40) Politcal Clustersuck

I guess it comes as no surprise that most of the high level government positions in the United States are held by the rich, white, and old. This contrasts against the increasingly diverse America, proven by the current illegal immigration debate, and the unprecedented African American president.

Seeing that America is starting to come to terms with its own unique diversity, it's become more and more clear that an identity crisis has taken hold over the nation. An American societal reformation, so to speak. This manifests in different ways, from the race clashes in local city governments, to the bipartisan bickering of the Senate.

So every year, when elections roll around, I don't find it surprising that my own immigrant parents hate to look at the ballots.

Perhaps they've never been the political kind, or that they just don't care to read through the thick wad of papers explaining all the propositions and candidates' positions. And yet, I hear them complain daily at the dinner table about how the American government is ineffective, filled with liars and hypocrites.

So when I think about their contradictions, it's not just another case of where your parents go against their word. I can't quite pinpoint it.

Maybe they just don't want to vote because none of the candidates represent their ethnicity. Maybe their origin country has instilled a subconscious die hard hate of American democracy. It's probably a reason I'll never understand in my lifetime.

So when the annoying white ballots arrive in the mail, it's just another reminder of much my parents are passive about American politics. They heap it on their desk, letting it waste away in time. Of course, it soon becomes a chore of marking the lines, voting for some random candidate that's vaguely familiar due to them being the current incumbents, or because their names have popped up in some sponsored commercial that comes on during primetime.

I've seen them too, having an inkling of what these candidates represent, what political party they are a part off, and what they plan to do in office. No matter who or how someone gets elected, I try not to leap at a sense of false hope. I've become used to being disappointed by big shot political types that rarely gets anything lasting done. I follow politics pretty closely, and if I haven't heard of their achievements, they don't exist.

And maybe that's the reason my parents have so little faith in themselves and in the democratic system when they stare at the ballots on their desk, black pen in hand. They do it because they know they'll be disappointed by whoever comes on. They know nothing will change, and that their vote matters little.

And when I try to get them intrested in the issues, I can see the weariness in their eyes. I see the same old look that appears on the face of the booth people who sell tickets at a theater. I even feel a bit of pity for them.

Have I overemphasized how much my parents don't want to fill in ballots? Want to guess how these ballots are magically filled?

It comes as an unbelievable statement to people when I tell them that I vote in the elections. I'm obviously underage, making it an illegal and laughable endeavor. Then again, I'm not talking about high school elections. I'm taking about the real deal federal ones, the things your parents get in the mail.

So if somebody should ever ask whether I do the voting for my parents, I'll never tell.

Because I find that prospect laughable.

Book Review: World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a fictional book by Max Brooks that recounts a fictional zombie world war. The book mimics Studs Terkel's The Good War, which retells the tale of a world conflict using interviews gathered from the people who were there. The book is a simple collection of interviews as they recount their stories of survival.

Because of an unknown outbreak of rising dead that consume the major population centers of the world, a huge battle for humanity's survival begins. We hear stories from all kinds of people facing this global threat, ranging from a recluse Japanese otaku to the director of the American Central Intelligence Agency.

At first glance, World War Z is nothing more than a fictional book that attempts to pull your imagination into an apocalyptic hypothetical. However, as you read on, it becomes obvious that the interviews are disguised political, social, and economic commentaries. The varied settings of the book between survivors go in depth about how their situations are directly related to the workings of the world at large.

For example, the interview with the fictional former White House chief of staff explores the American government's treatment of the zombie threat:

We got dozens of these reports a week, every administration did, claiming that their particular bogeyman was "the greatest threat to human existence." C'mon! Can you imagine what America would have been like if the federal government slammed on the brakes every time some paranoid crackpot cried "wolf" or "global warming" or "living dead"? Please. What we did, what every president since Washington has done, was provide a measured, appropriate response, in direct relation to a realistic threat assessment. (59)

It is a simple truth behind any dangerous situation: formulate a response according to the threat level. However, this leaves a lot of open doors as to what an actual threat response constitutes. It is clear that the government cannot respond to a threat unless it is extremely pressing and widespread. It is impossible for a government to explore and handle every possible threat. This usually results in a explosive situation in which people are blamed for not taking the appropriate precautionary responses when the threat turns public.

