My China Kanfa.....China on My Mind

I can’t compete. It’s as simple as that. The veracity, the nerve, the focus and long term planning of the local Chinese population is beyond both my energy and will to succeed. And I’m talking about getting my kids into college. As I’ve said before, the days of my youth aren’t coming back.   They are gone forever.     Sports before school.    Sports after school.   A few hours of TV.   Cruising the neighborhood on my bike.   An Idyllic childhood my children will never know.   Replaced by classes that start daily at 7am and Friday night tutoring, finished off with SAT Math on Sundays and a cherry on top. Here in America we just wrapped up a major holiday.    And both of my kids were studying.    Every subject, everyday.    Nevermind that overused phrase no rest for the weary.    Rather it’s no rest for the kids that simply want to keep up.    No rest for those...

I’ve gone off on a bit of a rant lately, all because I’ve found how hard it is to get my dad a place within a proper retirement home.   It’s sort of shocked me.    Wait lists, coupled with standing in line behind foreigners who just got here, has indeed sort of opened my eyes to this whole crazy competition for the basic right of shelter and comfort in ones twilight.     It’s taught me that really at the end of the day, one can indeed have a natural birthright to social services, as long as you understand you gotta stand in line with everyone else. So I’m done talking about Natural Rights.     While the right of all Mankind, the possession of such may not be the best thing for a Society.   Some cultures cannot handle the ability to express themselves freely, without severe limitation.   (Can a man suddenly freed from a long prison sentence just fit into society?) More Harm than Good would result.   You get the picture. ...

I’ve somehow spoken a lot about “natural rights” over the last couple of posts.    It wasn’t planned.   It wasn’t orchestrated.   It just came to be.    Having to find affordable assisted living for my father coupled with the same interest my Chinese inlaws have of a similar setup has opened my eyes.   As such, I’ve seen more than I wanted to see, and come to conclusions naturally of their own being.   In one sense having Chinese come to this country (and yours) and taking advantage of the social web of services that we have to offer is only the right and civilized thing to do.   Of that there can be no question.   But no one ever considered that a whole class of folk would come “just to obtain” that service.    As a result, a large swath of people who already live here, are from here, thus do not get the “access” that many perhaps consider a birthright. “Sorry, I know you were born and raised here, but that fellow...