What are the most valuable life strategies essential for survival and resilience? What are the most common traits shared by successful athletes and CEOs? More importantly, what are the virtues most important in living the good life?
Across the land, away from the spotlight, a different kind of suffering goes on unnoticed – in homes, workplaces, schools, and universities. I am talking about intentional cruelty against other human beings, such as physical and emotional abuse, bullying, oppression and exploitation.
There is a tragic ring to the term self-sacrifice. It conjures up images of Christ crucified, soldiers killed on battle fields or suicide-bombers blown to pieces along with their innocent victims. How can self-sacrifice be positive? Is self-sacrifice the highest expression of virtue or the worst form of human folly? Who benefits from self-obliteration? How can one reconcile self-sacrifice with self-actualization? During my recent trip to Hong Kong and China, I began to gain some insight to these puzzling questions.
Human achievements cannot be measured simply in terms of wealth, power or fame. Such accomplishments belong to a small group of elites who are blessed with special talents and good fortunes. Basking in the glory of success and wielding immense influence, they are idolized, envied or feared, but not trusted.
But the New Orleans I knew isn’t there any more. It is hard to cling to good memories, when harsh reality pummels you like angry waves. Now, the motto of New Orleans “Let the good times roll” seems so distant and so incongruent with the horrors that are still unfolding before our eyes.
Disturbing and grotesque images of children dying of starvation on the evening news seem surreal in our comfortable living rooms. These tiny children look more like skeletons wrapped in black skins. Too weak to move and too tired to protest, they let the black flies feed on their listless faces.
Life could change for the better, when it is lived on a higher plane. Visualize yourself at the bottom of a grimy pit. If you look down, all you can see is muddy ground. But the moment you lift up your eyes towards the sky, your world suddenly opens up and brightens with new possibilities. A perspective shift can dramatically transform your view of life.
We all have experienced complex and difficult situations, which baffle the mind and defy rational solutions. All the scientific knowledge and technology in the world are of little help in the face of an urgent but ill-defined problem. Even the well-established principles in psychology and ethics fail to show us the right path.
As a social institution, family matters for the individual as well as the nation. It is frightening to realize that as the family goes, so goes the civilization. We really need to take stock and find out where our families are heading.
Play is essential to a child’s learning and well-being; it is also a child’s full-time occupation. Life is a continuous flow, interrupted only by sleep and parental intrusions. What an exuberant display of energy and joy. There is no agenda, no ulterior motive, just the sheer pleasure of fun and games.
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