HALF A MILLIONAIRE

During his tour of Europe, President Obama pledged to a large crowd in Prague that America would work together with Russia to reduce its nuclear arsenal, and the speech won him the Nobel Peace prize. The goal is to cut nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012. On November 25, 2009, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, at the opposite end, vowed to enrich more uranium and continue to pursue his nuclear ambition. Why doesn’t Iran feel safe even though America is signaling to the world that she desires peace?

Let us look at the number one more time. By 2012, we will “only” have about 2,200 nuclear warheads (not including the unlisted or concealed weapons!). That is not a lot (!). In my opinion, the denuclearization plan between the U.S. and Russia is meaningless because it does not guarantee peace. Even if all nations agree to completely rid this world of nuclear weapons, America still has thousands of tanks, planes, submarines and other bombs. America is still in control. And, this is the reason why Iran and other weaker nations want to have nuclear weapons. They fully understand that they will never be able to match up directly with America. Therefore, they just want to have enough nuclear warheads to protect themselves. Let us use Iran as an example. Ahmadinejad knows that he is being cornered by the international community because Russia is no longer on his side. Tactically, Iran is surrounded by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He knows that if he makes one wrong move that gives the U.S. a reason to attack, the game will be over. He has to continue playing the “delay” card because he knows the U.N. is nothing but a theatrical show. He is also letting the U.S. know that “if you attack me, I will retaliate on your friend, Israel.” The questions are: Did President Obama really mean “peace” when he announced America’s nuclear reduction plan? Or, did he do it to gain Russia’s favor and to further isolate Iran?

In my honest opinion, it is hypocritical of us to try to convince others to stop pursuing nuclear capability when we, Americans, never stop developing new weaponry. On the contrary, I suggest that we should allow everyone to have nuclear weapons because when we all have them, we will never have the courage to use them on each other. Perhaps, we will appreciate each other more, and we will learn to live together. I know that it does not sound right, but I don’t think we have a choice because I know that we are selfish creatures. Although self-preservation is the force that pushes our species forward, but it can also destroy us when we are unable to celebrate our differences. In conclusion, with or without nuclear weapons, we can “never” rid this world of “wars” because we are depleting our planet’s natural resources. And, eventually and sadly, we will kill each other to survive. Homo sapiens, the ugliest living things ever walk the earth.

In college, I had three roommates. We shared a studio-loft apartment. We put two standard bunk beds in the upstair loft, and we used the downstair studio for studying. They often went home during weekends because their parents lived in nearby cities. Sometimes, they teased me by demanding that I should pay higher rent because I used the unit more than they did. One weekend, I had the flu. I was very tired, so I immediately went to bed after having taken some Theraflu. I woke up on Saturday and felt better symptomatically, but I knew that I was still sick. Without an appetite, I stumbled to the kitchen and filled up my stomach with a bowl of instant noodles and went back to bed. I woke up and fell back to sleep several times without eating anything because I was too weak to get out of bed. When I saw sunlight again, I knew that it was Sunday. I allowed my lifeless body to slide off the top bed and onto the floor. I began to crawl down the stairs. As I was lying on the floor of the studio, the front door opened. Vince, one of my roommates, came back to campus early because he wanted to catch up with his reading assignments. I told him that I was hungry and asked him to make a glass of milk for me by mixing condensed milk with boiled water. He did. A couple of weeks later, I recovered fully. And, a decade later, I am still talking about my friend.

The foundation of our society is individualism. Each of us has the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We have the freedom to express our own individuality. We have conservatives and liberals. We have the rich and the poor. I will never trade our system for anything because it is an accurate representation of life. Only through struggles and competition we can grow and improve. Personally, I believe that the purpose of my life is to fight and thrive because I do not want to waste the chance that America has given me. In other words, I do not want to lose. And, unfortunately, in this fight, there is no tie. Some complain that the system is unfair. Some gripe about being born at the bottom of chain. And, perhaps, there is some truth in these cries. However, life is more interesting when we accept its challenges. We shall not rely on the government to solve our problems for us because it cannot even take care of itself.

As of July 4th, 2009, our national debt is approximately $11.4 trillions (U.S. National Debt Clock). Many financial experts argue that it is not a big problem because we are still capable of paying the annual interest of about $450 billions. We scold our uninformed Americans for taking out interest-only mortgages, but we have been allowing the Federal government to do it for more than two centuries. Personally, I don’t think the politicians know how to solve the problem because it has ballooned so quickly. And, none of “the patriots” is willing to take a political risk. Tomorrow, President Obama will whisper sweet birthday-wishing words into our Mother’s ears. He will retell us the stories about how our great founding fathers defeated a powerful king 233 years ago and how we freed slaves. And, we will applaud with our wrists and ankles shackled by debts.

Tomorrow, I will celebrate the 4th of July with my family because to me it symbolizes freedom. I am free to express my individuality. I am free to take care of myself first. However, besides freedom, individualism requires compassion to flourish. I do not want to credit our founding fathers for having created one of the most compassionate country in the world, but it seems that they did everything right. They did not ask us to be compassionate. They only gave us freedom, and, somehow, when we all strive to search for our own “individuals”, and when we truly understand the meaning of individualism, we automatically become a compassionate people. Perhaps, during the fight to become who we are, we discover the tasteful fruit of compassion. Personally, I think that individualism has pushed me to become more compassionate. For example, I want to help others understand the meaning of individualism, too. It is not selfishness. It is self-improvement. When one is independent, one feels empowered. And, when one is powerful, one will offer others “a glass of hot milk”.