It is with quotes like these scattered throughout the book that we realize what Max Brooks is trying to say to us. Although it may be unintentional, it is a screen of truth against the preconceived notions of what a country's government is supposed to do in times of duress. It is a hypothetical test on if a government is prepared to respond to a threat. It is a scenario that asks what a country can do about their society, economy, and government in a world wide crisis.

Another reoccurring theme of World War Z is the lack of morality and ethics when survival is the only objective. Practicality and logic is needed at the expense of basic rights and ethics. Even the fictional vice president of the United States admits it:

So many of his proposals looked crazy at first glance, but once you peeled back the first layer, you realized that underneath there existed a core of irrefutable logic. Take the new punishment laws, those really set me off. Putting people in stocks? Whipping them in town squares!?! What was this, Old Salem, the Taliban's Afghanistan? It sounded barbaric, un-American, until you thought about the options. What were you going to do with the thieves and looters, put them in prison? Who would that help? Who could afford to divert able-bodied citizens to feed other able-bodied citizens? More importantly, why remove the punished from society when they could serve as a such a valuable deterrent? (149)

It is the collective threat of death incarnate that forces people to throw the rule book out of the window. There is deep insight into humanity's depths of darkness when their collective security is threatened. Martial law and discipline is needed inside city walls when there are millions of enemies banging on your door. These situations cause people to alienate basic rights that most Americans take for granted.

Beside all the political commentary, there seems to be a unifying goal World War Z has in trying to teach people that we must stop fighting each other in order to save each other. The United Nations today is a mere symbol of world peace that may never be achieved. It is the ultimate rule of alliances that is explained: people only unite to fight a larger threat to both of them. Quite literally, the enemy of your is enemy is your friend. The only message that can be understood is that we must stop fighting petty wars against each other. What do we do when a matter of global cooperation is required?

This book is meant for almost anyone who has a passing interest in the American government's hypothetical workings, the futility of elitism during Armageddon, or the struggles of the average person in a zombie apocalypse. There is something in World War Z for most people, and it's interesting to explore one subject while it is being infused with another.

If I were a government/economics teacher, I would force my students to read certain parts of this book. While the accounts are fictional, it is clear that the situations would actually occur in real life if a zombie apocalypse happened. It is a good way to learn about how government reorganization works based on the situation. On the plus side, you get to learn about it in a zombie backdrop.

There is a section in the book that includes an interview with a person who sold a fake drug called Phalanx to people to "combat" the zombie outbreak. This is an interesting exploration into the capitalist society of the United States and how its consumers are driven by fear, with help from government institutions that want order. The interview with the former Chief of Staff confirms that the drugs were needed, even if they didn't work:

Look how much time and money had been put into cancer research, or AIDS. Do you want to be the man that tells the American people that he's diverting funds from either one of those for some disease that most people haven't even heard of? Look at what we've put into research during and after the war, and we still don't have a cure or a vaccine. We knew Phalanx was a placebo, and we were grateful for it. It calmed people down and let us do our job.

What, you would rather we told people the truth? That it wasn't a new strain of rabies but a mysterious uber-plague that reanimated the dead? Can you imagine that panic that would have happened: the protest, the riots, the billions in damage to private property? Can you imagine all those wet-pants senators who would have brought the government to a standstill so they could railroad some high-profile and ultimately useless "Zombie Protection Act" through Congress? Can you imagine the damage it would have done to that administration's political capital?

We're talking about election year, and a hard damn, uphill fight. We were the "cleanup crew," the unlucky bastards who had to mop up all the shit left by the last administration, and believe me, the previous eight years had piled up one tall mountain of shit! The only reason we squeaked back into power was because our new propped-up patsy kept promising a "return to peace and prosperity." The American people wouldn't have settled for anything less. They thought they'd been through some pretty tough times already, and it would have been political suicide to tell them that the toughest ones were actually up ahead. (60)

This is the kind of political exploration that World War Z depicts. A good way to learn about how a government works is to examine its response to crisis. What better way to learn than to actually hear what the administration officials think? You'll probably never get a chance to talk to them in real life, so it's not too much of a handicap for an aspiring political leader to start examining World War Z.

