Shinerama and Carleton University

Absolutely Ridiculous!

The undergraduate student society in Carleton University has recently voted to terminate a school-wide fundraiser called Shinerama, an event where participants shine shoes, cars, etc., for other people to raise funds for the inherited and fatal disease cystic fibrosis. Leaders of the student government said that the cancellation is due to their belief that cystic fibrosis is a disease that “only affects white men” and is not “inclusive” enough as a cause that the student body should be supporting.
Before writing further, I must first state that this is very personal to me. I have two friends who are cystic fibrosis (CF) victims, and know another girl who has CF. I have not met these friends for a long time, but one of them was in palliative care years ago, so I assume she is no longer with us. She was a dear friend when I was in university, and as a showing of support for her and my other friend with CF, I was a Shinerama participant, even an executive one year to help raise funds for this cause.
Factually, these students are just flat out WRONG. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that is caused by a problem with chromosome-7. Since that chromosome is not a sex-chromosome, its occurrence among males and females are roughly the same. In my little world, all three people whom I know that were CF victims were female. And while the defective CF gene is found more commonly in the Caucasian population, it can be found in other ethnic groups as well – the third person I know who has CF is an East Indian, and I have read about this disease in Hong Kong as well.

But CUSA’s problem goes beyond the ignorance. It is this very foolish thinking of political correctness that is causing them this gaffe. Even if CF is a disease that only strikes white men, does it make the cause any less worthy? We often hear pleas from dying people asking people to have their blood tested for a possible bone marrow donation – is that plea too exclusive (after all, it is for ONE person) that no one should support it?

The great poet John Donne said it very well back in the seventeenth century in his poem “For Who the Bell Tolls” - No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

An advice for CUSA: if you want to be truly inclusive, first, let’s try not to exclude even one person.

For more info, please check out the following links:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/27/210808.aspx

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/26/210757.aspx

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081126.WBSteele20081126130438/WBStory/WBSteele

Nothing Personal

I had the privilege to go watch the Vancouver Canucks play the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight (thanks for the pair of tickets my dad won in a draw from his company). Because of increasing ticket price, I haven’t gone to watch the Canucks much anymore, so the experience was much cherished.

The game itself was all right – too bad Luongo could not shut out the Leafs. But the most memorable thing came after the game when I was driving home:

At a red light, I saw fans standing on either side of the road. On one side is a group of Leafs fans still waving the Toronto banner, still dancing despite their team’s not-so-great performance. As these fans were chanting, several fans in Canucks uniform standing on the other side were giving them the thumbs-down. The two group of fans were jarring at each other, it was quite a sight.

I was expecting a fight when the lights turned for the pedestrians to go. The two groups met in the middle of the road, and, to my surprise, they were high-fiving each other, a couple even gave each other hugs as they crossed. Here we are, complete strangers, probably never to be seen again… unknowing observers like me may think that these were actually buddies that were just teasing one another half a minute ago…

Being Chinese, I think I can say this about many people of my race: we need to learn to not take things so personally. How many times have we seen, in politics in particular, where after a bitter campaign, people actually became enemies for LIFE? If we can only learn to separate and compartmentize our feelings… an event may be debated so heatedly that angry words are fired, but after the event, the person facing you is still someone who you can have a cup of coffee with… That is CLASS.

Canadian General Election & US Presidential Election

This is not a blog that talks about politics specifically, but I am a person who is interested in politics, so the news about the elections in the U.S. and Canada intrigue me a great deal.

In Canada, many felt furious that the Conservatives spent so much money to hold an election, but could not get over the hump by winning a majority government. I look at the situation a little differently – yes, the government has spent millions calling for an early election, but ultimately, the people chose how they wanted their government to be: they still wanted the Conservatives to rule the country, but not with a majority. That is the voice of the people, and, like it or not, it is something that all the party leaders need to live with.

Of all the party leaders, I really think Jack Layton of the NDP has screwed up the most in his strategy. When Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe teased certain political leaders that they were dreaming of becoming a prime minister when they had no chance, I believe Layton was the guy he was poking fun at. Mr. Layton, the NDP will never be the ruling party in Canada, and you will never be elected the prime minister! When you chose to attack only the Conservatives, you have ruined your chance (however little) of becoming the official opposition! The votes you could knock off from the Conservatives would never go to you, and you have to know that. Your chance was to attack Stephane Dion and his inability to stand firm on issues that the Liberals disagreed with the Conservatives, but you did not. For a strong debater like you, you have wasted the best opportunity you had to do something never done before…

In the US, I cannot but marvel at how gracious the speeches Senator McCain and Obama made when the results were out. When McCain took the loss completely on his own shoulders, and praised everyone who worked on his campaign, he showed class and dignity like the war veteran that I know he is. When president-elect Obama said to the people who did not vote for him that he is their president as well, and then he would listen especially carefully to those who disagree with him, that is democracy at work. People can hate on the US for all they want, and people can attack either the Republicans or the Democrats for the rest of time, but election after election, I see political leaders who accept victory and defeat graciously… that’s something that many politicians else where have yet to learn, and may never learn, to do.

