A list of essays released in 2003

Sovereignty of Diaoyu Islands

Chinese and Japanese governments have claimed that Diaoyu Islands are part of their respective terrorities of jurisdiction.

Both have given their reasons. Apparently, both of them have claimed that, long before now, their ancestors occupied and lived in Diaoyu Islands and, therefore, they (either the Chinese or the Japanese) have the right of sovereignty over the territories.

According to their reasoning, in my opinion, Diaoyu Islands perhaps belong to sea eagles, ants, palm trees or whatever. An ancestor of either of them could be the first being who occupied and lived in Diaoyu Islands.

Follow the same reasoning, obviously, the American continent, for an example, does not belong to whites, at least compared with the natives who lived there for generations after generations before the whites arrived.

Nor the natives, so to speak, have had the right to transfer the right of occupation to others because their own right of occupation has yet to be proved.

Perhaps a rock being is the first one who settled in America.

A war without an end

Long ago Amercians fought against Vietnamese. They have seemed to recover from the war and receive little revenge from Vietnamese. From the perspective of extensive bombing Vietnamese soils, this appears to be rather unreasonable.

Vietnamese soils were damaged severely and one would expect generations of Vietnamese people would reverse the action on their counterpart. But little has happened after the war.

Why? Because Americans paid their price during the war in terms of Amercian lives. Apart from heavy bombing, there were also real combat.

But a similar situation did not occur in Iraq. With technological advancement Americans seized the country easily. Not even they themselves know exactly the damage done to Iraqi soils and people. It is enormous. Some Iraqis died during the war. Some have suffered and will eventually die because their soils were poisoned by bombing.

Would Iraqis enjoy their peaceful days with Amerciancs who station on their soils? To those who have benefited by co-operating with Americans the answer is positive.

However, sons and brothers and fathers of those Iraqis who were killed or wounded will certainly struggle to their best effort. How many? It could be large enough to fight the war for an indefinte period of time.

Price increase during deflation

Many countries are experiencing economic recession. Some are going to face it soon. In most cases deflation is a general phenomenon.

There are chained supermarkets quietly raise the prices of some of their commodities. A general tactic they employ is to offer the commodities for sale for a short period immediately after the increase in prices.

On the other hand, there is a reduction in the costs of those commodities because of the deflation. They pay less to the suppliers. Their operating costs are reduced too.

Thus it is apparent that these chained supermarkets maximize their profits in an unethical manner. They are able to do so because they have major market shares.

As a customer, one can do very little about it.

But one can just simply choose not to visit their sale outlets.

Atypical pneumonia

Atypical pneumonia is the first gift virus beings present to human beings in the twenty-first century.

Here are two predictions.

Having been termed as viruses they certainly possess the general characteristics of their families. They attack human beings in an impartial way. If the possession of money is a yardstick in grouping human beings into different kinds, they attack the poor more at the very first beginning because the rich are in a better position to protect themselves by taking preventive measures. But they will transform and sooner or latter attack the rich and the poor in a similar manner.

The main point of attack is Asia. However, focus will be shifted, perhaps gradually, to America. Viruses come to compensate for unfairness created by human beings. In recent, say, five decades, it mainly originates from America.

Visas

Once they gain power a ruling group has to demonstrate their extraordinary position in many different ways.

A permission to enter their territory is a main measure. In human civilization, this permission is termed as a visa.

Thus a visa is required for a human being, sometimes for other beings too, to travel from one location to another.

But, funny enough, there are occasions that visas are required whereas in some cases otherwise.

It appears that visas are required for those residing in lands of weak military force but, in many instances, they are simply stated to be not needed for those with strong military support.

No ruling groups of weak military force appear to admit that their power is in fact of inferior quality. But they certainly will do something to improve the situation.

Perhaps it is wise to sit back and watch what eventually happens.

Iraqi soils

Americans imposed another war on Iraqis. As widely expected, they won the war again.

The efficiency of their warplanes was far greater than most people could imagine. Thousands and thousands of bombs, of different varieties and equipped with technological precision, were pumped into Iraqi soils. Buildings on which they supported collapsed. Plants with which they worked closely demised. Other beings lived in and on them were killed or wounded, some severely and, in some cases, damage will be passed on to their next generations.

Why should they suffer?

Did they do anything wrong?

Notwithstanding their suffering, the Americans did do them a favour. They brought down buildings owned by the dictator, most of which were for luxurious purposes, thus relieving the soils of the burdon of supporting them.

Should they be grateful to the Americans?

Not exactly. The little refreshment did not compensate for the damage done to them.

They were defaced.

They were deformed.

They were decomposed.

The water working with them were badly polluted. The pollution will not fade way perhaps for tens of years in future.

Thus many other beings, including their offsprings, will suffer as they depend very much on water.

It is sad to see the hurt done to them. But, like the Vietnamese forests, the Iraqi soils will regenerate and stand on their feet again.

No entry

The roads leading to the hotel where a ruler is going to stay is blocked and permits are required to enter these roads.

This is clearly unacceptable.

These roads are built by using public money which are collected from taxpayers. They are there for the public. Any interference to this purpose should be condemned.

Perhaps those who block the roads consider that the ruler needs convenience and security. But the public need convenience and security too. The ruler does not have a priority.

From another perspective, the public have a priority. Take a furniture manufacturer as an example. He works hard everyday. He produces furniture and sells them to other people, thus enabling him to feed his family. He pays taxes.

Now, look at the ruler. He also works hard everyday but produces nothing. He is rewarded in terms of receiving public money and numerous benefits. As a matter of fact, the benefits include almost everything that he and his family need.

Strangely enough, he has a lot of money to enable him to build and maintain tens of dwelling buildings and summer houses in different parts of the earth.

He also maintains more than one family.

And he does not pay tax.

Therefore, if there is a priority to use the roads, the furniture manufacturer is one of those to enjoy.

Racing horses again

Men or women working in horse racing organizations put shoes on racing horses, much to disagreement from the horses.

They claim it to be for the protection of the horses' feet.

The fact is, if horses run according to their will, they do not need shoes at all. Why should they wear shoes in order to satisfy human selfishness?

Human beings make horses run at a speed which exceeds their limit. This is supported by the fact that, from time to time, horses die on the racing track when they are running.

Even if the majority of horses return to their stables safely they suffer from overstretching their capablility. Racing horses eventaully live a shorter life.

This situation will clearly be rectified and even reversed.

Racing horses

In many parts of the world, a majority, if not all, of horse racing organizations try to identify their horses by putting a mark, perhaps known as a brand number, on the body of each of their horses. This is absolutely unacceptable.

The process of putting a mark on any part of the body of a horse inevitably causes pain to the horse.

Why should a horse be treated like this?

She is as graceful as a human being. She has all the rights as enjoyed by a human being. She is not supposed to be imposed with pain.

Brand numbers, if they are so-called, are introduced by human beings for their purposes of easy administration, thus enabling them to maximize their profits from organizing racing activities.

Like other virtue or stupidity human beings born with, selfishness is notable. Those men or women working in horsing racing organizations do not even pay attention to the pain they impose on horses. They also demonstrate their ignorance by being unable to find a simple and acceptable way of identifying their horses.

For an example, it is possible to secure a band on a suitable part of the body of a horse without causing inconvenience and pain to her.

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A dedication to beings of all universes.