Or perhaps this is a book for the psychologist? There are multiple interviews with people who change drastically due to the zombie apocalypse. It is interesting to see how people respond to their dilemmas, infused with a backdrop of desperation and disbelief. The head of the American Department of Strategic Resources recounts a story:

One woman, a casting director, exploded. How dare they degrade her like this! She had an MFA in Conceptual Theater, she had cast the top three grossing sitcoms in the last five seasons and she had made more in a week than her instructor could dream of in several lifetimes! She kept addressing that instructor by her first name. "Magda," she kept saying, "Magda, enough already. Magda, please." At first I thought this woman was just being rude, degrading the instructor by refusing to use her title. I found out later that Mrs. Magda Antonova used to be this woman's cleaning lady. (140)

It is this kind of storytelling that makes World War Z appealing to so many people. Not only is it a gut wrenching story about zombies, but it is also a learning guide to certain aspects of politics and human behavior.

There's something for everyone in World War Z, which is why its no surprise that it's a New York Times bestseller, or that the book is being made into a movie. If you haven't read this book, you need to. You have no idea what you're missing out on.

Interlude: Invincible

"You believe in god?"
"Goddamnit, not this again. You know how I hate this religious bullshit you just LOVE to bring up."
"Sorry to try and find meaning in everything."
"Not our jobs."

The two continued to bicker on, not knowing or caring whether they could find an answer to their troubles. It didn't matter whether they did or not. It was the act of questioning that they loved.

"You think society will ever accept us?"
"I don't care if they ever do. Doesn't change a goddamn thing."
"I'll still love you either way."
"Let them hate what they fear."
"Let them fear what they will never know. Happiness in the purest form."
"Don't you go soft on me now."

They needed each other to confirm their lives of unbelievable courage and faith. Everybody hated that they were together, hated everything they represented and all the stereotypes they carried.

"We both know religion screwed it up for you and me. Never stood a chance in the face of the world."
"Never expected anything else. We don't control who we love."
"Love is blind, mate. Love is blind."

Their relationship had developed to the point where either of them would die for the other. This was because they would both perish if anybody found out.

"I just wish for one second I could say anything about this without fear. Fear of reprisal, fear of death."
"You and I never feared death if we were willing to love each other. We fear it because we both don't want to lose each other."
"Love or courage?"
"It takes both to be human."
"Is that why they're blind to tolerance?"
"It's just human nature."

They couldn't fight back, and they knew there was no chance. Somebody would find out sooner or later, and they would both burn at the stake. It was just a matter of when.

"I'm not scared anymore. This is worth it all. All the tears, all the rain."
"Then show them nothing else. Give them no respect."
"I'm ready for our funerals."
"Just like soldiers?"
"You'd be crazy not to fight for your life. For everything we stand for."

The two kissed. Alone in the world that would be so cruel to them, they walked into the falling rain. Thunder clasped to applaud their courage. They knew that somehow, somewhere, their love meant everything. They knew that one day, people would not frown on those who chose their path. They would be accepted.

And that was what kept them going.

Quickwrite: Rules Of Love

The rules for relationships in American society are diverse and varied. Because of the many cultures and ethnicities in the United States, there is a good mixture of what is to be accepted as relationship rules. There is a generally accepted doctrine for what to do, but this varies widely depending on where you are in the world.

This all makes describing "American" rules of love exceedingly difficult. However, the most common guideline/stigma to relationships is the prohibition of infidelity. No matter the religion or culture, this is the common taboo due to its negative image to devotion.

The most common situation of rule violation is cheating on your mate, or having more than one girlfriend/boyfriend. This is most usually criticized because it is not a true representation of love. Having betrayed a partner automatically earns you the label of a degenerate.

However, depending on the situation, it might be okay to have more than one partner. Usually, it is non-consenting, but occurs in the interest of sexual or emotional gratification. It all depends on the person in a certain place and time.

While there are no serious consequences to this kind of behavior, there might be feelings of guilt or shame for the person who commits the act. People end up having their feelings hurt, and relationships may get broken. Trust is destroyed between people and there is shunning by friends and family who find out.

Society as a whole does not punish this kind of behavior because it realizes that infidelity happens far too often. It is driven by humanity's more basic instincts for self gratification. In some cultures, infidelity is not seen as a taboo at all, even though the act carries a bad connotation.

It is unclear where these relationship rules come from, but it is obvious that they are heavily influenced by religion and the general media. Often, religions condone or encourage only certain types of behavior when it comes to relationships. That's why traditional American marriage occurs inside a church.

As for the media, certain stereotypes describing relationships are almost always obvious, and the majority who watch mimic the behavior.

