Saturday, April 30, 2016

What is Success in Life?

A friend posted 11 rules, or life lessons, according to Bill Gates in Facebook.

My thoughts and comments:

What Bill Gates said is generally true but not absolutely true. Rule #11 is sort of funny. It says if you born poor, it's not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake.  

Have you heard of this Chinese saying? What a person's life is like, or whether it will be successful or not, depends on these 5 determining factors: birth, luck, feng shui, karma (charitable work or helping others) and education.

Indeed life is not fair. Only death is fair (everybody dies). If you were born to poor parents in a poor and backward country, you would face much greater challenge in life. If you were born to rich parents in an advanced country, you would gain much advantage to succeed in life. Still, Bill Gates' advice or life lessons are good references to think about.

My philosophy is that whatever card life gave you at the beginning, you just have to play the game the best you can. Got an Ace? Good for you. Got a 5 only? You still have to play the game and never give up.

What is success in life? There are so many different definitions. To most people, it means money, power and fame. To some spiritual people, it simply means health and happiness. To me, success in life is not about money and material possessions. Peace !

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz has named Carly Fiorina as his vice-president running mate.

I watched him talk. Forgive me, but I felt like listening to a slick evangelist preaching a sermon. Only it was a political sermon, not a religious sermon. The political sermon was Ted's over-the-top praising of Carly. There was nothing wrong in the praising itself. The problem was that he over-did it or delivered his speech in a strange way. That was how I felt anyway. Somehow it sounded like Carly was running for the president's office, while Ted was her vice-president candidate praising her.

If you are allowed to use only one word to describe the speeches of these candidates, what would it be? Here are mine:

Bernie Sanders: sincere.
Hillary Clinton: hypocritical.
Donald Trump: blunt.
Ted Cruz: slick.

If I were an American, I would give my vote to Bernie Sanders. However, the political reality is that we'll probably end up with Hillary or Donald as the next U.S. President. Let's wait and see ! 

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Good Bye Prince

Music icon Prince is dead. He was 57. Good Bye Prince. Rest in Peace!