The recent events in the world and in my personal life reminded me of the alleged dialogue between Henry Kissinger and Jhou Enlai on French Revolution. Kissinger is supposed to have asked Jhou "What do you think of the impact of the French Revolution?" Jhou answered that " It is too early to tell."
www.en.wikipedia.org
There are many conjectures as to why the question was asked and what the answer was based on or meant. Each one of us can come up with a reasonable interpretation of it, probably, depending on our own unique backgrounds. My wish is that Jhou had answered that "The French Revolution is not over, yet."
This incident is alleged to have happened in 1971 during the secret visit to China by Kissinger in preparation for the historic visit by the President Nixon in 1972. During the last 40 years, the world has changed tremendously beyond the common imagination and expectation of 1972.
The relationship between China and U.S. has developed into, arguably, the most important one in the world. The last 40 years have proved that the pace of change has quickened and doing so at this right moment. Two hottest examples of the fast paces of changes in the world are the European crisis and the Arab Spring. These historical events arise from unresolved issues in politics, finance, history, ideology, and pride. The only thing is that they are doing the three step waltz, one step forward and two step to the side or back.
www.en.wikipedia.org
At this moment, the Presidential campaigning is more like a cha cha cha. One step either camp attacks the other and it takes three steps to defend itself from the meaningless attack. So far this cycle of campaigning is so shallow and immature my tennis and golf are improving. When so many important issues are on the line, it is truly heartbreaking to see the paralysis in Washington and puerile political greediness.
I once raised the question "Is the American Revolution over?" One man answered with puzzled and defiant expression on his face, "Of course, it is. It's been over since the late 18th century." What I implied in the question is that whether the ideals the American Revolution represented have become realized.
The American Revolution and the French Revolution happened at the same time period, give or take a few years. The ideals of that time period was the same, liberty, equality, brotherhood or the pursuit of happiness in Jefferson's word. My question is "Do we have true liberty and equality in U.S. or France?" If not? Is the revolution over, yet?
There have been many revolutions in the history. Some have failed badly, for instance, communism because it's ideals were not compatible with human nature. At least, the French and American Revolution put forth the ideals that we can live with and worth continued effort to pursue.
The point is any revolution should have a clear vision and logistics. The only thing is the human nature the way it is it may take forever to fulfill a worthwhile vision. In other words, the logistics is a very, very, long term proposition. Looking at North Korea and much of South Korea, there are questions as to Koreans ever got over the coufucian feudal mentality. Jhou may be right that "It is too early to tell."
▲ Jhou Enlai www.en.wikipedia.org
On a personal level, I have been trying to get better as a person all my life but I invariably find myself about at the same place. First of all, the vision is not so clear and the logistics are comes and goes. I like to have my personal revolution.
But, even though, my step are getting a little more coordinated and in sync it still is a clumsy waltz and cha cha cha. I'm just optimistic enough to continue my personal revolution, however long it takes.
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