Vulnerability, addendum

This isn't the second part, just an addendum to the previous entry.

It's not like I'm oblivious to the necessity of some tenacity in this life. I've had the great displeasure of witnessing certain friends and family members enter terrible work environments and seeing their struggle through it. My grandfather fought in the war and when I ask him what his earlier life was like, he summarizes with the single term 捱 (this is Google translate, so um slight possibility this isn't the right one), Cantonese for "endure". Suffice it to say, I haven't brought up that topic ever since.

No, the realities of 捱 have been making themselves known to me, particularly during this school year (see "Ecclesiastes"). Of course, I also say this knowing full well that my life has been, by many orders of magnitude, easier than all my previous generations: food is so easily accessed, a good amount of money secured more than sufficient for a modest lifestyle, no persecution or war. Whatever the 捱 that my grandfather was referring to, I've been lucky never to have experienced it and I might just be lucky enough to never experience it.

These kind of reflections are always positive experiences. Much like that time I had that epiphany facilitated by the famously photographed Afghan girl (see "The problem with first world problems"). Of course, I'm not going to stop seeing the negative sides to things, I still feel that it's an important consideration, but definitely, I shouldn't let these things bog me down as much as I do.

So, that's half of what I wanted to talk about, hopefully I get time to jot down all those fleeting thoughts before they once again vacate the premises, as my tenants are so prone to do.