These Truth – History of the United States written by award-winning historian Jill Lepore tells this uniquely American experiment, beginning in 1492, asking whether the course of events over than more than five centuries has proven the nations’ truths, or belied them. These transcendent ideas are what Thomas Jefferson wrote in Declaration of Independence: ” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ” But over the course next two hundred years, among the supreme court battles, political contentions, foreign wars, social movements, shootings and riots and many struggles, Americans kept arguing what does it means “equal”? what does it means “Liberty”? and what does it mean ” Happiness”? And ultimately, “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force?”
To answer those question, Lepore traces the intertwined histories of American politics, law, journalism, and technology, from the colonial town meeting to the 19th century party machine, from talk radio to 21st century internet polls, from Magna Carta to the Patriot Act, from the printing press to Facebook News. Lepore wrote: ” A nation born in revolution will forever struggle against chaos. A nation founded on universal rights will wrestle against the forces of particularism. A nation that toppled a hierarchy of birth only to erect a hierarchy of wealth will never know tranquility. A nation of immigrants cannot close its borders. And a nation born in contradiction, liberty in a land of slavery, sovereignty in a land of conquest, will fight, forever, over the meaning of its history.”
Well said Lepore! But in the end, All the struggles are eventually the struggle of the mind. Not to mention the 21st century’s biggest disease for humanity is going to be mental disorder (20th century being cancer, 19th century being tuberculosis). For the last several decades, Ann Rand ‘s “Objectivism” became American, and the westerns’ motto, with Man “taking his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute”. For the millions of Americans absorbed himself in the objectivism philosophy, they had not only lost their life meaning, even more tragically, they had lost their spiritual liberty because of the mental disorientation. To fill some of these voids and black holes, we need Humanities, Philosophy, Political Science, but even more than any other times, we need Religion, Metaphysics and Ethics to come to the rescue. 现代人的双重丧失：意义丧失—人生价值的丧失和自由的丧失——道德和宗教信仰的缺乏和异化而失去了内在的精神自由 。
How we talk to ourselves can change our mental state. It is all about education. That is why Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Lao Zi are teachers who transform the society through changing people’s mental state. By changing mental state, we change our karma.
很久以前，有一老一小两个和尚一起赶路。路上遇到一条河，河水不深，但河上没有桥。河边有一位年轻女子在那里也想要过河，却又不想弄湿衣裳，于是在那里望河兴叹。老和尚二话没说，背起女子就趟进了河里，帮这女子过了河。小和尚也过河之后，便问老和尚，“你怎么能背女子呢？忘了出家人不能近女色吗？”。老和尚笑了笑，没有回答。 两人又走了十里路，小和尚忍不住又问了起来，“您平时不是教导我们不能近女色吗？怎么能背那位女子呢？”。老和尚答到，“我根本不记得自己曾抱一女子过河，只知帮助了一人。我早把这事抛诸脑后，为什么走了十里路，你还不忘那女子呢？”这个故事的本意，大概是说相由心生，我们心里想到的是什么，这个世界就是什么样子的。 在帮助人这件事上，对方是不是女子，根本不重要。如果心里坦荡，做好事就不会成为负担。所谓君子坦荡荡，小人常戚戚。
With mental disorder on the rise, crime is on the rise as well. It is predicted by some keen observer that jail is going to run out of space. The situation of minority like American Native Indians will be even more difficult. It is said that the Supreme Court is reconsidering the constitutionality of the Indigenous Child Welfare Act. That reminds me of a Chinese story: A diplomat from Qi Region-State went to visit Chu Region-State. The King of Chu intended to insult him. So on the banquet, the King of Chu had a criminal who was from Qi brought to the meeting, and said the Qi people tend to like steal. To this situation, the diplomat from Qi answered: oranges planted north or South of Huai River look similar but taste differently, the reason being the environment. This person was a good citizen in Qi, but becomes a criminal in Chu, which means the culture of Chu tend to lead people downgrade.
根據《晏子春秋》記載，齊國的晏嬰出使楚國，楚靈王想要羞辱晏嬰，便在宴會上故意讓人帶着一個盜竊犯來到面前，說這是齊國人。楚王問晏嬰，是否齊國人生來喜歡偷盜。晏嬰回答說：「橘生淮南則為橘，生於淮北則為枳，葉徒相似，其實味不同。所以然者何？水土異也。今民生於齊不盜，入楚則盜，得無楚之水土使民善盜耶？」即齊國人到了楚國就成爲了盜竊犯，以「楚國的水土導致齊國人成爲了盜竊犯」反駁楚王。
南橘北枳，成语，出自《晏子春秋·内篇杂下》：“橘生淮南则为橘，生于淮北则为枳，叶徒相似，其实味不同。所以然者何？水土异也。”意思是淮南的橘树，移植到淮河以北就变为枳树。比喻同一物种因环境条件不同而发生变异。
The following are some of my favorite maxim. May we all use some of the uplifting thoughts to keep up the good work.
- 知足者常乐。
- 人生，是踏上了就回不了头的征程。要记住：面对，不一定最难过；孤独，不一定不快乐；得到，不一定能长久。珍惜拥有，用心生活，坦然无悔，超越自己，和生命一起精彩！
- 人生路上，遇见善良，学会付出；遇见微笑，学会分享；遇见坎坷，学会勇敢。
- 上坡的路难走，走上去会很累，但你要是不走，就看不到山顶上的风景；不要忘记了当初，你曾经为了梦想而有过的勇气，把那一刻的勇气，变成此时此刻的坚持，你终将遇见更好的自己。
- 有谁的幸运，凭空而来，只有当你足够努力，你才会足够幸运。这世界不会辜负每一份努力和坚持。时光不会怠慢执着而勇敢的每一个人！
- 多要求自己，你会更加独立，少要求别人，你会减少失望。 宁愿花时间去修炼不完美的自己，也不要浪费时间去期待完美的别人。
- 人生之路是逼着走出来的。不逼自己一把，你永远不知道自己能做多大点事。切断了退路，你自然会想办法寻找出路；掐断了幻想，你才会埋头苦干。
- 生命不要求我们成为最好的，只要求我们做最大努力。
- 人活的是心态，你的心态调整好了，再大的困难在你面前，也不会把你吓到；如果你的心态不好，暂时的困难也会被你主观地、无限地夸大，成了一条不可逾越的鸿沟。
- 我们的命运由我们的行动决定，而绝非完全由我们的出身决定。机会永远都不会平等，但结果却可能平等。