As a whole, the rules of love are strictly dependent on society and the people inside them.

39) Naturalistic Fallacies

As the year draws out to a close, I'd like to think this blog was worth something to me and to others. That would make me happy.

For a high school student, and most people in general, happiness is a very important aspect of their lives. We love happiness because it is a pleasant feeling; everybody knows what it is and wants more of it.

After reading The Happiness Myth by Jennifer Michael Hecht, It's become quite clear that modern research has isolated why we feel happy when we do certain things. This is blatantly obvious to most, only because the reasonable explanation is "it just does." I'm trying to find out WHY it makes you feel all nice on the inside.

According to the book, the origin of human happiness is divided into a few categories: Wisdom, Drugs, Money, Bodies, and Celebration. Some include aspects of of the others, and can be experienced by all. Everyone feels happiness in their lives. Might as well go looking for more.

I don't claim to be a neuroscientist or anything, but it seems that happiness triggers a chemical response that makes you "feel" good. So if all happiness is derived from these chemicals, are we not in fact drugging ourselves? Can we become addicted?

Of course of we can. Some people stick to hedonism as a guideline for living because it's human instinct to become happy. It was invented along with the first humans.

The real problem is obtaining happiness. There are many actions that can be taken to induce the chemical heaven in your brain, but it all depends on what you like and how far you're willing to go. We know of the obvious methods with questionable legality.

It ranges from roller coaster adrenaline rushes, hundred people orgies, and the killing of others. To each their own. Besides, don't forget about the sadist who refuses to hurt the masochist.

The truth is, when you become older, the opportunities to obtain happiness widen exponentially. You get to drive, drink, smoke, live on your own, etc. It's the transition to this stage that you can either embrace or ignore. It's this transition that makes things complicated.

It's the drugs you take with your friends at lunch, the short-lived relationships with that one person, or the combined glee of that last bell on the last day of school. This kind of happiness is liberating, addicting, and revered above all else.

And then there's the downside. There are laws, regulations, and rules that prevent you from trying to have fun. So you break them and you keep going.

Or you turn violent and angry, letting your frustrations turn you into a person with desperate needs and desires, a person that society fears and shuns.

I've come to believe that this whole transition phase is vital in shaping the rest of your life. Knowing whether or not you can achieve happiness in your adolescence allows you to make decisions on what kind of person you want to be, what kind of life you want to live. It's what defines your goals, aspirations, and endeavors. It's what drives you to live and succeed.

So perhaps you can imagine the frustration that occurs when a person in this transition phase is feeling unhappy. When they refuse to see the life ahead of them. When they don't see the point in finding future happiness because they can't find any now.

So they say happiness isn't everything. Maybe not, but it sure means alot.

What is the unhappy high school student to do?

Lit Circle Letter 3: World War Z

The final third of World War Z focuses mostly on humanity's fight against the worldwide undead threat. At this point, it is the "First Strike" against the enemy after being knocked down in the ring. Most of the included interviews now tell stories of people fighting due to politics more than circumstance.

The stories stem from a Chinese nuclear submarine crew that desert their country out of desperate fear, the members of the International Space Station stuck in orbit with little chance of rescue, or the clearing of the underground sewage tunnels of Paris.

Each of the stories never ceases to instigate the human element within the reader, with a story of pity and sorrow, or courage and valor. We sympathize with them because we realize that these situations may never happen in our lives, and that these people deserve our respect for having survived an unlivable war. It's a good reminder to honor the veterans of past and current wars.

All of this serves to be part of the larger conflict, on which a general comments on quite clearly:

You've heard of the expression "total war"; it's pretty common throughout human history. Every generation or so, some gasbag likes to spout about how his people have declared "total war" against an enemy, meaning that every man, woman, and child within his nation was committing every second of their lives to victory. That is bullshit on two basic levels. First of all, no country is ever 100 percent committed to war; it's just not physically possible. You can have a high percentage, so many people working so hard for so long, but all of the people, all of the time? What about the malingerers, or the conscientious objectors? What about the sick, the injured, the very old, the very young? What about when you're sleeping, eating, taking a shower, or taking a dump? Is that a "dump for victory"? (272)

I can't think of a stronger anti-war message in the book. Understand that this fictional general is describing an impossible total war because they have no choice; the entire world has been plunged into chaos by a common enemy. They can't just stand idle because time is not on their side. The undead army they face are supernatural and inhuman, an army that requires no sustenance to survive or fight. As more humans die, the zombies can only grow stronger, while humanity can only grow weaker.

