Connect with the rest of the world, and enlarge yours in the process.

There is 20% unemployemnt in Spain. Yikes!!!

Good manners and common decency can build strong relationships, here and abroad...

Refering to war-traumatized Iraqi children, a woman on NPR stated, "one Saddam Hussein has died, a million more will rise up in his place."

Parents, by far, are the best sources of education children can ever acquire, especially after 3:15 PM.

Demonstrating acts of kindness to family and friends now will come natural when traveling abroad.

Flip-flops, shorts, t-shirt, and long toenails is not good combination for a job fair or interview.

If it's possible, spend two hours per week towards visiting a library, bookstore or museum with your children. The rewards will be great.

Now more than ever, being polite has become a precious commodity.

Use 529 educational prepaid or savings plans to help offset the cost of education for your children. You'll pat yourself on the back later.

One day women the world over will be embraced as critical to civilization rather than as chattel or beasts of burden.

Homogeneity, whether cultural, ethnic, and a sense of reverence to hierarchy, will almost certainly preserve a nation's morals and manners.

Remittances back to the Philippines by citizens working abroad make a huge difference in their economy.

It's remarkable that S. Korea didn't retaliate when N. Korea sank the South's patrol boat last month.

Civility: The Gate of Society

When people travel to other countries, whether on vacation or for business, the biggest comment you'll ever hear is just how nice the people are. I found myself sharing the same opinion after living in Japan for a couple of years. Using my own country as a comparison, I found Japan to be amazing. I observed examples of being nice practically everywhere I traveled in the country. What I learned was civility and niceties are a permanent fabric in Japanese society. Besides the presence of hierarchal relationships at every level, politeness was constantly displayed both to persons familiar with one another, and to two strangers meeting for the first time.

I bring all this up to stress a point. We are all drawn to politeness and civility. We want to be treated with respect. And if the entire country seeks to treat one another with a degree of respect and difference, the things we feel are gone, nationalism, unity, respect, and national conviction, would most certainly re-emerge.

The Unpredictability of International Relations

I was reading the NYT's this morning, and I found an article about the perceived actions of China in the South Pacific. The country of focus was on the small island of Fiji. The article pointed out that since this small nation was incurring the wrath of both its former colonial master, Great Britain, and raising the eyebrows of both Australia and New Zealand, it was turning to China as an alternative. The gist of the article was simply that there is a great deal of "mis-readings" on China's, and for that matter Fiji's, intentions.

I found the article an excellent example of just how unpredictable international relations can be until actions are demonstrated. For example, I had read about the Chinese government is making attempts to quell much of the recent diplomatic ruffling of feathers between both countries over things such as currency, the trade imbalance, sales of arms by the United States to Taiwan, and the perceived confrontation between the militaries of both the U.S. and China in the Pacific. All are clearly very valid issues. But none of them are good indications of the future state of things. If anything, these issues mentioned above should be treated seriously, but not as a gauge of some future war. After all, according to the article, the president maintains a portrait of the Queen of England near his desk. Which, according to the article, sends the signal that the relationship between the Fiji and the U.K. isn't totally lost.

The purpose of knowledge.

After having just finished my graduate studies, I realized after the smoke cleared that the purpose of knowledge should always include dispensing that knowledge for the benefit of others. I have found it rewarding while in the midst of frank discussions with groups of people that perhaps have yet to earn a degree that my degree is worth something when either I am left with an, "aha" moment, or the other parties are left with the same effect. Economies the world over could see amazing outcomes if the societies of all 192 nations took the same approach.