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Name: Mai
Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Female
Interests: the essence of everything
Expertise: Thinking and maybe cleaning my big glasses
Occupation: Student
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/26/2003
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| Ma Vie en RoseLife is an endless cycle of learning experiences and struggle. My duty is to live it with a positive attitude and see opportunities in stress and obstacles.
Thanks Mom for always praying for me. : )
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| Idealism and CynicismI'm graduating next year in political science and French. I'm chasing for internship and job prospects like a hunter chasing a beast while looking into possible law schools I'll be applying and start the LSAT. I'm not expecting to make a lot of money after college. I love the non-profit sector I'm working for but I think I should also work in the corporate world in order to be more versatile. The main quandary that has been a tightening noose around my neck is making money vs. doing something that I love. Making money and doing something I'm passionate about seem incompatible at this moment. When I was very young, I was highly idealistic and optimistic about humanity, especiall in a very naive (and dangerous) way. I loved everyone and trusted people very easily. I wanted help people and save the world. Yet after a series of betrayal, heart breaks, and back-stabbings, I have become quite cynical and detached, losing my faith in progress. I'm still young. I have a future ahead of me. But nowadays, I seem to be more concerned with making money for a variety of reasons--to pay back my student loans, to be able to take care of my parents when they get old, to have a college fund for my future children (if I have any) so they won't have to struggle like me, etc. Money isn't everything but it sure makes life A LOT easier!!! | | |
| Karen at HeartTo most people in America, I'm Burmese because of the fact that I was born and raised in Burma. They have ever barely realized the complexity of my ethnic composition and the identity confusion it often creates. My mom is Kachin and my dad is half Chinese and half Karen. My mom speaks Kachin very well and is well versed with the Kachin culture. My dad speaks Karen and is well-versed with the Karen culture.
I know Burmese, French, and English, not Kachin, Karen or Chinese dialects. I'm 50% Kachin, 25% Karen, and 25% Chinese. Even though I'm mostly Kachin, I identify myself more with the Karen people and their culture. I grew up in a Karen village/town and had Karen friends even though I never picked up the language. The same trend continues in America, where I would show up every Karen New Year celebrations. And plus, I look Karen because of my facial structure. I've rarely gone to a Kachin cultural celebration. I don't really have any Kachin friends. I can't fit in in the Kachin community nor can I identify with the culture.
This identification just doesn't happen over night. It comes with the accumulation of experiences overtime. At least, I have the right to choose my own ethnic identity based on my what's in my heart instead of what's in my blood.
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| God Blesses Me More Than You!It was a sunny day at Berkeley, as students bustled their ways to class in their shorts and flip-flops. My Alaskan rommate told me that it would still be cold and wet in back in her home state. I, feeling so blessed by God for this nice weather and that I don't live in Alaska, shouted, "God blesses me more than you, you moose-hunting pussies!"
As I walked to class and passed by a frat house, I saw this frat boy being raped by a group of monkeys. I, feeling blessed by God , shout, "God blesses me more than you, you monkey lover!"
Well the anecdote above is not a true at all. My roommate is from China, and frat boys here at Berkeley perhaps are only raped by drunk girls or by their drunk bros. My twisted mind always makes up weird stories to demonstrate my point.
What I'm trying to point out in this blog is something that has been bugging and irritating me eversince I was little and attending churches. I've heard so many testimonies of people who, in their own opinions, were praising God and celebrating His Blessings. All of them had said and written things like, "I'm thankful that God blesses me with my job, school, etc.. ."
ONE THING THAT I'VE ALWAYS FOUND FISHY IN PEOPLE'S TESTIMONIES of praising God and counting His blessings is that they always have to mention or bring in other people who seem less fortunate than them. Thus, the testimonies would turn out to be something like this:
"I saw many starving and sick children when I was in Africa...I feel so blessed by God for being in America and having so much junk food to eat and get fat. . ."
By human nature, we tend to appreciate more of what we have or what we've been blessed with in the face of unfortunate and destitute people. But in the context of celebrating God's blessings, the implications of mentioning people who seem less fortunate than us are grave and besmirch the celebratory image of God's blessings.
We can be all be smart-ass lawyers and work our way around it by saying, "the point or the bigger picture of this testimony is to praise God and celebrates his Blessings..It doesn't matter who has more blessings or not..."
Yet if the bigger picture or the intention is to celebrate God's blessings, why do we need to mention less fortunate people at all? Sure we may have good intentions when we give testimonies, but a good intention doesn't necessarily mean a good execution. In fact, some of the most evil things in the world are carried out or executed on the ground of the greatest intentions.
So what are the implications of mentioning unfortunate people in the testimonies of celebrating God's blessings and praising Him, regardless of our good old intentions?
1) It makes it seem like the people who seem less fortunate than us aren't as blessed by God as us. In reality, this may not be true at all. The old,feeble looking man fixing your plant early in the morning may be the owner of a successful landscaping company, and thus ten times richer than you.
2) By implying that they aren't as blessed as us, we inadvertently create this superiorty/inferiroty complex or image.
Overall, blessings aren't something we can quantify and give a fixed meaning to. Some people define God's blessing as having a lot of money and a big house,while others see it as a simple life with happiness. It's different throughout people and cultures with a complex array of different experiences and beliefs.
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