What is being described here is the impossibility of a total war, even in peacetime, without the prospect of undead roaming the world. If total war is impossible, why fight it? And for what reason?

These are the questions that World War Z asks you because you are not facing this fictional zombie threat. You have the choice to become that soldier, the conscientious objector, that general who decides that war is not the option, even if is contradictory to who you are. You can be afford to live in a world that is not plagued by zombies.

Instead, you live in a world with trigger happy politicians and idiot leaders. If there is one lesson to learn from this book, it's that world governments are no better than the dead: mindless husks that constitute zombies. They are the greatest enemy when it comes to peace and its opportunities. More importantly, their only mission is to kill and consume, for death incarnate is indiscriminate in its mission.

The anti-war message is also summed up in the context setting of World War Z. As the book takes place after the war, the interviews expose the consequences of the conflict and its after effects on humanity. Thus, the consequences of fighting a war willingly or unwillingly are never justified. Perhaps a quote can sum it up:

We lost a hell of a lot more than just people...That's all I'm going to say. (339)

When you rationalize any risk or situation you've fought yourself out of, you always end up losing. In war, it's your blood, your friends, your base camp, or even your life. In everyday life, the least you can lose is your time, something you will always lose no matter what.

The unspoken truth in every modern war is that any government creates it for self sustenance. More and more these days, war is never being fought for a good cause, and if it is, it's never worth the price. It's when you willingly kill that you can't live with yourself. It's knowing that if you ever become a soldier or a pacifist, you may regret your choices.

It is this mentality that must bring out the greater side of people when countries come together to save humanity. It should take much less than Armageddon for humanity to cooperate.

38) Growing Up

Adolescence is a time for every person to decide who they are in relation to the world. It is when a person decides and acts on their impulse to become a productive(or unproductive) part of society according to the status quo.

And who doesn't think they can change the world at the ripe age of eighteen? Some go on to become successful in their mission, fulfilling their lifelong dreams. It is the majority that is swept up in the throngs of everyday life. After all, nobody can expect who they actually become to be.

So my hypothetical stands for the people who don't want to part of this society, the ones that see human civilization has no intrinsic value to success. Whatever are those people are to do?

I don't claim to know anything, or even a lot. I'm convinced that no one I've ever seen or heard of can ever truly understand what it means to know everything, to become the richest, the most successful, the most popular, etc. There's just too many contradictions and morals involved.

But of the very few things I know, I can testify that the world is not a perfect place, and that my little contributions to the grand scheme of things don't matter. So why should I continue to exist? Is it for some higher purpose I have yet to discover?

It is this kind of soul searching that never stabilizes my mind. Everything I've ever known has always been betrayed by the one common enemy. Purpose. Even purpose's purpose is questionable.

I don't think anybody has a satisfactory answer as to the purpose of everything. I'd be quite shocked if they do.

But what I can't grasp is how I'm able to live, how others have been able to exist for so long without any care for their own purpose. It shocks me to see that I have to conform to the human civilization that has made its own system of survival based on endlessly questionable methodology.

By this I mean that one group of people lives based on indulgence. The first person to rebel gets thrown out of the group. If, hypothetically, this were the only group, that one person would legally be able to "cease to exist" in the relative frame of an outside observer.

That's what keeps me up at night. I want to become that lone person outside the system that can live without the group in peace and happiness. Maybe I already do and I don't know it.

That's what disturbs me. That there is only entropy and no order. That there are only more upon more unanswered questions. It's quite overwhelming if you actually stop to think about it. How is a person to live with such ambiguity? It baffles me.

I search for the impossible things that I can never hope to find, live the life that I know has no value or meaning to me, to reach toward a goal, destiny, or fate that I do not care for or want. How can a person live like this? Perhaps its just that simple: they can't.

So if that's the ultimate truth, I can justify my absolute praise and welcoming of death. What a shame that I can never understand what causes people to exist or perish at that hands of a higher concept.

Must be the absurdist in me.

Lit Circle Letter 2: World War Z

The second third of World War Z deals thoroughly with the stabilization that humanity faces in their terrible and desperate war against the undead. We see stories of incredible suffering, death, and destruction as people attempt to fight back against the walking corpses.

