| Sabaidii thook qon, Don’t hate me; I borrow this annoying (contagious) behavior from TheDeon. On behave of his absented from SJD; I would like to take over his responsibility to annoy, no… I mean to entertain every member for him. Oh C’mon now, I can see that many of you probably hated my gut for being so outspoken; all I know is that if SJD is seeking the truth (as the word Satjadham coveys) – Again, borrow this ideas from a friend. I guess I have the right to voice, express and search for the truth, right? Enough sarcasm for now. Along I have another writing to share with everyone, and the title was -- I have a dream… Many of us who arrived to the United States during the last 10 or 20 years as political asylum could barely speak a word of English. For the many of us who dared to dream about democracy and freedom, we're seeing our dreams fulfilled and our life much more productive. We're within the! ! proximity of all kinds of material convenience, modern cultural environment, and in a midst of personal freedom. It goes to prove that possibilities are works of the natural mind. All we need to do in order to achieve anything in life is to purposefully have the courage to dream the impossible dreams. Sooner or later, things will be working out to the ways we've wanted from the beginning. The stuff of life is made of sincerity, humility, and hunger after righteousness. There were Laotian aristocracy, Khaysone's (Former Pathet Laos political leader) autocratic regime, and Vietnamese army. These leaders had only wanted control and extraction of our moral integrity for their earthly pleasures, physical convenience, and political advantage. These were impossible barriers that we had to overcome. But having been there and done that should not stop us from further undertaking new and seemingly impossible tasks. As we've always done in the past, we'll just continue to dream ! ! the old impossible dreams for more freedom and democracy for all the people in the world and, most certainly, for Laos. Surely, we've made plenty of mistakes along the way. But look at where we are now, some 20 years later. Most of us are having good jobs, growing families, and expanded cultural influence. If we had been afraid of failure, errors of judgment, and those many stumbling blocks, we would not have been able to achieve legitimacy and wield some credibility and self-worth. So, let us continue the dreams as we have so earnestly done from the beginning. People will continue to ridicule us. They'll say we're sick, hypocritical, and having no motivation. But our lord Buddha will always show mercy and favorable circumstances to those of us who have shown consistency, humility, and endurance. Those who brag about their own intelligence, material comfort, and extremely healthy conducts without giving due recognition to the real source of creativity will usua! ! lly end up in sickbed, premature aging, and spiritual death. It happens so because realities are not made of big talks, inconsistencies, and irrelevance. It is the simplicity and sincerity of our purposes that have gotten us this far on the road to achievement, fulfillment, and happiness. Don't get sidetracked by criticism, negative pounding, and unfriendly maneuvers. Always follow the light of our dreams and share the fruits of our successful endeavor with many as possible. There will always be intimidation, aggressive behaviors, and cultural abuses. Don't be fascinated with this style of leadership nor should we submit to the influence of demagoguery. Only democracy, personal freedom, and social justice will deliver a political platform that can allow dreams to become possible and fruitful in the end. As long as our ambitions are being validated and justified under the sight of lord Buddha, they can be followed up with boldness, vibrancy, and articulation to ! ! support and sustain the enfoldment of our creative urge. Whether they are wealth, power, influence, or relationship, we shall pursue the objects of our dreams with passion, relentless drive, and persistent efforts. Without acknowledging the divine assistance in our works to get our dreams fulfilled, we may end up becoming selfish and more reluctant to share the fruits of our human endeavors. And without making an honest effort to share the creative energies of our thought process, we may also become isolated, indignant, and even addicted to the way of the world. As such, we may have harder times to do away with the legacy of past misunderstanding, the grinding mechanism of mental slavery, and the crafty routines of revengeful spirit. We want freedom without limits. We want the freedom to think about what we wish to worship. We want the freedom to love that we respect and admire. We want the freedom to reside where we can afford and feel secure. We want the free! ! dom to interact, participate, and contribute in the open forum of government, public institutions, and corporate entities. We want freedom without measure. These are the extent of our desire and the longing of our hearts. We want freedom for all. Now that we've become citizens of the most powerful and democratic nation in the world, we know how we have gotten here. We have taken greater risks, overcome tremendous odds, and made our way to freedom. We have done so because we have the courage to believe in democracy. We have achieved a better political status because the friendly people of America who share our vision, sympathize with our cause, and assist us along the way to freedom have supported us. Through persistent struggles, strengthened wills, and some simple strategies, we have gotten free from the tyranny of irrelevance, mania for exclusion, and autocratic control. Such absolutism, insensitivity to shared mindedness, and tendency for regressive behavior! ! s are not conducive to social and political progress of any country that seeks to continue the maintenance of the status quo. In the United States, a big country where democracy is being practiced, we have the rights to make decisions, define our purposes, and re-arrange the elements of human capacities to fit the fancy of our imagination. When Bill Gates decided to drop out from college and follow his childhood dreams, he did it out of moral necessity to define new space of freedom within the human mind. He lived in more a carefree environment and was able to afford an elitist education. But he gave them up in order to follow the light of his dreams. Now, being chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Mr. Gates is the richest man in the universe. It all started with the natural desire to be free and he had a unique way to reconstruct the elements of the human mind. He has made an outstanding contribution to humanity by following the ardent desire to be creative. So was true with the incorporation of DreamWorks SKG. Three men of great artistic talents in Hollywood decided to reshuffle the deck of the entire human culture by pooling their resources to form a new corporate entity to challenge the current thinking in show business. We are not Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation or Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks SKG. We were refugees who seek political freedom in a new land. Although our dilemmas were as real as the ones of Bill Gates or Jeffrey Katzenberg, they were more life threatening and required cataclysmic intervention from various international relief agencies in order to alleviate the pains of suffering. We may not be able to measure up to the minds of the men that started Microsoft Corporation or DreamWorks SKG. But we've seen outstanding marks of Laotian minorities, which are being sprouted, throughout the different regions in the United States. Dreams are color blind and they are not associated with natio! ! nalities, gender, or race. They transcend the human species. Martin Luther King, Jr., the prominent leader of American civil rights movement, said very loudly some decades ago when he and his people marched on the nation's capital: 'I have a dream'. Be it primitive disk operating system for the personal computer or the spreading of doughnut shops throughout the west coast of the United States; let us follow the guiding light of our dreams. Let us harness the threads of our imagination with attention and tender loving care. Long lives SJD, Amp _____________________________________________________________ = You want FREE web-based email ? = You want your own @qon.lao.net address?? = Then you want LaoNet's WebMail ! = Get it at http://webmail.lao.net !! |