Great article! It’s very pertinent. When I was back in D.C. I got the chance to talk to a senior analyst from the State Department, he’d been an ambassador to China and gotten to know the people and system well. He suggested learning Chinese, as he believes China will soon become a force to be reckoned with. When I asked if China would become a military threat, he didn’t think they would for at least fifty years. Why? Apparently, the government is having enough trouble settling everything in its own borders and with Taiwan to look much farther. However, he firmly believes that will not long be the case. On a more sober note, he said you never see any handicapped children in China. I was naïve enough to ask why, I wish I hadn't. Their government is not very tolerant.
Elizabeth Pearson | 08.26.05 - 6:27 pm | #

Hey,
That was a great article! Why do you think our generation is so lazy? Do you think technology has a part to play in the reason teens are so lazy? For example I know some kids that all they do is sit and play game systems or computers or talk on their cell phones. I mean i know technology can be helpful, but do think it is more harmful than it is helpful?
In Christ,
Lauren
Lauren Hammerstrom | 08.26.05 - 8:42 pm | #

Elizabeth: I was just at the grocery store and saw this statistic in Reader's Digest: 22,000 American language students are studying Mandarin. 220,000,000 Chinese are learning English.

Also, I'd hope that the analyst from the state department is right, however, if China attempts anything militarily against Taiwan, America has promised to aid the Taiwanese.

Regarding your last point, it is so distressing the lengths that nations will go in order to be "stronger." We must pray for China and about China.

Lauren: Technology has been abused. Not only by the people using it but by the people that develop and market it.

However, we can't expect the developers to stop developing. They've found a market where people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for what they make. No, the change needs to start with the consumers.

I'm not saying computer games and cell phones are bad, but they are hardly ever used in moderation, at least by young people.

My message to them would be, "read a book!"

I'm sure I'll have an article out about this soon.
Brett Harris | Homepage | 08.26.05 - 9:45 pm | #

Brett, I congratulate you. It takes some guts to revise and repost your own material.

Chinese high-schoolers talk or txt on cell phones during class, and play computer games at the local internet cafe, too. Although in some ways I to say this, what high rate of progress there is seems to be due to a cultural value.

But I must counterbalance that with a Chesterton quote:

"When modern sociologists talk of the necessity of accommodating one’s self to the trend of the time, they forget that the trend of the time at its best
consists entirely of people who will not accommodate themselves to anything. At its worst it consists
of many millions of frightened creatures all accommodating themselves to a trend that is not there."

This means that it is our choice whether to follow societal values or create them.
Nathan Straub | Homepage | 08.27.05 - 8:31 am | #

It sounds like you are equating Australia with a third world country when in fact we have the exact same problem as you- all our work is going to china, inda and whoever else. 10 years ago we were on the same plane as the US. It is called globalization.
Samantha | Homepage | 11.19.05 - 5:50 pm | #