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We never blame blind eyes, nor should we blame a desperate heart.

It was eight o’clock in the evening on July the twenty-fifth, 2005. On the campus of Peking University, a boy flew down to earth from the top of the dormitory building, ending up his 23-year-old life. There had been 3 students in Peking university who had committed suicide in the last three months.

On the University’s BBS, sighs and blessings combined to express students’ hope a sincere hope that nothing similar was going to happen.

What is wrong? They are all guys of great gift and bright future; they are all guys who used to be model students; they are all guys who were supposed to contribute their talents to the well-being of the human race. What happened to them? What is the problem on earth with their intelligent but tender hearts?

In response to an interview, Xia Xueluan, Professor of Sociology Department at Peking University, pointed out that to commit suicide is a sort of irresponsible behavior. In his stance,  everyone should have a sense of responsibility for family and society. Ending up one’s own life is nothing but selfish. His logic goes something like this: if a person does not even cherish life, not even care about the feelings of his/her family, what can s/he be responsible for?

 Is this remark reasonable? I doubt.

 Days earlier, there was a 13-year-old girl who killed herself for the only sake of 100–thousand-Yuan tuition. In her testament, she said: “I was ashamed of my incapability. I hope my death could save my parents the financial burden of formidable weight. ” What a thoughtful girl! Is it true that the girl needs some cultivation of responsibility? Or rather, undue responsibility weigh down a tender life!

In saying this, I don’t have even the least intention to deny the value of responsibility. I am simply arguing that to call for responsibility is not the most reasonable thing to do when you face a dying people, dying in a psychological sense.

The blind lose the world of color, not because they don’t cherish light, but because they have problems with their eyes. Likewise, these young guys lose the world of hope, not because they don’t cherish this colorful world, rather because their hearts are unfortunately caught in a fatal disease. We never blame a blind person, nor should we blame a desperate mind, not at least in the first place.

For a dying heart, there is every reason to choose death, but great willpower as well as justification is needed simply to live on. When a dying person is looking for the value of living, he was also looking for love and hope, the very love and hope which would cure the wounds of his tender hearts. 

Therefore, what we really should do is to ensure them a sense of love and hope instead of accusing them of lack of responsibility. Society is a whole collection of individuals. Therefore, its ultimate goal should be to make everybody live better. If we are still demanding responsibility from people whose hearts have almost suffered to death. What is the true value of the existence of a society?

Besides, a considerate proportion of the mental pains originated from modern society. There is a medieval legend of the Wild Hunt, in which souls of the dead had to keep marching to nowhere all day and all night at top speed. Anyone who dropped out of line from exhaustion instantly crumbled to dust. This seems a parable of a type of consciousness frequent in the modern world, obsessed by a compulsion to keep up, reduced to despair by the steadily increasing speed of the total movement. It is a type of consciousness which is usually called the alienation of progress.

As a college student, particularly a student studying at Peking University, one bears huge expectations from parents, terrible pressures from peers, and desperate compulsion to seek for a secure future, not to mention the unavoidable upset feelings in the process of growing up. Strictly bonded up in these invisible worries and fears, the heart is weighed down and gradually loses its vigor. Of course, mental illness is complex and involves many factors such as values, personal experiences and may even find root in one’s psychohistories. However, we should at least bear in mind that those people are unfortunately caught in a fatal but invisible disease. In addition, a considerable part of the cause stems from the alienation of the contemporary society. 

Therefore, do have some mercy for human, society! Shed the light of hope on their blinded heart. Help them pick up the courage and pleasure to live on? After all, only a healthy and free mind can bring good to society as well as enjoy this amazing world.

Conscious of these concerns, maybe we are not doomed to repeat the story of the Wild Hunt.

      It was eight o’clock in the evening on July the twenty-fifth, 2005. On the campus of Peking University, a boy flew down to earth from the top of the dormitory building, ending up his life. There had been 3 students in Peking university who had committed suicide in the last three months.

      On the University’s BBS, apart from all notes of blessings, students expressed their hope that nothing similar was going to happen again. 

     What a pity! They are all guys of great gift and bright future; they are all guys who used to be highly praised; they are all guys who were supposed to contribute their talent to improve the well-being of the human being. What was wrong with our young good people? What’s the matter on earth with their intelligent minds but tender hearts?

