Twelve years

It has been twelve years since the day the world changed. Twelve years worth of children growing up knowing fear, and war, and the scourge of terror. Twelve years worth of children who were not alive to see the fateful day when civilian aircraft became weapons of war. Of all the people on Earth, I envy and pity these children the most, that they never experienced life void of a world in which terrorism and conflict play such a casual role.

A dozen years since a younger me watched the live news coverage of planes flying into buildings, of people who preferred to fall to their deaths than be burned alive, of the unleashed fury of a nation and a peoples united in their grief. A younger me was prematurely thrust to the precipice of of adulthood, was reminded of the bonds of kinship that unite the world. On that day, I felt like an American. On that day, I felt like a citizen of this planet.

I have had the honour of visiting the 9-11 memorial in New York City. It is a quiet, sombre place - no towering monuments, no gold or glitter. Two pools of remembrance, gouged out of the very flesh of New York like a scar that will never quite heal. 2,958 innocent people plucked from our midst, but not from our memory. Innocent men, women and children going about their daily lives. Firefighters, police, first responders who charged up the stairs no less valiantly than the men at Lexington and Concord, or Gettysburg, or on the beaches of Normandy. We are all the poorer that they have been taken before their time.

In this year, in the twelfth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, we conclude our military involvement in the Middle East. As we step into the unknown future, may it always be with an eye and a thought towards the events of the past that have led to our present.

Lest We Forget.

Arguing with Greenies

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151694358178300&set=a.165558403299.117727.7297163299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Had an interesting thought whilst arguing with some Greenpeace supporters on the Greenpeace International Facebook page today.

"even the worst predictions of global warming won't lead to conditions that remove life from Earth. Life, on Earth, is amazingly resilient. We've found bacteria that grow in boiling sulphur pools. We've found bacteria that can survive temperatures over 120 degrees Celsius. We've found bacteria that can survive exposure to the vacuum of space, bacteria that can feed off radiation in the cooling towers of nuclear plants, bacteria that can process basic elements no other lifeform on Earth can, and survive. Even if humans manage to kill ourselves and any other large vertebrate animal, life will find a way to survive. On a genetic level, does it really matter what form that life takes? Does it change, in one iota, if it's humans that inherit the Earth, or Escherichia coli? I mean, humans aren't the most populous species on the planet, either in terms of mass or number. And, if we're apparently the cause of all of the world's problems, wouldn't it make more sense to just do away with humankind completely, and leave Nature free to propagate without our influence? In your imagination, does your ideal Earth have humans on it?"

For Rita With Love, by Pat Ingoldsby

You came home from school
on a special bus
full of people
who look like you
and love like you
and you met me
for the first time
and you loved me.
You love everybody
so much that it's not safe
to let you out alone.
Eleven years of love
and trust and time for you to learn
that you can't go on loving like this.
Unless you are stopped
you will embrace every person you see.
Normal people don't do that.
Some Normal people will hurt you
very badly because you do.
Cripples don't look nice
but you embrace them.
You kissed a wino on the bus
and he broke down and cried
and he said 'Nobody has kissed me
for the last 30 years.
But you did.
You touched my face
with your fingers and said
'I like you.'
The world will never
be ready for you.
Your way is right
and the world will never be ready. 
We could learn everything
that we need to know
by watching you
going to your special school
in your special bus
full of people
who look like you
and love like you
and it's not safe
to let you out alone.
If you're not normal
there is very little hope
for the rest of us.

They slumber not

They slumber not in mortal view,
The bravest of the bravest, the truest of the true.
Respect and honour are their due,
Theirs that died, for me and you.

They slumber not with mortal riches,
In fields and forests and muddy ditches.
Their lives persist as if mental itches,
Clawing back from dusty pictures.

They slumber not lost from mortal thought,
Though their battles have long been fought.
We remember still their lessons taught,
That, with their lives, were dearly bought.

- Oliver Jiang, 2013

Lest We Forget.

Time To Go

Time To Go
(Based on the lyrics of ‘Let Her Go’, by Passenger)

Well you only start to cry when your Moodle’s slow,
Only miss your high school when your lectures blow,
Only know you hate this when it’s time to go.

Only start to study when your grades are low,
Only hate the uni when you’re leaving home,
Only start your cramming when it’s time to go,
And it’s time to go.

Sitting at the back row of your class,
Hoping this time you'll focus at last,
But your grades start low and they drop so fast.

You “study” when you close your eyes,
When you fail you try to act surprised,
But in actual fact, it’s all just lies.

But you only check tonight which seat and which row,
Only want to finish and then go to the snow,
Only know you hate this when it’s time to go.

Only go and study what you right now know,
Only hate your brain cells when they just won’t grow,
Only start your cramming when it’s time to go.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark,
Same old empty feeling in your heart,
'Cause your brain’s so slow and set in park.

Well you “study” when you fall asleep,
But never to know and never to keep,
'Cause you procrastinated too much,
And now you reap.

Well you only say you’re tired but you’re hiding your woe,
Only know your name but you’re acting gung ho,
Only know you hate this when it’s time to go.

Only start to study when your grades plateau,
Only start to worry when you’re at 50 or so,
Only start your cramming when it’s time to go.

And it’s time to go.
And it’s time to go.
Well it’s time to go.

‘Cause you know only it’s SWOTVAC when the beards start to grow,
Only know you’re Asian when you’ve just got a mo’,
Only know you hate this when it’s time to go.

Only start to study when there’s no HBO,
Only close the TV when you finish this show,
Only start your cramming when it’s time to go.

‘Cause you wanna leave early but the clock’s going so slow,
Only know you’re screwed when your pen doesn’t flow,
Only know you hate this when it’s time to go.

Only start to regret not going to Prato,
Only try to revise stuff from long ago,
Only start your cramming when it’s time to go.

And it’s time to go.