This section is also a deep insight on how humanity changes in dire times. It is thorough this change that we see the extreme ends of human nature, ranging from cowardice and fear, to strength and bravery. It also reveals the distinct qualities of the current world superpowers. It is these qualities that make or break a nation in this hypothetical doomsday scenario.

There is a deep and striking interview that gives insight into the class structure of America. It is the division between the day laborers who get their hands dirty and earn little, to the high and mighty CEO's that sit comfortably at their desks. In a zombie apocalypse, the CEO's are pointless when it comes to survival. An interview with the manager of the rebuilding program in the war torn American explains it quite well:

Yes there was racism, but there was also classism. You're a high-powered corporate attorney. You've spent most of your life reviewing contracts, brokering deals, talking on the phone. That's what you're good at, that's what makes you rich and what allowed you to hire a plumber to fix your toilet, which allowed you to keep talking on your phone. The more work you do, the more money you make, the more peons you hire to free you up to make more money. That's the way the world works. But one day it doesn't. No one needs a contract reviewed or a deal brokered. What it does need is toilets fixed. And suddenly that peon is your teacher, maybe even your boss. For some, this was scarier that the living dead. (140)

And isn't this the ultimate symbolism for the American elitist society? With the growing dependence on technology and other forms of life easing methods, less and less people are turning to menial labor to get things done. What isn't being considered is what happens when these things are suddenly taken away, or when they no longer work. What happens then?

In a way, it a sort of secret slavery that goes on. Money is the one big controlling factor here, and people don't mind digging through mountains of garbage if they are paid millions. And some don't even consider that because they find it degrading and insulting. Why do it when you can hire someone else to do it for you?

Not only is it laziness, it's also stroking the inner ego when it comes to living in America. This is not to say every person who hires others to do their dirty work is bad. They might honestly have no experience in that area of work to do it themselves. The factor I'm trying to address here is whether they would be willing to learn the trade given the circumstances. Whether they would be willing to swallow their pride and show some humility if it means surviving.

It goes deep into the psychology of the average American when it is truly put to the test. World War Z explains what people are willing to do or not do in Armageddon circumstances. In the context of the American government, it is the test of morals. The fictional former American vice president can testify:

So many of his proposals looked crazy at first glance, but once you peeled back the first layer, you realized that underneath there existed a core of irrefutable logic. Take the new punishment laws, those really set me off. Putting people in stocks? Whipping them in town squares!?! What was this, Old Salem, the Taliban's Afghanistan? It sounded barbaric, un-American, until you thought about the options. What were you going to do with the thieves and looters, put them in prison? Who would that help? Who could afford to divert able-bodied citizens to feed other able-bodied citizens? More importantly, why remove the punished from society when they could serve as a such a valuable deterrent? (149)

Notice the words "un-American" and "barbaric". The truth is that practicality is valued much more than morality when the end is nigh. This isn't just a societal shift in thinking due to circumstance. The real world away from this fictional zombie apocalypse has countries that look down upon each other because of the clash of ethics and morals. This is why the world can never fully cooperate, even if you take the Armageddon situation out of the equation. It's just human nature.

One of the resulting ironies of this "practical government" thinking manifests itself quite clearly in Word War Z. Because of the zombie invasion in mainland America, many survivors flock to Cuba for its natural defensive capability as an island. This results in the economically weak island nation to become one of the most successful market economies after the war's conclusion. It is perhaps the greatest criticism and insult of American government, while eerily mirroring it:

Of course our new Latin superpower is anything but idyllic. We have hundreds of political parties and more special interest groups than sands on our beaches. We have strikes, we have riots, we have protests, it seems, almost every day. You can see why Che ducked out right after the revolution. It's a lot easier to blow up trains than to make them run on time. What is it that Mister Churchill used to say? "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." (233)

Superpowers being anything but idyllic: the notion of no perfect society, even if it is powerful. This is America. Hundreds of political parties and special interest groups: America. Daily strikes, riots and protests: America. A lot easier to blow trains than to make them run on time: America in the Middle East. "Democracy is the worst form of government": addressing the preconceived notion that democracy is the best form of government.

Let me remind you that the need for democracy has cost the world several million people in casualties in assorted wars. The current American government is what dragged America into the Middle East.

Alas, praise the political undertones that a simple zombie book can give you.