     In a response to the reporter, Professor Xia Xueluan of Peking University pointed out, that to suicide is definitely to avoid his or her responsibility. To quote his own words, ‘Everyone is supposed to have a sense of responsibility for his family as well as the whole society. Ending up his own life is a selfish behavior. If he doesn’t’ even cherish his own life, how can he be associated with the concept of responsibility?’

     Is this remark reasonable? I doubt.

     Days earlier, there was a 13 year old girl killed herself for the only sake of 100 –thousand tuition. In her testament, she said: “I was inferoir. I hope my death could save my parents huge amount of money.” All these words pointed deep into our hearts. We can never criticize the girl for lack of responsibility. On the contrary, undue responsibility killed this young life! We demanded more and more responsibility from a single person on the behalf of society; however, who are responsible for those the precious life?

     In saying this, I don’t have even the least intention to deny the value of responsibility. I am simply arguing that it is not the most reasonable thing to do when you face a dying people, only in a psychological sense. Blind people lost the world of color, not because they don’t cherish light, but because they have problems with their eyes. Likewise, these young guys lost the world of hope, not because they don’t cherish life any more, rather because they have problems with their hearts. We never blame a blind person, nor should we blame a desperate mind, at least in the first place.

    For a dying heart, there’s every reason to choose death, but great courage as well as justification is needed to live on. When he was looking for the value of living, he was also looking for love and hope, the very love and hope which he believes would cure the wounds of his tender hearts. 

   Therefore, what we really should do is to ensure them a sense of love and hope instead of forcing the sense or responsibility into their minds.  Society is a whole collection of individuals. Therefore, the ultimate goal of a society should be to enhance individual’s  well-being. If we still ask for responsibility from a dying people, instead give him more care? What’s the true value of the existence of a society?

    We have well known those sensitive poets who could hear wind crying and feel flower dying. They saw a sad world because they feel pains at heart. Similarly, those who committed suicide must have suffered enough from pains in deep of their hearts. Pains originated from both outside and inside. Highly intense pressures are permeated around the environment of our lives. As a college student, esp. studying in a university like Peking University, one bears great expectations from parents, terrible pressure from peers, worry and fear about a secure future, not to mention the natural annoying things in the process of growing up. Strictly bonded up in these invisible social expectations, the mind is blinded, suffocated, and gradually loses its vigor. Of course, social pressure is not the only one should take the blame. Mental pains is complex illness which is associated with values, beliefs, childhood environments and may even be traced back to his psychohistories. However, we should at least bear in mind those people are unfortunately caught in a fatal but invisible disease, and part of the cause comes from society. 

     Therefore, when we talk about this issue, shouldn’t we give them more love, shed the light of hope on their blinded heart, help them pick up the courage and pleasure to live on? Society, in nature, is collection of individuals. Society’s purpose, ultimately, is to make everyone live better. And every society’s development is once again depended on individual’s contribution. However, only a healthy and free mind can produce wonderful intellectual works, and only a healthy and free mind is able to enjoy beautiful life. Conscious of these essential issues, I always have the highest respect for individual person! I will always love the living, and bless the dead eternal peace and bliss.

       Living in an era of information, we are faced by many unexpected problems. Have you ever experienced standing before various kinds of goods while can’t decide which to buy. Have you ever experienced starting with the intention of looking up a small word on the internet, while ending up with a whole afternoon spent on skimming through pages and pages. Like any problems originated from information overwhelming, health and medicine over-information has also become a serious problem in contemporary society.

       For centuries, the medical enterprise was so paltry and carried little prestige or power, we did not have high expectations form it. That is to say, when we felt sick and went to the doctors for help, we didn’t have to bother to weigh among different methods or options of treatment. Instead, we would be most cheerful if there’s some way to maintain our life. In fact, usually doctors achieved little, and we were accustomed to that fact and wouldn’t blame him much.

       While today, the situation is totally different. Instead of knowing nothing to improve our health condition, we have become almost obsessed by getting easy access to so much information which means so many choice to be made. True, health information can be extremely useful, empowering us to make important health decisions. However, health information can also be confusing and overwhelming. Given the wealth of information that is available through the Internet, journals and other sources, it is important to be able to assess its quality. Sometimes this task can be difficult because health information is constantly changing as a result of new research and because there may be different valid approaches to treating particular conditions.

