Bruce Lee and Jimmy Hendrix

Today, November 27 is the birthday of Bruce Lee and Jimmy Hendrix. Bruce would have been 76 years old, and Jimmy 74.Two iconic figures in pop culture.

Kung Fu Fighting in Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized in Parliament on Wednesday, after he rushed across the floor to get Conservative opposition whip Gord Brown by his arm, to direct him to his seat. In doing so, he was also accused of elbowing NDP member of parliament Ruth Ellen Brosseau in her chest. The media reported that Justin got into a shouting match with NDP opposition leader Tom Mulcair.

In my opinion, this incident was overly sensationalized by the media: Canada's prime minister manhandled a member of parliament; physical altercation in the Canadian Parliament; prime minister physically assaulted a female member of parliament and so on and on. The opposition party politicians certainly took advantage of Justin's mistake and kept pounding at him even after he had repeatedly apologized.

Justin was impatient to get a procedural vote on an assisted dying legislation, to meet a soon coming June deadline set out by the Supreme Court of Canada. He crossed the floor to get Gord Brown because the opposition party members were playing political games in the house, by blocking Gord from moving. Justin lost his cool. In getting Gord, Justin accidentally elbowed Ruth's chest. It was an accident, not an assault. If such body contact was interpreted to be an assault, then many people on the big cities' crowded transit trains and buses would become both offenders and victims. 

All said, Justin was wrong in crossing the floor to get Gord Brown, but he was right in quickly giving his complete and repeated apology.

This whole thing is a serious matter, but it also makes me laugh. It reminds me of the politicians in other countries who literally fought and got into physical violence. This happened in Taiwan, South Korea, Ukraine and other countries. Compared with these nations, what happened in the Canadian Parliament on Wednesday was something so very mild.  

In South Korea, I learned that the politicians would preplan how to fight, and make sure that they would be captured in the news footage. The purpose was to show their constituents how hard they worked, even willing to literally fight for them in the legislature. In Canada, it is the first time that something like this happened in parliament.

Putting seriousness aside, I now dream of making a funny movie showing such fights in different countries. For the U.S., the politicians would dress up like cowboys and shoot at one another with jumbo guns. For Canada, they would fight with hockey sticks. Needless to say, the theme song for the satirical movie would be 'kung fu fighting'. Ouch Canada! 

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee died at the young age of 32. Today is the 40th anniversary of his death. Most people know he is the greatest martial artist of our time, but there are things that they may not know: Bruce was a child star in Hong Kong. Quentin Tarantino probably knows, as he was a fanatic of old Chinese movies, before he became a famous director in Hollywood. Besides being a child star, Bruce was a dancing contest champion in Hong Kong. He was also a street fighter there. His father wanted to make him stay out of trouble by sending him back to America where he was born.  

Bruce Lee is great, not only because of his superb martial arts and Chinese kung fu, but also because of his philosophy of life. He rejected the idea that Chinese kung fu must be kept for the Chinese people only. He defeated everyone who dared to prevent him from teaching Chinese kung fu to the Westerners. My opinion is that all the great people in this world belong to the whole humanity, not just to their own race, culture or country. My view is a cosmopolitan view, an all-in-the-family view, with one humanity, one world, one Planet Earth.

Aside from philosophy and opinion, these are some facts that many Bruce Lee fans do not know. Bruce is not only Chinese, but also American and partly German. How so? Bruce was born in San Francisco, so he is an American. His father Lee Hoi-Chuen was an actor in Chinese opera. His mother Grace Ho was a Eurasian of German and Chinese ancestry. My dear American and German friends, you can rightfully claim that Bruce Lee is partly yours. By the way, Bruce, like myself, grew up in British Hong Kong, which went back to Chinese rule in 1997. Dear Brits, yes, you can also claim a part of Bruce Lee. My dear Chinese friends, what the heck, let's be generous and share the great Bruce Lee with the whole world. We can't say no anyway. They have already taken a great portion of him. Rest in Peace, Bruce !