9.11

The world, as we knew it, changed forever seven years ago on September 11. Time has changed; people and things have changed, but there are still lots that I remember, that I still remember…

I remember: I was eating breakfast when the news broke: an aircraft had flown into the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center. My first impression was: what a catastrophe! Did the pilot make a mistake? Did the control center screw up? How could a human error as big as this occur? I remember: The second plane soon hit the South Tower. By then, the whole world knew it was not an accident. Still, very, very few knew what was going on.

I remember: Just as I turned on the TV, the South Tower collapsed in front of my eyes. My eyes and mouth were opened wide. I did not know what to say, what to think, nor how to feel.

I remember: On my way to school, the news of the collapse of the North Tower also broke. Also, the Pentagon was attacked. I was not thinking of wars, terrorist attack, anti-American, etc., I was thinking of how many innocent lives have already been lost…

I remember: When I got to school, a colleague told me a fourth plane had crashed. I later learned that the flight was United Airlines Flight 93. The passengers on the plane, upon learning of the terrorists’ attack, struggled and crashed into an open field with the terrorists instead of allowing them to hit the White House. I remember the phrase spoken by one of its passengers, devout Christian Todd Beamer, who said, “Let’s roll!” as he and several heroes sacrificed their lives to take down the terrorists on United 93.

I remember: We received a notice and a standardized statement to read to the students. I remember how heavy my heart was, and how haunting the silence was when reading that statement to those normally loud 13/14-year-olds.

I remember: I was glued to the TV the next few weeks. Watching the hopeless faces at Ground Zero searching for their loved ones, I wept daily with the sons and daughters, husbands and wives that were left behind…

I remember: The local Chinese newspapers reporting that some Chinese people, when watching the news coverage of this horrific attack, stood up and clasped! I remember how infuriated I was at my very own people…

I remember: a bunch of names and places that were previously unheard of in the news: Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Kabul…

I remember: the stories of those who died. Are they resting in peace today? Have the wounds of their loved ones been healed since?

I remember: a lot of people suddenly came out to remind us that life is short, to remind us to cherish those around us while we can… I also remember how quickly we became forgetful again…

I remember: 9-11 has happened seven years ago, but to this day, our world continues to be one filled with hatred…

Beautiful

A while ago, I had the chance to discuss with a few friends about the term "beauty." Somehow, amidst the discussion, we've talked about some movie stars from the past, and the name Audrey Hepburn was mentioned.

Audrey Hepburn was a famous actress in the 50s and 60s. Obviously before my time, the only recall I have of her looks was through the reruns of movies like The Roman Holiday or My Fair Lady. I don’t know if she is considered beautiful or not (some say her eyes were proportionally too large compared to her face; others say she was too skinny or bony, etc.), but I do remember pictures taken of her towards the end of her life, when she was a frequent visitor to Africa and other countries under poverty with UNICEF. I don’t know about you, but I think she looks very beautiful in them. Here's one example:Age may have left an indelible mark on Ms. Hepburn, but there is a beauty that no make-up can create.

I browsed around the Internet for more, and found some other pictures. Some of these ladies are very pretty to begin with while some are not. But, without exception, they all look beautiful:

I know it is almost ludicrous, or certainly foolish, for me to suggest that people stop using make-up. But, come to think of it, are we spending too much time worrying about how pretty we look, and forgetting completely to cultivate our true beauty? We all have 24 hours a day. Take away 8 hours of quality sleeping time, and you are left with 16 hours. If you spend half an hour every few hours to fix your hair, re-do your eye-shadow, put on blushes, etc., how much time, legitimately, do you have remaining to truly make yourself beautiful?
If I may, just a brief description of the other four pictures: the picture on the left shows former HK singer Cass Phang visiting India with ORBIS to see the children whose eyesights were permanently damaged due to unclean water. The picture on the right shows a Chinese policewomen during the Sichuan earthquake in May. When she arrived at the scene and saw that many babies who were still nursing have lost their mothers, she immediately unbutton herself to nurse one of the nameless babies. The third picture is of Mother Theresa, and I'm sure this is just one of the millions of pictures of her looking after a child. The final one involves another Hong Kong artist, Gigi Leung, paying a visit with UNICEF to Mongolia. In the picture, she was playing with a child whose brain was permanently damaged due to extreme mal-nourishment after birth.

All of the ladies above look gorgeous to me, but they do not necessarily wear make-up. Are YOU beautiful today?