       The case is almost the same when we go to doctors. As suggested in the article “awash in information, patients face a lonely uncertain road”, you have to think for yourself and make decision. Options and information construct a new quandary for patients. In fact, not only for patients, even doctors have difficulty recognizing the most effective way to fight against a disease. Therefore, they automatically leave the risks to the patients to bear on their own. In this sense, it is ultimately the amazing development of science and technology which should take the blame. You can easily explore the irony here. On the one hand, it is this development that rekindles the fire of hope over something used to be called “incurable diseases”. On the other, the inherent limitations of that development always maintain something called suspicions within our mind. Either advanced or alternative, who can ensure it is not a medical Frankenstein which is designed to destroy our entire body?

       Furthermore, difficulty in deciding is only part of today’s medical quandary. With infinite information around us, we are even facing the danger of slipping into a medical consumerism. In another article I recently read, the author poises sharp questions on the charge and direction of today’s medical profession. As suggested in that article, we are having medical consumerism, “which is designed to be unsatisfying”. In his opinion, due to knowledge and information, we are bound to do something with those used-to-be incurable diseases. However,  “to make higher percentages of people survive into their eighties and nineties is never the same as to confer enduring mobility, awareness and autonomy. Extending life grows medially feasible, but it is often a life sans everything.”(Roy Porter, “a professional malaise - how medicine became the prisoner of its success”)

       In sum, with information overwhelming, we are facing similar kind of problems in all aspects of life. However, it seems a little more frustrating and costly when we go to doctors. True, the technique to deal with information is increasingly crucial for anyone who live in such a informative society. Still, the burden to analyze and decide can never be laid on the patients alone. Medicine is no small deal. Either doctors, or such special service are urged to take care of the billowy information waves and to ensure a reasonable direction for the little boat of the patient. Otherwise, medical improvements are doomed to be offset by the Frankenstein of overwhelming information.

               ——REconsider the dotcom mania from the perspective of financial market

      The past 5 years have witnessed china’s economy develop at an enormous speed. Meanwhile, as the article “questions raised by china dotcom mania” suggests, the internet industry and its debut in the stock market have spiraled upwards in a double helix. These were extremely encouraging for investors to rush into the Chinese internet industry. Based on these observations, the author cast doubts on this mania, pointing out that “the price put on this opportunity looks excessive”.

       I have no intention to make an assessment of the author’s argument considering my present state of e-business and financial knowledge. However, I really appreciate such responsible enquiry and the author’s detached rationality, which is so rare in China’s media. By contrast, what our media have always been doing is either producing financial sensations to attract attention, or speaking for the government to hold its own concerning political background and support.

       It has been generally accepted that china’s financial market is far from mature, which is certainly a bottle neck hindering the development of IT industry. In “questions raised by china dotcom mania”, the author is mainly concerned with warning people against the dotcom mania and advise reasonable analysis investment. However, it is such warnings that actually contribute to the construction of a mature financial market, for it helps avoid economic bubbles and relevant financial investment mistakes. This benefits the IT industry over the long run.

       Apart form the media element, more can be done to improve our financial market and thus mechanically provokes rational investment. For one thing, we should set up valid laws and regulations in this field as soon as possible. They proscribe the essential framework of a healthy financial market. For the other, accounting business and supervision mechanism are called upon to function. These two elements play significant roles to ensure valid information. Paradigms as Enron comes immediately to my mind.

       In addition , we need transfer the government participation into mechanism. This action will have special significance in china. For supporting examples, we need look no further than the influence of prime minister WenJiabao’s comments. The stock market demonstrate sharp contrast before he comments and afterwards. This event indicates a extremely close relationship between government and economics in china. However, that is only a normal and benign one, considering all the corrupt procedures happening almost everywhere secretly. This gives no assurance to the investors.

       Last but not least, we all hope to develop a sound credit system, embraced by laws, filled with sound information, supported by people’s rational investment, etc..This at least can help develop a sound financial market to secure investors, to collect6 more money and eventually, translate the internet mushroom to real prosperity.

      However, it is useless to blame the technique itself. Many secret keys of similar kinds have been developed to “deal with” various kinds of exams. The inherent flaw in the nature of exam leads inevitably to such phenomena. For one thing, exam is inevitably mechanical——it is so mass produced and evaluated that a mechanical quality satisfies the need of efficiency. From here originates the possibility of exam-directing techniques. For the other, as exams play a more and more important role in our lives, for either students or clerks, in either college or companies, it becomes more and more rewarding to invent tact to deal with it. we can easily see the irony here, the higher expectation from exams, the less value it produce in terms of evaluating one’s ability.