Lit Cicle Letter 1: World War Z

World War Z by the infamous zombie author Max Brooks delves deep into a nightmarish scenario of a world engulfed in war with the undead. The book is written in the style of Studs Terkel's The Good War. The entire story is told through interviews with people involved in the war in different places and times. The interviews all take place after the war has happened.

This seems to be a mindless horror fiction book, but many underlying messages and themes can be found early on. As the stories of the interviewed are told, we see more and more about the panic, the chaos, and the sheer hopelessness of their situations. If anything, the entire book is a hypothetical account of what would occur if the world faced a major crisis.

Skepticism at the undead is the main focal point for the first section of the book, easily shown by the people who were there. From an former intelligence agent, this is infused with political commentary:

No matter how unlikely or far-fetched a possibility might be, one must always dig deeper. If a neighbor's nuclear power plant might be used to make weapons-grade plutonium, you dig; if a dictator was rumored to be building a cannon so big it could fire anthrax shells across whole countries, you dig; and if there was even the slightest chance that dead bodies were being reanimated as ravenous killing machines, you dig and dig until you strike the absolute truth. (34)

The agent's story holds true to the modern day intelligence agencies of the world superpowers. It is a clear description of what can be inferred from a world crisis. The fictional director of the Central Intelligence Agency can testify:

If your Soviet neighbor is trying to set fire to your house, you can't be worrying about the Arab down the block. If suddenly it's the Arab in your backyard, you can't be worrying about the People's Republic of China, and if one day the ChiComs show up at your front door with an eviction notice in one hand and a Molotov cocktail in the other, then the last thing you're going to do is look over his shoulder for a walking corpse. (47)

Or maybe the former White House chief of staff:

We got dozens of these reports a week, every administration did, claiming that their particular bogeyman was "the greatest threat to human existence." C'mon! Can you imagine what America would have been like if the federal government slammed on the brakes every time some paranoid crackpot cried "wolf" or "global warming" or "living dead"? Please. What we did, what every president since Washington has done, was provide a measured, appropriate response, in direct relation to a realistic threat assessment. (59)

Political satire much? What's being done here is the taking of a hypothetical world crisis and imagining what the response would be from every last government on Earth. In the process, we can isolate and insult the problems present in the government of any country.

But then again, this is a fictional book. It's interesting to try and identify whether this book is a clever commentary on world governments and human nature, or just another story about zombies. I say its both.

37) Relativity

After some studious and intimate hours of note taking through my physics textbook, I've grasped the basic concepts of Einstein's special relativity. Also, kudos to my physics teacher for having the devotion to teach an otherwise uninterested class in the complex intricacies of the universe.

Basically, Einstein lays down a four dimensional plane in which we exist: length, width, height, and time. This pretty much throws Euclidean geometry out of the window. Triangles can have degrees outside 180, and not everything works the way you want it to.

If you dig a bit deeper, you'll find that the theory involves time dilation, gravity affecting time, and all mass equaling rest energy (E=mc^2).

So just how complex does our universe get?

I've come to notice special and fascinating things that occur in my life that can't be explained by science or concept. In my relatively(haha) dull life, I've made it a habit to notice the strange little things that seem to transcend understanding.

Mind you, I'm not talking about religion, philosophy, or any other concept that humanity has coined with terms. In fact, it's so unique and special that I don't think I could fully explain it in words. To do so would be a contradiction. Too bad. I'm doing it anyway.

Most of what I'm referring to comes from what we don't understand about ourselves, about others. For example, perspective. We have adjectives that describe so many things. However, this is only a widely accepted definition of what can be sensed with the human organs. You might see red a different way that I do, but we both call it a bright color. But what does the blind see when you describe it to them?

I'm suggesting that the differences between us, the things that make us special and unique, are not a result of genetics, upbringing, or observation. They exist in an unknown state that transcends you or me. It exists everywhere and nowhere. It is everything and nothing at the same time.

What I'm talking about is the things you cannot accurately describe with words, only because everyone sees it differently. When different people read a story, they come up with their own separate thought process that can paint vivid images. These images cannot be the same as the next person. It can't happen. And if it does, we can't fully explain it.

I'm referring to trying to describe dream to a friend. Can they ever know and experience exactly what you saw? Maybe, but the common response is no.

