same criterion. There are good and evil anywhere. People just choose their own way of life, some are self-centered, while others are so considerate for other people. We have good people and bad people anywhere despite what countries they come from. I come from China, and I have Chinese nationality, and honestly I love China, it is really a great nation and we have so many great figures in our fantastic history. However, I can still find evils in this beloved country. I will still feel shocked by some people's ways of doing things. This is not surprising at all. I may feel uncomfortable in the first few days after my arrival in the US, but now I just see nothing strange. There is culture diversity in the world, but people can touch each other's heart through communication. Impossible is nothing. Yeah, I like it!

it is said that the United States do not have a rich history. well, if you look from historians' perspective, this is probably true. nevertheless, Americans have a lot of fun in their daily life. actually the United States does not have its own particular culture. but as the name suggests, there is a union of various cultures. from architecture to food, the United States is the most diverse society in the entire world. it is not the most creative nation, however, it has the power to attract creations. in other words, it is able to import creations for free.

Four decades ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered an annual report known as "Where Do We Go From Here?" Back in the 1960s, Negroes lived in harsh conditions. The unemployment among the black was twice that among the white, while the income of the black was half that of the white. Dr. King saw the reality quite clearly. In this speech he followed another great leader, Gandi, and promoted the idea of nonviolent liberation. He decided to stick to love. It is true that hatred can only generate more hatred, and only through love can we find the highest good, because only those who have love hold the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.
In our Intensive Reading class, when we were learning this article, some of my classmates had the idea that Dr. King was being blindly optimistic. They thought he had gone way too far in promoting nonviolence. Well, as far as I am concerned, exaggerating is always part of a politician's job. Politicians have got to make people believe in them no matter what their motivations are. Looking back in history, we can now confidently say that Dr. King's method did not work perfectly. But back in his time, Dr.King had to wipe up support for the liberation of the black, for equal rights. He was trying to help his black brothers to build up self-esteem, to wake up as a firmly united people, and to find a just position in the society that belongs to the black. So unrealistic as this speech might be, Dr. King was simply doing the right thing in his political position.
Forty years later, as our society develops and the world becomes more integrated, more problems occur, and more injustices happen in the society. Some people keep on complaining about this, others just pretend not to see the problems. Well, the world is far from perfect, and there is no absolute freedom anyway. We've got to be patient. In reality, we have so much to care about. The world may not be perfect, however, we can feel perfection by heart through love.

Impossible as perfection is, people still have the intention to seek for it. Everyday we see things that are unforgivable in our own view. This keeps on pushing us to ask why those people involved in our lives would do such kind of strange things. if we bear these uncomfortable feelings in heart, it will eventually lead to mistrust, and then hatred, ... and then discrimination.
Discrimination is not just about racism or sexual inequality, it can be any kind of unequal treatments that we give to different people or groups of people.
We tend to like people that are similar to ourselves. we form our own life circles. although this does not mean that we do not want to enlarge our individual world, the truth is that the less those people have in common with us, the harder they can get into our lives.
People like perfection. but the majority haven't realized that they are just seeking perfection from others instead of from themselves. we can always find excuses for our own faults. however, we tend to be much more harsh on others when they make mistakes. and when hatred towards a specific person or a group of people has been formed, discrimination is established!
It is strange why people just keep on requiring good behavior from others, while at the same time, they themselves cannot behave like angels do.
There is no specific definition for discrimination. everyone can keep his own understanding of it. just do not think of it as a big topic that is far away from our daily life. it is here, just with us.

In today's lecture, Dr. Judy Twigg said that politics is the decision that people make which must be public and authoritative. well, as far as I am concerned, this is a wrong interpretation. politics is everywhere in our daily life. on one can avoid politics simply because they do not like it.
Dr. Twigg give us an example of making the decision to go to a concert. She thinks that is a private decision that does not affect other people. well, in some sense, this can be true. but if we look at a more broader perspective, we have to pay taxes for the ticket, and what about the snacks we might buy? different kinds of food represent different countries and different cultures. we choose one to show our preferences, and that can be viewed as communication. globalization is the result of communication. only when there are open societies, can globalization get the license to spread all over. and this, without governments' support, can barely become possible. see, that is politics, whatever we might do!