      What is more, there seems no way to reconcile this intrinsic flaw in exams. Thousands of years of Chinese history demonstrates this point. To evaluate a person, we Chinese people tried all kinds of approaches. There were times, such as the era of Chunqiu and Zhanguo , when people was judged by his performance in the process of persuading and debating. There were also times, such as the time of three kingdoms, when people’s competence was simply classified by his reputations and first impression. For supporting example, we can never be too familiar with the anecdote that LiuBei paid three visits to a student whom he never met before simply based on other’s recommendation. As time went on, still different ways followed, but all faded in a later time. Then, after all those years of trial and error, China eventually slipped into the era of exam-mechanism. This mechanism used to be highly valued for it contributed many talented people to improve the government’s job. In fact, exam is useful , for the more competent people we want, the more exams we need.

      Therefore, we seem to be caught in such a dilemma, where we become prisoners of our own device. However, there should be a way out! Instead of totally depending on the exams, we should build up a whole system to evaluate a person. On the one hand, in a highly practical society, exam is indispensable to be efficient in gathering capable people. On the other hand, we should always be conscious that human being is so complicated an animal that is very difficult to read, let alone to judge in a single exam! That is to say, we take exam as a tool to evaluate people, rather than place it as tag on people determining his quality. In fact, we can judge one’s ability through job performances, through life particulars, and even through your impressions and feelings which may not be easy to explicate. In fact , in the story of “three visits” I mentioned above, it was Zhuge Liang’s always excellent performance which finally decided that he was most eligible for the position of prime minister of the whole kingdom. And this is one example of a complement to exam.

         As a result, if we can build up a whole system of evaluating in which exam contributes only partly, then any effort to invent techniques would become less rewarding. I think that is both the candidates and the whole society would like to see. From this point of view, exam can be more effective if we lay less pressure on it!

      It has long been agreed that the media play a crucial role in supervising the government on behalf of the ordinary citizens. There are two essential facts which ensure the function is operative. For one thing, our reporters should be granted the privilege of speech freedom, which has received enough attention and emphasis. For the other, which is even more fundamental, is that the access to confidential information concerning the government’s performance should be protected and freed from unlicensed limits.

      Recently, in the U.S.A., which has long boasted its democracy and speech freedom, a case of government interfering with free press is just going on the stage. After reading an editorial in response to the Judith miller event, I highly respect her courage and righteousness in terms of the great sacrifice she has made in order to protect the people with whom she had spoken on the promise of confidentiality. Also, I agree with the author’s profound analysis and cogent argument against the government’s unfair interference. In fact, the event itself forcefully illustrates the point—— limits on a free press does prevent the citizens from controlling the government in democracy.

      However, I do not tend to continue arguing over the necessity of speech freedom. That would be a repetition of the author’s position at best. And of course, I would not deny the harmful effect for a moment. What I am even more concerned is the difference between china and the U.S.A. concerning the mechanism through which politicians imposed their will upon the press.

     Consider, what actions would the media and government take respectively if a similar case happens in china? I would say, in most scenarios, the media would try their best to disentangle themselves; and the government would manipulate behind the curtain. For supporting example, one needs look no further than the Lantian case in 2002. When the scholar LiuShuwei published the falsehood-revealing report, she was immediately exposed to her enemies. Here’s a dramatic point: the press she contributed to is a confidential one, intended only for the reference of the bank leaders. She had never thought that the article would someday go to the leader of the Lantian conglomerate. In fact, the press later further declares that the position in Liu’s article is in no way on the press’s behalf. I felt a great shame for the drastic contrast between Judith miller, a private reporter and our “confidential press”. However, I am also conscious that there are reasons for the press behaviors. They sheltered themselves cowardly because they even haven’t been granted the genuine freedom of speech; they betrayed the confidentiality because, presumably, some governmental officials had manipulated in a secrete way! This has been enough pity, but there’s something even more dangerous. Neither of these two points has received much attention even after the Lantian event had become a great sensation. Obviously, the Chinese public’s consciousness of the freedom speech is still far from enough.

     Here comes the essential difference between the U.S.A. and us. If our citizens haven’t been struck into conscious of the problem, how can it be solved? We still have a long way to go!

