on children
they will not have tvs, but they will have movie projectors, video games, and a beautiful library of books. they will have freedom and endless opportunities for travel, for activities, for beauty. but they will learn passion, hard work, and how to contribute to society. they will never have the thought of an inheritance.
criticize little and carefully. if they do not learn, it is the teacher who failed to teach correctly. if they are stupid, it is the parents who gave them stupidity.
if he is shy, find him a small school and teachers that will give him a voice.
on travel
by the time i had reached shanghai, i was on the verge of nausea from the constant traveling. my stay in london and paris was lovely, but the frivolity of my existence sickened me. i had become too greedy and dissatisfied with my experience. it was not enough to visit a city's museums, tourist sights, clubs, famous restaurants, and art shops. i desired foremost to possess places, possession which requires that i know its streets subconsciously; eat home-cooked local food; greet my neighborhood cafe owners, bookshop owners, grocers like clockwork; watch comedies on tv; and live boringly in that city.
instead, i felt like an outsider, a robber of that city's treasures, an instagram photo collector, an ignoramus with no sense of history, politics, and culture. i felt myself awing over sculptures that locals must yawn over. i take pictures of blue skies that others do not even glance at. some moments, i wonder what beauty back home i must have scoffed back, what treasures i simply walked past. i felt reprimanded and wanted to apologize. i realized a duty, in spite of my shyness, to talk to locals.
i suppose it was a humbling experience.
on money
in the matter of spending money, one should be stingy with oneself but not with others. giving joyfully without hope of gains is a wonderful learned habit.
on parents
you will become like your parents one day, so learn to love them even if they are not lovable. but as a parent you have a choice. you may go along with your learned instincts, and act out your parent's faults. or you may choose another way, and save your children some unnecessary grief.
they will not have tvs, but they will have movie projectors, video games, and a beautiful library of books. they will have freedom and endless opportunities for travel, for activities, for beauty. but they will learn passion, hard work, and how to contribute to society. they will never have the thought of an inheritance.
criticize little and carefully. if they do not learn, it is the teacher who failed to teach correctly. if they are stupid, it is the parents who gave them stupidity.
if he is shy, find him a small school and teachers that will give him a voice.
on travel
by the time i had reached shanghai, i was on the verge of nausea from the constant traveling. my stay in london and paris was lovely, but the frivolity of my existence sickened me. i had become too greedy and dissatisfied with my experience. it was not enough to visit a city's museums, tourist sights, clubs, famous restaurants, and art shops. i desired foremost to possess places, possession which requires that i know its streets subconsciously; eat home-cooked local food; greet my neighborhood cafe owners, bookshop owners, grocers like clockwork; watch comedies on tv; and live boringly in that city.
instead, i felt like an outsider, a robber of that city's treasures, an instagram photo collector, an ignoramus with no sense of history, politics, and culture. i felt myself awing over sculptures that locals must yawn over. i take pictures of blue skies that others do not even glance at. some moments, i wonder what beauty back home i must have scoffed back, what treasures i simply walked past. i felt reprimanded and wanted to apologize. i realized a duty, in spite of my shyness, to talk to locals.
i suppose it was a humbling experience.
on money
in the matter of spending money, one should be stingy with oneself but not with others. giving joyfully without hope of gains is a wonderful learned habit.
on parents
you will become like your parents one day, so learn to love them even if they are not lovable. but as a parent you have a choice. you may go along with your learned instincts, and act out your parent's faults. or you may choose another way, and save your children some unnecessary grief.
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