Friday, February 26, 2010

Irreconcilability

SERIOUS CONFLICTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SET ABLAZE by having an idea irreconcilable with another, even though there is a correct answer or one has patchy knowledge of the subject. I'm saying this because it has no doubt stirred up trouble in my life. I've seen many paradigms but no conclusions. Formidable though the problem is, I would like to share my experience as well as crack the problem.

In the Space Academy in America, not only did I have a lot of fun, all the spacecrafts, equipment, events and American cafeterias, etc, were incredible, but my life experience was irreconcilable with the people I met. After a handsome triumph in a game of structuring two-stage rockets, by using two balloons, a string, a rubber band, some paper clips and tape relying on the three laws of motion, I was given a nickname of “Big Boss.” However, I was not so lucky on the next game, I messed up my relationship with my team. Perhaps I acted too conceited as though everybody was wrong, even though I might have been the only wrong person. Or perhaps, if I may be so bold as to criticize, some of them designated themselves as elites living in an intellectual capital, having discrimination against my hometown, as if is was a rural backwater with only one life – me.

This game was mainly about how to keep things from burning out in an extremely high temperature, resembling the time when shuttles rush into the atmosphere. We took a small, square copper cube stuck on the bottom of an iron pen with glue, and used some wire netting and steel wires to shield if from the flame projector. We all knew there are three ways heat is transported, convection, conduction and radiation. So the more distance between the iron pen and projector, the less heat the iron would get. It's like common sense. Nevertheless, my friends set an opposing opinion, he covered the iron pen all around instead of keeping a distance with wires. And undoubtedly, there began an irreconcilable conflict.

The problem was a dilemma: you could choose the wrong solution and fail the competition in order to keep a good relationship, or else argue with them, but you might beat him in a fiasco after finally he figured the truth out. If there appears to be an answer, I will still remain unconvinced because it was an unsolvable mystery.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Immortal Imaginarium

        What would you pay for immortality? What if the devil made a bet with you and your triumph has yielded its reward of immortality? It might have been mesmerizing had you been given an opportunity to live beyond the restraints of time. You would go through many eras, encountering Caesar and Alexander, listening to Beethoven fingering or maybe receiving Von Gogh's paintings.

        After 14,000 years from the time of being a cave man, everyone and everything you counted important have vanished one after another. You would find the loneliness was unendurable as in the memorable line from Socrates, “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die, and you to live. Which to the better fate is known only to God.”

        Because your body still aged despite your inability to die, you might make a deal with the devil once again for youth in order to become acquainted with the woman you fell in love with. In exchange, any child you have would belong to the devil when they were sixteen. Sounds like a satisfactory, fair deal, doesn't it? However, things in the world don't take exactly the permutations we have anticipated, like Romeo couldn't possibly have expected the fact that Juliet was in suspended animation at Wright's grave. When your own daughter has grown and steadily became a well bred lady with perfect symmetry, you'll regret what you've done. When people give a standing ovation to your daughter's beauty, I doubt not that the contract would be torn. Maybe another deal is necessity. The devil might said “Let's start a new bet, whoever gets five human souls first wins your daughter.”

        Catching one soul, then the second, the third and the fourth soul, the devil would stop you from getting the fifth. As the bet continued, the fact of your secret wouldn't stand long. Your daughter might have a mental breakdown, and be the fifth soul accidently. Like I mentioned before, things in the world don't take exactly the permutations we have anticipated. Your wife has gone and your daughter has gone. After all, they were just some pathetic bets.
        I have heard a story. An egg farmer told his grandchild to “candle eggs” to assure there weren't any cracks or imperfections, and to put the bad ones in the bakery bucket. The farmer came back after an hour, and discovered there were three hundred eggs in the bakery bucket and asked, “What the hell are you doing?” “I found flaws in every single one of them. The thickness of the shells or hair-line cracks.” If you look closely, you'll find everything has a weak spot where it could break sooner or later. The devil just found you're a gambler. And I'm afraid that my enemies will find out I'm a winner, no matter what the situation is, whatever happens.

        In infinite time, the devil is an immortal banker, and a banker needs a gambler who has bets to play together until the end of time. Luckily I am not immortal. I do not fear the end of the world because it won't happen in this generation, and I do not need to fear the cases above. All I need to fear is what happens next.