       Sense and sensibility is one of my favorite films. I appreciate Ang Lee, who directed, and Emma Thompson, who adapted the screenplay, for they have done an excellent job of bringing Jane Austen Victorian novel to the movie screen.  The movie collection of actors is a joy to watch as they bring out the emotions of an otherwise polite and reserved era in time.   In fact, its theme is even more rewarding in that it brings out the romance in all of us and shows me that Austen philosophy of love exists today as much as it did two centuries ago.

     Sense and Sensibility could rightly be classified as a love story, but I am afraid that would just scratch the surface of what this movie has to offer. In my opinion, it is first of all a period piece, giving us a chance to visit English society in the nineteenth century.  Second, I think Sense and Sensibility is rich in personality and depth of relationship as it follows the story of the Dashwoods. The film begins when the family patriarch dies and his son, John, and greedy daughter-in-law inherit his vast estate. Left to fend for them are John's step-mother and her three daughters, who are forced to live in a small cottage, offered by a kind, yet boorish cousin and his gossipy, match-making mother-in-law.

       The endearing Dashwood women struggle with the constraints placed on them by their loss of wealth and social status. Moreover, when the two eldest fall in love with eligible bachelors, their widely different approaches to matters of the heart provide delicious food for thought. The hopelessly romantic middle child, Marianne, is a unloving free spirit. Her older sister, Elinor, is more reserved, proper and analytical.

       Of course, the techniques exploited in the filming are appropriate and thus render the movie thematically beautiful.  Director Ang Lee brought us to this historic time with beautifully constructed sets and sites that drop us right into the country cottage of our heroines. This natural scenery, with its wide sweeping camerawork warps us back to a time without the loud annoyances of TV and machinery.  By this example Lee sets the stage for the story to begin.
What is more, the superb actors also contribute to keep this movie constantly going is the work of the.  The talent of the actors suited the roles they played, and their mastering of the characters brings personality and feeling to the screen.  The story of the movie bases around two of these characters who happen to be undergoing the same feelings of love but in strikingly different ways.  Kate Winslet plays the wild, fatally romantic Marianne who cannot control her feelings.  Opposite her is the experienced Emma Thompson who plays the reserved, intelligent Eleanor  who is far more sensitive than she ever lets on.  These two sisters embark on a romantic adventure that finds them searching for the right man.  The two actors compliment each other with their opposite nature which balances the story perfectly. In fact, without them we would not have felt the emotions of the characters, which made us long to love as they did.

       To sum up, I was so pleased to see a movie presenting beautifully the balance of passion and purity. There's no sex (not even a kiss), just a tender story of love and devotion. Virtues lending themselves to my appreciation include loyalty, kindness, self respect, honesty, modesty in courtship, and the riches of good character over an ample dowry and resisting the temptation to engage in reckless romanticism. A genuinely good movie, that’s it!

