Is the world Falling Apart?

I'm living in a safe place. There are no wars in Taiwan, at least not for now and there 18 years that I've lived in Taiwan. There are also only little natural disasters in Hsinchu. The earthquake was always more serious in the middle or southern part of Taiwan, and the typhoon was always more serious in the more northern and eastern part. Therefore, I've only seen or heard about the wars and disasters on the television or on the newspaper. Hence, I've never felt that the world is falling apart.
However, I still know that the natural disasters did took away lots of lives. The 921 earthquake, South Asia tsunami, 88 flood, and hurricanes in the US are all examples of natural disasters that caused a lot of death. Many lives are taken away by the natural disasters, but I don't think that people's thoughts are changed as much as it was during the world wars. Wars are human fighting against human, but natural disasters are just human against something that we could never control. This is different, and I don't think it causes the world to fall apart.

How do we measure Progress?

To say the truth, I think advances in technology, increase in total wealth, and greater health and happiness in all people are all good ways to measure the improvement in social progress. I think to measure the progress, it's better to mix or find the average of the three. Out of the three choices, I would say that I think the health and happiness of all people are the most important. The reason that the advances in technology and increase in wealth are important is that they both make people happy. However, since it is hard to measure the happiness of people, I think the best way to measure social progress is through the increase in total wealth. When people have money, they can buy things that they want or go to the doctor when they are sick. People can buy electronic devices to improve their lives and to make themselves happy.
In conclusion, although happiness is the most important thing, it is better to measure the social progress by measuring the increase in total wealth.

What can break down Prejudice?

There are always prejudice between Eastern and Western people. Eastern people ought to think that Western people are always tall, strong, and rich. Western people ought to think that Asians are nerds, silent in class, and especially good at math, etc. These are stereotypes which most people fits into, but there are also always a portion of people (which is not a small portion) that doesn't fit into the stereotype. There are always weak or poor Western people, and some Asians are extremely bad with math. Viewing people with prejudice is never a good thing. Every person should try to understand a stranger through communication and their own observations so that people can truly understand each other and that misunderstandings will not happen. People tend to be prejudice on everything. There is a saying that prejudice forms within 7 seconds after one first meet another, and is hard to be changed. I do agree with this saying, but I also believe that prejudice could be broke though communication.

What is Beauty?

The word beautiful is an adjective and a noun. When it is used as an adjective, it is used to describe anything that is very pleasing or satisfying. It can be used to describe the physical appearance or the connotation of a literature. The beauty of flowers, gardens, dresses, and women are all examples of physical appearance. However, some people may say that this poem, this song, or this piece of literature is beautiful. They're praising the beauty of their connotation. When I see something adorable, I use the word "cute" more often than the word "beautiful", but I sometimes will used the word "beautiful" to describe some poems, some poems that rhyme, have symbolism, or form imagery. It is hard for me to determine what kinds of things are "beautiful", but I agree with the definition that anything that is pleasing to me is defined as "beautiful" to me.

How can Guilt enslave us?

When I was in 3rd grade, I remember my father went to somewhere for a business trip, and he bought a crystal ball for me as a gift. I really like that crystal ball. That day, I was playing with it, holding it in my small hands, flipping it over again and again to let the paper flakes float in the ball. However, the size of the crystal ball is a little bigger than my hands, so my hands just slipped a little bit. The ball fell down to the ground and broke into pieces. The ball is a gift from my father and I just got it for about 3 days and I just broke it. I cried not only because I was scared, but also because I was so guilty! My mother helped me cleaned the pieces and I said sorry again and again to my father. I remember, for the whole week, I was so guilty that I can't look at my father's eyes.

How do you live life to the fullest?

I think my mother's friend, Uncle William, is a person who lives life fully. Although he doesn't have extremely much money, but he has a happy family and a stable work. He lives in the US and has a house which is not too small or too big. Both of his children went to good colleges and have good grades, so that he don't need to worry about them and he often go on family trips in the states. I don't think a person needs to have great achievements to live his or her life fully. Instead, I think a full life is to have a stable income, a happy family, a comfortable house, can travel to places, and don't need to worry about his children. Having these things means that one don't need to worry about anything and can do whatever one wants, and I don't think there are any downsides for these experiences.

What are the perils of JEALOUSY?

Jealousy is formed when you realized that someone have something that you really want but cannot have. Some people will hide their jealousy so it is not seen. Some will try hard to get what they want from the person. Some will choose to destroy the object so nobody can own it. The cause of jealousy might be wealth, fame, or love; however, the one used, seen, or written in most books is love.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ron was jealous about Harry's fame, so he broke up with Harry. Their friendship was destroyed by the jealousy deep inside Ron. Later, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Ron thought Hermione loves Harry, so his jealousy rose again. He had conflicts with them and finally left one day. These are some negative consequences of jealousy of love.

In Snow White, the queen was jealous about Snow White's beauty; in High School Musical, Sharpay was jealous that Gabriella have Troy's love; in Tangled, Rapunzel was jealous about other people's freedom. Different people have different wishes and forms different kinds of jealousy, but every person's differences cause different people to do different reactions. Some will do bad things, but some will not.