I have one leg, No arms, and I am 60

So last night I was out with the fam to watch an Indian movie, Paa, about a child affected by a condition known as Progeria. It is a disease that rapidly ages a child and makes him physically more mature than mentally.

Needless to say, it was an emotional movie. But for some reason I did not feel the need to cry--this child is perfectly happy in his world. If I cry, it would be out of pity. That I am more fortunate than he is. But that is not true--in the movie, the child became a politician's favorite student and was able to see the President's house. Had it not been for the condition to separate him from the crowd, the politician would not have been curious about the child and would not have taken him to do such a prestigious activity.

After leaving the movie theater, my (distant) grandma grabbed her plastic handrest (cane) and dashed, relatively, outside the theater. I realized she did this because she did not want us to feel held up due to her slow walking disposition. I took her hand and walked her out.

Surprisingly, another elderly lady was dashing off, similarly, with her four-wheeled walker. She zoomed away to the exit as (what seemed to be) her daughter held the double doors open. This was a white woman who, after her handicap mother passed through the doors, gave me a look.

We both presumably just watched the same movie.

She had this look on her face: I know we are two completely different people. And normally I am not this nice. I truly see you as a different race, I do not view you positively. But your grandma and my mother are one and the same. They both need me to hold this door open for them. So I am.

I thanked her. My grandma in her cute English said Thank You. Thank you very much, thank you.

We are Different, yet the Same!

I somehow landed watching TLC tonight because of a special on Progeria-affected children. Then afterwards, Born Without Arms. Now, its about Shiloh, a mermaid girl with only one leg.

So what really sets us apart? A genetic code?

A World in "Harmony"- Toyota Prius!

http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/commercial.html

Today I watched the making of this Toyota Prius ad and it made me happy. It made me think of why I am a global studies major, as many experiences in my daily life do. I am constantly asking myself: Why do I want to learn about the world? Maybe its because I would like to know what people are like on the other side. I want to know how people think, how people feel. What's the environment that surrounds them, what's the culture that whispers into their ears and breathes into their music? Wow, it is all so exhilirating.

At one point in the video, the Japanese director, Hiro, says something along the lines of, "It wasn't people from different countries that worked on this, it was just people." So true! Toyota, a Japanese company, employs the Brit dude to shoot the video, an American to choreograph, various other people assisting, and a Japanese dude to direct it all. It took people from around the world to create the world portrayed in the ad.

I would just like to take a moment and say that this is the definition of globalization--for me. There are many people who think that globalization is simply Westernization, when it isn't. Clearly, there is a mix of ideas coming from East and West that allow such a production as the Prius commercial to happen. There are endless possibilities when the great minds of the world come together and share their dish at the global potluck.

Asshole on Sexual Abuse

Sometimes you are so molded by reality and other, more sentimental, experiences that you forget sometimes. What do you forget? That there really are stupid people in the world. I mean, sure, you know that there's an idiot who'll get mad at a grandma behind the wheel, or a not-so-nice-lady who thinks she can get what she wants through her looks...Yeah, those are common examples of stupid people. But you know for a fact that they are stupid people. So when you are in an environment, say..UCLA, and you are surrounded by college kids--otherwise known as activists--and their ambitions are sky high, their intentions productful, and so on and so forth, doesn't it always surprise you to genuinely bump into a real-life JERK?

Today I witnessed an acquaintence of mine (not an acquaintence by choice) speaking to another acquaintence of mine on how to get girls. How to abuse them, how to violate them, how to basically get them as drunk as possible to use them for their own pleasure. I was sitting in the same room. Guess what? We were the only three in the room. I cannot disclose any further details. But I was amazed at the shamelessness with which this guy spoke. He was bluntly interrogating a freshman on things his mom would never want to hear. That's fine, at least, in the realm of private conversation. But for God's sake, he was literally telling him how to play on a girl's insecurities in order to get into her panties. It's one thing to be a jerk, another to be a jerk and say ASSHOLEish things IN FRONT OF A GIRL! Wow, I can't believe the stupidity that exists in people.

I would like to know why this person revealed his alcohol, drug, and sex abuses to the freshman as well. Ha.