After reading the power of positive thinking
       Do you ever believe that a person can transform the pain and struggle of human existence into victorious, constructive everyday living? Do you ever believe that we do not need to be defeated by anything, that we can have peace of mind, improved health, and a never-ceasing flow of energy? And all we need to do is only to follow a system of simple procedures. Frankly speaking, I have good reason to doubt about the assertion, especially at some moments in my life, when I went struggling, even whining, through my days with a sense of dull resentment at what I consider the “bad breaks” life has given me. However, a wonderful book totally altered my opinions, and surprisingly, has changed my life by and by already.
      “The power of positive thinking” is that very magic manual I would like to address. Its author, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, is the founder of the religio-psychiatric clinic, which is an institute for religion and health. Indeed, the book teaches applied Christianity, a simple yet scientific system of practical techniques of successful living. In my reading it, the most impressing idea I found is that “it is a habit to be happy!”
       It is our own choice whether to be happy or not! In saying this I certainly do not ignore or minimize the hardships and tragedies of the world, but neither should we allow them to dominate. We have known enough people who permit obstacles to control their minds to the point where they are uppermost and thus become the dominating factors in their thought pattern, we also know somebody else who seems always happy whatever annoying situation they are trapped in. For supporting example, one needs look no further than the great father in the Italian movie life is beautiful, who cast every negative thoughts from the mind, never allowing himself to be mentally subservient. The only difference between those two kinds of people is the attitude, to put it into other words, it is a habit to be happy!
       It is a habit to be happy! Now I have been a complete adherent to that notion! When you ask a group of children to list the things that made them happiest, the boys would tell you “a swallow flying, looking into deep, clear water, water being cut at the bow of a boat, a fast train rushing, a builder’s crane lifting something heavy and their little dog’s eyes”; and the girls would say “street lights on the river, red roofs in the trees, smoke rising from a chimney, red velvet, and the moon in the clouds”, whatsoever.
       There’s a truth in their simple answers——there is something in the beautiful essence of the universe that is expressed. However, we failed to see those romances in the commonplace simply because the thinking habit autonomously confines the eyes to the annoyance in the colorful world; because we habitually take, such as the negative feeling that everything is going to turn out badly, or that other people are getting what they do not deserve and we are failing to get what we do deserve; also because we habitually saturate the conscious ness with feelings of resentment, ill will, and hate. That is to say, a very large proportion of the unhappiness of the average individual is self-manufactured!
       It is a pity, for there are so many problems created by life itself that dilute our happiness that it is indeed most foolish to distill further unhappiness within our own mind. How unwise to manufacture personal unhappiness to add all the other difficulties over which we have to take great efforts to control. It’s time for us to bring an end to that process.
       In determining to do that, we should first abjure the underhand manipulator of this process —— the negative thinking habit. The word habit here implies that since we can cultivate a habit, we therefore surely have the power and possibility to create our own happiness! Here comes the part I appreciate most in the whole book. The wonderful notion and effective ways to cultivate a merry thinking habit! I prefer to share them and rather than comment on them, because when my reading came to that part, I had already been totally convinced by the notion of the book and simply follow the instructions listed there. Of course, it works well on me!
       The way to happiness is simply to keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, and give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised!
       As you read these words you may say, “There is nothing new in that.” Indeed, there is something new in it if you have never tried it. When you start to practice it you will find it newest, freshest, most astonishing method of happy and successful living you have ever used. What is the value of having known these principles all your life if you have never made use of them? In order to give power to these principles of happiness and make them work it is necessary to support them with a dynamic quality of mind. You are not likely to secure effective results even with spiritual principles without spiritual power. When one experiences a dynamic spiritual change inwardly, success with happiness-producing ideas becomes extraordinarily easy. If you begin to use spiritual principles, however awkwardly, you will gradually experience spiritual power inwardly. The greatest surge of happiness you have ever known will follow!
       That is the secret of happiness revealed by the wonderful book “the power of positive thinking”. I am most thankful to the thoughtful book, to the romantic world, and to great spiritual power we human beings are endowed with. I believe I will enjoy the beautiful essence of the universe ; will not miss the happiness whatever I do in my life, for this is it!

In the first article “trading cricket for jihad”, the author claims that the conflicts between the jihadists and the West is a conflict within the modern, globalized world and the extremists are the sort of utopian rebels modern societies have long produced. To justify his assertion, he cites the data showing that the jihadists are by and large drawn from the ranks of the educated, the mobile and the multilingual.  He also demonstrate us a particular picture in popular culture, in which the new definition of the enemy has been onto stage. The assertion sounds original and plausible, however, a close scrutiny provokes my thinking.

First of all, the author assumes that the jihadists are modern psychologically as well as demographically, based on statistics showing that about 75 percent of anti-western terrorists come from middle-class or upper-middle-class homes and that 65 percent have gone to college and three quarters have professional or semi-professional jobs, particularly in engineering and science. However, the author fails to substantiate his assumption at all. In fact, it is all very well to call them modern in terms of demography for their socioeconomic status allows them to lead a modern life. Still there’s no evidence showing that they also share a modern mentality as the Americans, Europeans, etc. what’s more, here comes the crucial question which involves the definition of the phrase “psychologically modern”. Is it some kind of mentality characteristic of democracy, freedom, humanity—— some core ideas of the Enlightenment of the west? Or rather, it is simply something like pragmaticism and moneyism which widely broadcast around the whole world? However, here comes the point! First, neither of the two definitions can convince me that the jihadists should be entitled that term. Second, even though they were really psychologically modern, this fact it self will refute any motive leading to jihad, which is incompatible with either pragmaticism or democracy, humility, etd.