The majority believe that most presidents are realists. However, sometimes the line between realism and idealism is blurred. For some presidents, we cannot exactly tell whether they fall into the category of realists or idealists.
A typical idealist president in American history should be President Woodrow Wilson. From his Fourteen Points, we can get a clear idea about his understanding of world politics. However, what was irony was that the US refused to join the League of Nations, and it finally turned out to be a failure, and the second world war followed.
To a large extent, world politics is mostly operated, or we can put it as controlled, by realist politicians. They may act less aggressive than they actually are. They may promote mutual benefit and cooperation, while at the same time they launch wars against each other for their own national interests.
Why? Why politicians would do things that are opposite to what they say? As far as I am concerned, they are trying to build up a good image in the public, to wipe up support for their actions. In other words, they want to gain legitimacy.
So, I doubt whether it necessary to draw a clear line between realism and idealism.

People complain about the complecity of our society. In every field of the society, things run according to various rules. yet they are still interrelated with each other. In philosophy, we have learned that links between things in the world always exist. this is kind of truth. links are objective, and they hardly change with the changes of people's likings.
You see, we can draw an analogy between an qrgumentation article and a hamburger, between a soccer team and a company, etc. I had written an article in which I compared my well of knowledge with a piece of newspaper. some classmates thought that was creative. I have always liked the idea of comparison. it makes me feel that the world is not as complecated as it seems to be. we can always find similarities among different things. we have different perspectives to look at different fields of the society. or maybe there are similar ways to comprehend things which may appear to have nothing to do with each other.
I like this learning method very much!

Richmond is not such a busy city as New York. there are not so many skyscrapers here. The so called traffic jam here is far more better than that in Beijing. The sparse population gives each of us more space to enjoy the beautiful environment here.
Among all these favorable things, I love those local people most. their hospitality impressed me deeply. using english as a second language, we often have problem in our daily life, especially when we want to order some food. however, people here are too patient to get mad about this. I want to thank all of our interns. you are very nice people. we know that it must be a very tiring job to guide us in such hot weather. sometimes you have to sacrifice your own business to show us arround the city. we do appreciate your hospitality.
there are some things that we do not feel comfortable about. but that is not people's fault. we Chinese students grow up in a society that has a rich history which definitely has lots of differences with the life style of the western world. however, we are trying to adapt to all the changes. I believe people are all alike inside. despite the differences in our skin colors, languages, cultures, etc, we have the same dream to make the world more beautiful, to make the world society as a whole more harmonious.

We had a wonderful home visit last weekend. Phuc planed lots of activities for us. We joined her friends to a Hawai'i party, and they cooked a lot of delicious food for us. That evening, Phuc's friend Jenny, who she met in church, cooked us a fabulous Thanks Giving dinner. what is more, there were lots of DIYs. we learned a lot about American cuisine from Jenny and Phuc.
Phuc must be very tied after two days' driving. we experienced a lot during these two days. Thanks Giving dinner in July, how wonderful it is! we should give thanks to those who have helped us and given us so much joy whenever we have the opportunity. Festivals are only symbols. we should feel free to show our love to others.
Thanks, Phuc!

Having fun is also energy consuming. coming back from the wonderful home visit, I'm already tied. today's trip is even tiring. I have noticed that some of the interns are also exhausted. well we have to make use of every minute, but we should still strike a balance between visiting and resting. anyway, we have to save energy for our tour to NY and D.C.. and of course, do not forget about the paper.

I tried to find something typical of America to bring back to China. However, lots of the staffs that I picked up in the stores were labeled as "Made in China", especially most of the toys.
The United States government keeps on accusing China for the bilateral trade relation. As a matter of fact, American people depend heavily on Chinese products in their daily life. Admit it or not, the US government cannot control this trend of trade relationship. After all, the public can benefit from those Made-in-China staffs.