Two Words

"In order to live in the new world, sometimes it means we have to tear the old one down."

(if no one famous said it..... Andy said it first ! )

um... What are we talking about? The two worlds here, of course, indicates the new and the old. To narrow it down even more and make it relatable, we mean "ideologies", from political parties, internet vs. reality to parent-children disputes, we often seem to be stuck in the middle. That is, until we become... old.

p.s. being old isn't so much about age but open-mindedness.

The three types of people in society are "the pusher", "the puller" and "the whiner". Pushers are revolutionists. They learn fast and keep things up-to-date. In reverse, the pullers would do anything to make sure things stay the way they are used to regardless of reason. Whiners are unsatisfied but too passive to act on making a difference. Which one are you?

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In Taiwan, the inescapable problem we all face is not just "keeping the bloodline", but also "the sweet curse of family". If it happens that this doesn't apply to you, congratulations!

Fun story, we Taiwanese people somehow bear the burden of keeping the human race. Why so? Our elders were taught to give as many births as possible and the most obvious reason is for the war, for the military, and for the country. Now that there are no more wars, the elders turn their focus from saving the country to saving the family name. However, the younger generation (us) doesn't agree with that vague notion anymore. There are many factors to be considered, i.e. reality, accountability and temperament for children. That's where we divide and get two worlds in a family.

Apart from the west, we don't see so much of ourselves as individuals but instead family as a unit; that is our culture. We're certainly not here to say that westerners don't value family as we do. However, when it comes to making important decisions, our parents usually (always) make it for us and anything else would be defying the sacred law of filial piety.

What's the solution? Should we listen to elders to keep peace or be who you are and hurt them?

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Education alike, while the old world still tries to hang on to "manufacturing students", the new world has been "leading students". A hundred years ago, people need school for specific skills in their factory jobs. Therefore, learning was stiff and unchanging. 30 years ago, people were leaving factories and going to school becomes more and more for the sake of school. Hence, to go to a more popular or famous school, cramming was in style. Finally, in this decade, learning becomes open-source. Everyone seeks their purpose in society with much more freedom and much less obstacle.

Although the model is outdated, it doesn't mean that the previous users would give it up. We don't want to destroy the old world but people there would do anything to extend its lifespan. Why? For the simplest reason, it's easier business. Freedom is a universal right but It comes with countless possibilities and limitless potential. If you remember the beginning of this new world, people started to emphasize terms such as "customized service", "creativity", and "individuality"...etc. which is exactly why education changes accordingly. It must.

We end up being stuck in the middle because this is one of the most confusing times in history. Both sides make more or less sense. On the one hand, we base our experience back in school thinking that it should be fine because we made it here thus far. However, we don't have any experience in the future and we cannot imagine how it feels to live with certain technology, such as smartphones, which the young cannot live without since birth.

Could we really prepare the future using the mindset and tools from the past?

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Finally, world politics. We live in a free country where people have the power to pursue their goals in the least restricted way. What we see as common, people from another country could find it strange and even blasphemous. For us, the minimum benchmark is to be lawful and under the law, we could explore on our own. The countries which don't have such privilege however, its people have to obey and be limited. They may think of us as chaotic but they have to think so if their government told them to.

Communism versus democracy! Who's going to win? They are! This is a time(for us) of "peace without war" but there are still wars; trade wars, international relations, the power game continues. Under the influence of capitalism, we tolerate communists and try to work with them for money. It is easy business as long as you adjust in their favor. Some people may wonder if it's wrong at all but it's imperative to inform you that it is indeed, wrong but not if it's in a free society. How so? In the free world, we improve products and services to help customers have a better experience but on the contrary, dictators want us to adjust products and services so they could continue ruling over their people and make them believe we are all the same but freedom is disorder.

How could we maintain the balance while having two opposing ideologies?

#selfreflect