Second, the author points out that the jihadists have sought some utopian cause to give themselves an identity and their lives meaning. To justify this assertion, the author exploits the rhetoric power by claiming that the jihadists refuse to defer to custom, reject their parents’ bourgeois striving and moderate versions of islam, and their comfortable lives. However, the author fails to provide any substantial evidence to substantiate his assumption. They fight for the jihad, regardless of any expense, even the most valuable life, for the only reason to seek a cause which would give themselves an identity and their lives meaning.? In my opinion, this reason does not suffice at all to account for their radical behaviors. So here comes the most important question—— whatever are they fighting for?

To address that issue, another definition has to be made clear. What is a jihad? Here’s the explanation from the Microsoft encyclopedia. “Jihad, in Islam, the struggle to please God. Jihad is the duty of all mainstream Muslims, who belong to the branch known as Sunni Islam. There are four ways they may fulfill a jihad: by the heart, by the tongue, by the hand, and by the sword. The first refers to the inner, spiritual battle of the heart against vice, passion, and ignorance. The second way means speaking the truth and spreading the word of Islam with one's tongue. The third way involves choosing to do what is right and to combat injustice and what is wrong with action, or one's hand. The fourth way refers to defending Islam and waging war against its enemies with the sword.” The point is faith! In fact, almost all the jihadists believe that those who die in this type of jihad, while fighting for the faith, automatically become martyrs and are awarded a special place in heaven. Since they are educated, as the data shows, so they are faithful and earnest. They are committed to their country, their people, and the holy cause to fight against the powerful west which has been a symbol of injustice in the eyes of Islamic people!

Taking all the above points into consideration, I highly appreciate the comparison by the French scholar Olivier Roy. The communists and the jihadists just share the most important and valuable thing, which makes them devoted to their holy cause. That is faith!

2005-9-18

“Peace and war” has been a universal issue. It is widely acknowledged that peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. On the other hand,  we do have to admit that war may sometimes be a necessary evil. However, no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Taking all these into consideration, my position about peace and war is controversial to some extent.

In the first article, the author points out that the Iraq war is doomed even though the president Bush is quite reluctant to admit the result. To support his conclusions, he cites supporting poll results and recent political events such as the rightwing pundit crackup, the speeches given by Mr. Bush, his acolytes and his political rivals also. I agree with the speaker’s assertion on the whole and especially appreciate one of his standpoint that “just as politics are a bad motive for choosing a war, so they can be a doomed engine for running a war”, out of the following considerations. On one hand, far more value has been laid on the human right than ever, on the other hand, modern political idea and correlative societal mechanism such as democracy has been so developed, therefore, it is highly dangerous for anyone to provoke a war in contemporary times. For supporting example, one need look no further than the antiwar movement all over the world and the reconciliation proceedings in the Europe and peninsula Korea. The other consideration is concerned about the globalization. As the world is more and more closely connected with each other, it is far better for any member to cooperate rather than to fight against.  just look at the self-suicide explosion, just look at the aftermath of the nuclear bombing in Japan. Wherever is war, there is uncountable wounds and deaths. Unless in some extreme case, such as to stop the slaughter in Somalia in 1994, there is never enough justification to initiate a war instead of developing economy, technology, education, and in the end, the quality of all human being’s lives.

In the second article the speaker claims that the situation in today’s Gaza will be what’s going on in tomorrow’s Iraq. To support his standpoint, he compares America and Israel, the Arab and the Iraqi people, in terms of ideology, mentality, cultures, political systems, and present situations, etc.. I quite agree with the author’s opinion, concerning that to impose entire different political ideas, system to an old people is quite an unwise action, doomed to failure from the very beginning. Paradigms as the Yuan and Qing Dynasty in the ancient china come immediately into my mind. The emperor of Yuan dynasty wanted to convert all the Chinese to the Mongolian ethos and customs, but they soon failed at the expense of the fall of the whole royal family. By contrast, emperors of Qing Dynasty take the predecessor’s lessons seriously and they learned the culture of the Han people carefully and they brought prosperity to the whole nation and secure their throne at the same time. Instead of trying to convert, they themselves were converted to Confucianism in the end.

In the third article, the speaker preaches reconciliation between China and Japan. In fact, I don’t have much to say about that issue for I always questions about it. True, it is important to develop economy, and it is not necessary to make ourselves weighed down by history. Still, the spirit of the whole people is also critical to the development of the Chinese people, isn’t it? So what should we do?

In the end, I will quote the words from Woodrom Wilson to end my journal. The world must be safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon trusted foundations of political liberty.