I realize that this kind of thought process is fanatical, if not common among those I know. Thing is, I doubt anybody could ever explain it to another and convey an intact meaning. I'm having a hell of a time just typing this out.

I've grown more and more fascinated by these unexplainable, impossible to understand thoughts. Yet I still wish for more to calm my brain in rigorous mental exercise. It's a good addiction to pass the time.

But what of the real world? If it doesn't exist at all, then all the thinking I've ever done on this means everything. But if this reality is true and my thoughts are the fantasies, it means I've wasted so much time.

Then again, time might not really matter.

That's something I hope is true.

36) Two Cranes

Gather round kids. It's time for a story.

Yesterday, May 1st, was my uneventful birthday. I refused to have some pompous or extravagant celebration at someone else's expense. It didn't seem right compared to all the other things that were going on in the world. Some many bad things, so many dying people, and all I could do was celebrate the date of my birth.

So the day went about. I woke up in the early morning to take the dreaded SAT 2 subject tests. Not exactly what the average students wants to do on their birthday, especially because afterward I realized I had failed one of the tests.

After that was finished, I went to Oakland Chinatown with my parents for lunch and helped them pick out the groceries. All I really did was carry the bags, but it felt like I was getting something worthwhile accomplished.

I came home, saw all the nice happy birthday messages people had left me. I reveled in the news that another game in one of my favorite series was going to come out later this year. This one was going to be about Vietnam, which mirrored my recently finished Forever War.

So I ate dinner, trying to forget about the importance of the day. No cake, no presents, no party.

Then I went to bed, trying to figure out why I was feeling absolutely nothing. Why I wasn't feeling sad. Of all the birthdays I've ever had, this one was perhaps the most uneventful.

I didn't mind spending it alone. I didn't mind feeling some silence.

So when I woke up this morning, I understood why.

I finally came to terms with a solemn oath I had made long ago. An oath to not waste my life. It was an oath I had been on the verge of breaking so many times. I had promised this to my brother. My dead brother. I hadn't learned about him until a few years ago, and even then I didn't feel the impact until I started high school.

You see, he died as a result of a miscarriage. The reason this is important is because my parents only wanted one child. Had he survived, I would have never been born. I owe my existence to his death. In a way, I felt he made a sacrifice for me. I'm still an only child as a result.

So this past 17th birthday of mine, I wasn't celebrating my birthday. I was celebrating his death. And you never celebrate a brother's death.

It's ironic that I feel so strongly about him, even though I will never know who he was. In all my darkest hours and suffering, I can only turn to fate and ask why I had lived and he had died.

So I find it offensive when people tell me how annoying their siblings are. They don't know how much I would give to have a brother. They don't know how important it is to have someone to grow up with that shares your blood. I will never know what that feels like.

Although I don't necessarily believe in heaven, I'd like to think he's watching from above. He's there when I cry, when I laugh, and when I try to live the life he never got a chance to. Either that, or he hates me to oblivion for stealing what could have been his.

I often entertain the possibility of a scenario where he lived and I died. Would I still cheer him on? I don't know.

So today I wanted to celebrate the life that he lives as a ghost. Not the life I live on Earth.

You see, the select Chinese that my family belongs to believes in honoring the dead. We believe the dead live in an underworld hell (Not the western world version of fire and brimstone), where they spend their afterlife. In order to make sure they are comfortable, when give them everyday items.

So how exactly do you send items to hell? You burn it.

In China, there's an entire market devoted to making papier-mâché joss paper items so that they can be burnt and sent to the dead. These items represent everyday aspects of human life. There are credit cards, bank notes, food, pets, and houses that you can send to the deceased. Its often funny to see what can be made into paper form and burnt. Believe it or not, there are joss paper prostitutes and condoms.

Every year, you wrap all of the items into a huge 'mail' bag, write on it the sender and receiver, then gently lower it into a brick furnace. Fire takes care of the rest.

I folded two paper cranes. One was withered and fragile, the other graceful and beautiful. In a way, I wanted them to represent me and him. I wanted him to know I will always care. If he gets them, I hope he'll understand what it means.

I set them ablaze, and watched as the smoke faded away, turning paper into ash.

So I think I'm finally old enough to move on, and still share this story with anyone willing to listen. I was able to type this entire thing up without breaking into tears. I just needed to tell somebody. I think it's the only way to bring closure.

Here's to you, brother. I love you more than you will ever know.