就是負責...這麼簡單而已
最近的台美中三地的新聞不只是壞消息, 而且多是令人沮喪又憤怒的壞事, 從把國務當做他家的家務在打理的腐敗政客, 到過度消費入不敷出所致的經濟危機, 再到草菅人命唯利是圖的政商....等等, 身為市井小民, 面對這瘋狂又似乎無法無天的世界, 你能不憤怒?
說穿了, 就是負不負責, 這麼簡單的道理而以, 孩子都懂. 我們幾乎每個人在年少時, 都會被教導要分清是非黑白, 要負責任. 很少會有父母對孩子的諄諄教誨與期望會是"黑白不用分, 做壞人最棒." 那麼問題到底出在哪裡? 為什麼沒有人願意做負責任的人了? 而是出事了都是別人的錯!
每個人守本分盡責, 這麼簡單而已, 守本負責, 仰不愧天, 俯不怍于人, 這樣的情操信仰亡矣否?
許多人選擇不固本分逃避己責, 以為如此做, 可聰明地避免束縛, 偷得快樂自由. 邪惡從來不會帶來幸福的, 撒旦的伎倆之一就是讓我們覺得不負責任逃避良知是很容易的, 因為就是拍拍屁股走人嘛, 而負責任有良知是很困難很多後果麻煩的. 一定要認清這個混亂心情感覺的詭計, 個人責任(personal accountability)的良知美德, 才會讓我們避免被罪惡的重軛套住, 獲的真正的自由平安與幸福.
改變世界, 從改變自己做起, 壞人壞事還是很多, 但是我相信我們不該懼怕人比懼怕神更多, 如果每位好男好女願意試驗"個人榜樣"所能帶來的巨大改變力量, 不負責任的人事就會開始鼠遁, 我們孩子的明天會更好更穩定.
That day, daddy decided to track down where my "poofing process" is . Because I wiggles all the time, he usually hold me and weight us both and then eliminate his weight to get my weight.
"Monster, are you ready for this?" "Don't tell me, dad!"
"Oh, man, I can't believe my eyes..(daddy was stunned)" ".........(no words from Squarky)"
"57 pounds! son! What happened??" "57? Is that the total number of birds and rabbits I had ate? (pretend dummy)"
"Son, what are we going to do with this 57-pound?!" "I am innocent! ...It poofs! I can't stop it! (pretend "baby" immdediately)
"Mommy, since I've reached another milestone, can I have some biscuit?"
Hi, mommy can you see me? I am all yours. What's next? Bring it on! 哈囉! 馬麻..你有看見我嗎? 我整隻都是你的了, 接下來的節目咧? 儘管放馬過來吧~
Mommy apparently doesn't like my "bring it on" challenge. She said I am pretty close to fire her up to make a stew out of me. Oh.... got'ya, mom....顯然, 馬麻不喜歡我那個"放馬"的挑戰, 她說我再提放馬一事, 她今晚就來燉現宰飄香肉了, ㄡ噢....瞭解了, 馬麻...(改變低調中..)
How about this then, mommy? Can you stew such a cute thing? 太低調實在太悶, 那這樣呢? 馬麻... 你忍心磨刀霍霍烹煮這樣的小古錐嗎? 
"Mom, where are you going?" "Monster, you stay home and be good. Mommy is going to Yuyuan Garden (豫園)."
"Whaa.......aaat? It's not fair. I don't like this idea..."
The Huangpu river (黃浦江) divides Shanghai into west area (浦西 "Puxi") and east area (浦東 "Pudong"). Puxi was developed ealier and it is Shanghai's cultural, populational and commercial center. Pudong was much later developed in 1990 and was designated as the center of finance and economy of Shanghai. We live in Pudong. The ways we go across river to the Puxi side are either by car, by Metro or by ferry. Today, I decided to take ferry. The picture shows the entry of the ferry. The red colored sign on the wall is one of the funny propaganda signs going crazily around the city. In earlier time, these signs were primarily promoting for the Olympic and now they are all about the World Expo coming to Shanghai in 2010 . This one says: "Discerning honor and dishonor, behaving civilized, preparing for World Expo"(知榮辱, 講文明, 迎世博).
Our air-conditioned ferry was coming to get us. The ticket is RMB2 - half of the RMB4 Metro ticket.
When our ferry crossing the river, my camera caught the other ferry which is non-air-conditioned and costs RMB1.5.
The multimillion dollar condominiums and super skycrapers on Pudong side.
The ferry arrives on the Jingling East Road ferry stop (金陵東路站) on the Bund (外灘). I then strolled toward Yuyuan Garden. It takes about 15 minutes. On the way, I saw this street vendor selling freshly sliced fruit on the stick which is commonly seen on the street around the city. I always feel temptated to buy one (who would say no to a big piece of jucy freshly cut watermelon on such steaming day?). But, I never dare to try - sorry, the hygiene standard is a little bit "offbeat" to me .
