Class-pirational

I cook, and I eat kale, granola, and Greek yogurt, and drink craft beer.

I pay money to go on runs that can be hours long just for the hell of it.

I attend an Ivy League school, and before that the world's leading public university.

I listen to podcasts and read the NYT, the Atlantic, the Economist, and NPR.

I traveled to over a dozen countries and lived in some of them long term.

I invest towards retirement.

I have parents who have been married for some 30 years.

I have insensitively used words that mock the homeless.

I don't carry cash so that I have a reason for not giving people money on the street.

I feel good about the $3 I've "donated" through my Amazon purchases.

I purposely avoid walking by people canvassing for a cause on the street.

I make the excuse that I'm too busy to volunteer anymore.

I have used my position of power as an expat to enjoy frivolous spending.

I am a member of the "aspirational" class.

I was born into undue privilege.

I have advantages I neither earned nor deserve.

I want the world to be a fair and equitable place.

I am afraid of what the implications of truly believing in this are.

I am afraid of what I'll lose, now and in the future, to achieve that.

I don't know where to start.

But I will figure out how.

Comments

Chinese Chess - Cờ Tướng - 象棋

The latest interest I've taken in my quest to learn more about my Vietnamese heritage is the game of Chinese chess. It is a bit ironic to look for Vietnamese culture in a game that has the word "Chinese" in its name, but I found that it is only so for the sake of translation. I have taken to this game for a number of reasons. 1. The game has cool historical references that have survived even today. Let's start with the board itself. Unlike a chess board, which is played on the squares, Chinese chess is played on the intersections of lines. What is most recognizably different from normal chess boards, however, is the large gap in the middle of the board as well as the lines that form an "x" on opposites sides of the board. The square that contains the "x" is known as the "fortress," or 宮(gōng ) in Chinese. The center divider is the river where s ome Chinese words are visible. The words on the left say, 楚河 (chǔ hé ) , mean...

As a person who's done a fair amount of traveling, I couldn't agree more with this:

Paradise Falls wouldn't even hold a candle to this place.

Waiting and Waiting

March 1st. Now every day for the next two weeks will be agonizing torture. Have I been accepted? Have I been rejected? Will my career advance? Will I be right back where I was this time last year? I've been told to be patient, keep my head up, to not worry about things that aren't in my control. That's tough going, but I'm trying. How apt, then, that I'd come across this quote again: “I wanted you to see what real courage is...It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” I thought my chances were small in the beginning, but I did see it through. Now back to waiting to see if this time is my "sometime."

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