Eczema

Recently, I saw this news about an eczema girl killed her parents, whom she inherited the eczema from, and herself. I imagined by being a girl, she must have lots of suffering by growing up. The life is full of mishaps for many. I especially see people whom might have conditions in day time in coffee shop. They don't have any other place to hang out. The Buddha himself decided to find out a solution after seeing old and disease. I know people can deal with a lot of mishaps themselves but couldn't deal with comparison with other people. The accusation levied by the girl to her parents is especially heart-broken. I know that I am not enlightened but is there a way to help them?

Pure

When I was in the Buddhist gathering last night, I made a comment about someone being a pure American for not following the recent soccer events. It struck me that people around had some emotions about pure. It might be related to some recent ethic issues in US that ticked off all us. But I was referring to pure American culture instead of race. It seems that US is not really with the world for its soccer fever. I know that I always get into trouble with my comments. Hopefully, I should be more careful in wording.

As I wrote in earlier post, I am getting more to think events in life are convoluted together. I recently made a gentleman, whom we discussed a bit about history and politics. I mentioned White Man's Burden to lament the chaos of Iran in recent decades and my friend could immediately identified Rudyard Kipling, the author of the poem. Not to mention about the imperialism, the "White Man" idea is probably a pretty racist stand. I never really talked about Kipling and racism to anybody before. Then, within the same week, I got into a racist discussion in a Buddhist gathering.

山口百惠

After Kaze, I have to write about 山口百惠, I am not a fan of her but I know so many Hongkonger are her fans, even after all these years. I didn't see any of her movies/TV series except 《霧之旗》. The most famous one, though, is 赤的疑惑, which the famous Hong Kong singer, 梅艷芳, adapted its theme song into Chinese and became a hit in Canto-pop.

The reason I watched  《霧之旗》is, certainly, because of 松本清張. I am always a fan of mystery novel. His approach of having social criticism trail-blazed a new direction of mystery novel back then. I especially like his 点と線.

Kaze 風

I don't know why a Japanese song used Hong Kong as the background but anyway, this is one is a classic.

Words by: 北山修 Kitayama Osamu
Music by: 端田 宣彦 Hashida Norihiko

A detail page for translation is in here.What a sad song and yet, so mature!


Here is another version:

I think he is the same guy but in a more recent redition:

太匆匆

今天看到陶傑以林花謝了春紅為題的文章,似是一悼文.莽猜是作家林燕妮,搜尋一下,原來已先於六月一日逝世.題目有"林花謝了",又扣上"太匆匆"這後三字,不少婉惜之意.文中那影射時局,郤不想多提及.但插圖照片中那髮式郤引起我的注意,作天剛好在咖啡店也看到一西方女子有同一髮式,懷舊含蓄之美飄飄然而至.郤說文中那沒落文化,似乎不是香港而己,就以流行曲為例,昨天看到一Video,那講者提到今天因為有太多音樂選擇,若不喜開曲,馬上Skip.大家沒有耐心細聽每一首曲,嘗那樂章之美.那往時的精緻樂曲,今天不可見.

或許有太多選擇就不可細看眼前,古德不是也叫大家一門深入嗎?

Can I offer you a bottle of water?

I was in Costco earlier and when I left, an older lady called out for me. She spoke intermediate English and she needed to call her son for help. So, we made the call after a few struggling in pressing correct phone number. I asked if I could call 911 since even though she looked alright, she might be a bit weaker by her weight and age. She said she was alright and thanked me.

Not really a major episode but after I left, I felt that I could be further help by offering her a bottle of water. It was a warmer day in my city.

We all regret something we could have done a bit better but when in the situation, I lose my mind mind and not to know what do do. We could argue that there was no need for anything else but I think paramitas are perfections. So,  we have to be perfect. Also, I guess it is a practice of calmness and awareness. Therefore, I wrote this as my own reminder not because it was a major issue but because perfection needs to attend the small little details too.