After walking through this Gucheng Park (古城公園), Yuyuan Garden would be right in front of your eyes! But wait a second, did I see someone in PJ hanging out during this bright daytime? Yes, this is for real! PJ-fashion is very Shanghai-ish. The lady on the left in the picture was not crazy. She was just doing what the locals do - wearing PJ as a normal street outfit. I don't know how long it will take until I get used to seeing this. Tim has suggested that we should try this once for fun before we leave Shanghai. Hahaha!
I've been to Yuyuan Garden many times. So I decided to explore some of the small alleys around today. This is a easy way to be closer to the pace of the locals' daily life - outdoor sewing/mending stall and barber shop, people only wore underwear washing their hair in the sink in front of their house, and, of course, I didn't miss the free PJ-fashion show in the neighborhoods....these local neighborhoods were fun to see!
In spite of skyscrapers mushrooming everywhere and that China has been working hard to build/ rebuild everything new, I somehow feel the chaotic old Shanghai breathes out more its own charisma and is more real. I don't say that I prefer the old Shanghai than the new one. I enjoy both of them. It's just that the old world seems to be more genuine and humorous.
The picture shows what I had for my lunch - a steamed veggie-pork bun (菜肉大包), a tofu glass noodle (green bean noodle) soup (油豆腐細粉) and braised sliced beef shank (滷牛腱).
Here is where I had lunch - my number one favorite light Chinese meal place - Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰豐). Talking about this awsome place, Ding Tai Fung, my heart would be filled with pride because it is a Taiwanese-owned restaurant that became so successful that the New York Times rated it as one of the top ten gourmet restaurant in the world. The founder Mr. Yang was born in China in the year of 1927. He fled to Taiwan in the year of 1948 to leave the Civil-War-torn China. Reading its legend, I realized that the story was part of sad modern Chinese history and the food speaks for long-lasting beautiful Chinese culture beyond politcs and human-errors. I like the way that Ding Tai Fung has refined and sublimed the type of Chinese food it serves. And I feel this is the direction that Chinese culture should strive to go toward in modern era. Japan is a good example. Many parts of Japanese culture were originally influenced by ancient Chinese culture. However, Japan has been continuing to refine their culture through generations. In the process, they brought out the best essence of Japanese culture, their own cultural identify gradually surfaced to show the way. It has led its culture to where it is today - well loved, honored and preserved by Japanese people. Anyway, more about Ding Tai Fung, you can read 
I want to show you something nteresting. You can see a a religious wall-mounted shrine in the above right picture. Many Taiwanese business like to put a shrine similar to that in their business place (like restaurant or even luxury hotels) and use it to worship "Guan Yu" or "Duke Guan (關羽或關公). Guan Yu who was believed to be born around 160AD was a General in the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of ancient China. His real-life character was a little bit controversial. However. he was widely fictionalized as a valiant steadfast character in ancient Chinese literature and folk tales. Because of that, many people worship him, especially business people, because they believe that Guan Yu can protect them and make their business prosperous. Something special about him is that he holds status in Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism and is jointly worshipped by these three major religions in Chinese culture. This makes me think of anohter comparison character - Abraham. Abraham appeared in Jewish, Christain and Muslim. He was regarded as a holy patriarchal role in all these three religions.
Before heading home, I hit a dessert place called "Honeymoon Dessert" (香港滿記甜品) to enjoy some Hong Kong style dessert. I had soy bean milk jelly(pudding) with mango puree and mango (芒果豆腐花). This kind of Asian dessert is something I missed a lot when I was in the US.
There was another PJ fashion show I was able to catch before I headed home.
Moon Festival falls on August 15th of the Chinese Lunar Calendar (the Farmer's calendar). This Festival originated from ancient China dated back 3000 years ago. Its tradition and custom has spread to several countries/ cultures in Asia. Many of these areas has made it as a public holiday like what China and Taiwan did. Moon Festival is also the second most important holiday in Chinese Calendar (the number one of course is the Chinese New Year) in China (and also in Taiwan). On this day, families traditionally get together to eat moon cake and pomelos outside under the moon and enjoy bright, harvest full moon. Same as Chinese New Year, Moon Festival is the time for family reunion. There is a Chinese proverb says :月圓人團圓 (it means :Family reunite when full moon). The round shape of the full moon symbolize "reunion". Pomelo is a fruit similar to grapefruit but it's much larger. Pomelo is harvest during the Moon festival time. As a kid, I remembered we liked to put the peeled pemelos' rind on top of our head as a hat for fun. You can see how pomelo looks like here 
(crunchy hot home-made Milk Bone right off the oven!) 
