Cat showed me the Five Wonderful Precepts this weekend, a set of vows rooted in Zen Buddhism, which derives from both Mahayana Buddhist beliefs and principles from Confuscius. I don't really consider myself a follower of any particular religious belief system -- but I do try to integrate the teachings of various religions or schools of philosophy into my own views of life. I guess you could say that I try to create my own system of morals and beliefs that I follow.
Two weeks ago, the pastor at my church gave a sermon on taking a sabbath to spend time with family and friends, to build community. He talked about how as he was growing up, his parents, uncles and aunts lived in close proximity to each other, and how every Sunday after service, they would go to someone's house and just spend time as one gigantic family with all of his uncles, aunts and cousins. He talked about his latest trip to Los Angeles, how he planned to get together with some of the old church members for a quiet brunch at Denny's before he returned to the Bay Area, just expecting 5 or 6 to show up, and having 20 people show up instead, and how great it felt to be surrounded in the company of friends and family. He encouraged us that day to take the rest of the day off, and just enjoy friends and family.
Last night, as I cleaning my apartment, I watched a documentary they made a few years ago about San Francisco Chinatown, and how the women growing up in Chinatown formed their own sort of mini-family (which is sort of what the women of 'The Joy Luck Club' belonged to), but they also mentioned how during World War II, the Chinese were allowed to enlist in the armed forces for the first time, and how when they came back, they were able to move their families out of Chinatown, and how the community suffered for that. During the 60s or 70s, there were demonstrations, because the inhabitants of Chinatown felt that the community was falling apart, and that Chinatown was just becoming a place for tourists, and not the Chinese that lived there.
Last night, I was talking with my friend Jack (who lives in Seattle with his wife and son) and he mentioned moving back to Los Angeles eventually. 'Why?' I asked him. His answer was simply "There aren't enough Chinese here." I asked him to explain a little bit more, and what it came down to was that it was troublesome to get certain things in Seattle, and that when he and his wife didn't want to cook, the Chinese restaurants, while good, weren't exactly cheap. "There isn't enough competition, so what normally goes for 6.99 or 7.99 in Los Angeles is 11.99 or 12.99 here" he told me.
Which brings me to my final thought about community. In Chinese society, we are taught to respect and cherish our elders. It does not matter if the elder is a poor, blind and homeless beggar, you still treat them with respect. Contrast that to western society, where elderly are more or less mistreated by their own families the older they get. In western society we try to hide our age, afraid of getting old, while in the east, it's celebrated that one is getting wiser, more experienced. A part of me wonders the self-perception of the elderly is why the western lifespan is shorter than their eastern counterparts, even with the advances in medicine that science has afforded them.
I am always making new dreams to follow, because I never want to be without a goal, without something to improve or better myself in. Because, to me, to be without a goal, means that there is nothing to look forward to, and I always want something to look forward to -- that's what keeps me going -- the hope that tomorrow I will be a better man than the one I am today, and one step closer to my dreams.
The older I become, the more I appreciate the importance of attitude on understanding and enjoying life. Bad things happen to everyone. We can't change what has happened in the past, but we can control ourselves in the attitude we take with the misfortunes of life. Attitude is everything.
Your friend and his family can always drive to Vancouver to get Chinese products or eat at one of the many restaurants in the various municipalities that we have here. After all, Vancouver is only 2-3 hours away and we always get quite a significant amount of Asian/Chinese visitors from Seattle who come up here to take part in or enjoy the many Asian/Chinese places we have here. One of them is my dad's friend/co-worker who periodically drives up to Richmond with his family to eat at one of the many Chinese restaurants they have in the district. Vancouver has more Asians so we have a greater variety of Asian products that are available to consumers here. After all, we basically have two Chinese channels and three Chinese-language radio stations to service the community here attesting to the large numbers of Chinese who live in the city.
In Vancouver, you can pretty much find a Chinese restaurant anywhere you go. Plus, it would be cheaper for him for two reasons: the Canadian dollar is still lower than the U.S dollar and there are a lot of Chinese people in Vancouver since they make up the largest minority in the city. We also have some great HK-style diners and bakeries here. Plus, there are many other Asians besides the Chinese in Vancouver including East Indians (who make up a large portion of the population), Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese and some Japanese to name some of the more major groups of the Asian population in Vancouver. The city has a pretty diverse population as they also do in Toronto (and probably even more so in Toronto) so you can generally find restaurants that serve different types of ethnic cuisine. We also have some great sushi, Vietnamese and Korean places in Vancouver as well.
One of the things I miss about Vancouver is in being able to see a more diverse mix of people in the streets. I also miss being able to see Asians everywhere. Even though Edmonton has approximately 40,000 Chinese, you don't see them everywhere and I just miss being able to see Asians and people of other ethnicities almost everywhere you go. Vancouver is still a larger and a more multicultural/diverse city than Edmonton and I do miss living there.
Oops. I forgot to list the second reason as to why it would be cheaper for your friend. The second reason is that there are many Chinese places in the Greater Vancouver area and they really and I mean, really try to compete and outdo the other places, which is why you can get great-tasting food at really cheap places. Remember that delicious slice of cake that you saw at The Boss Restaurant and Bakery that only costs 75 cents Cdn when you visited me in Vancouver? Delicious, moist and fluffy HK-style cakes at low prices. Now that's what I'm talking about.