tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post4962756978367248003..comments2011-03-15T18:29:15.814+08:00Comments on Wind, Caught in a Net: "The Wit of Eternity"flyingfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04041819869743431324noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-59804392237769217062009-11-16T20:53:09.783+08:002009-11-16T20:53:09.783+08:00Thanks, Esther!
I can imagine that the pressure t...Thanks, Esther!<br /><br />I can imagine that the pressure to pull a Grand Historian must be wearing at times. In such cases it is rather refreshing to stick with admiring the autumn lotuses. <br /><br />Yes, this is my second year here in Beijing. My teaching duties are exceedingly light and also very rewarding -- a good combination for anyone, but especially for me, as the health issues still get in the way quite a bit.<br /><br />I think I remember your mentioning a defense scheduled early next year? Good luck! I wish I could be there to cheer you on. :)flyingfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041819869743431324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-73976280830219811972009-11-16T19:01:07.303+08:002009-11-16T19:01:07.303+08:00Hey, this is beautiful, you liberal you. I had no...Hey, this is beautiful, you liberal you. I had no idea you were in Beijing--that's amazing and wonderful. I find, whenever I come back to thinking about 6/4, that... well, you're lucky as your interests have led you to poetry, and maybe poetry is the only right response. Since I'm all about bao-bian and historical judgments on complex events... I always feel like I ought to have an opinion--and yet, as you say--what can one say?<br />--EstherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-36751482382216782982009-11-16T14:06:50.037+08:002009-11-16T14:06:50.037+08:00Umm . . . bracketing for a moment the question of ...Umm . . . bracketing for a moment the question of whether it is appropriate to expect an Obama-praising -- wait for it, yes -- LIBERAL to have moral clarity, I rather wonder if you understood what I meant when I said I had nothing to say. <br /><br />I meant I was speechless. You know, like, shocked, horrified, saddened beyond words. In this I was joined by most of the rest of the world -- though of course some, with greater command of their thoughts and responses than I can ever hope to muster, managed to articulate their views. <br /><br />It seems to me that our responses to suffering on the scale of 6/4 -- or, for that matter, 9/11 -- do a great deal to transcend political conviction. Horror has a unifying principle; we all share the same nightmares. The unification may not last long, but it is no less genuine for all its brevity.<br /><br />As for "admitting" I'm a liberal -- what a very refreshing way to put it! I should have said that I CLAIM to be a liberal, in the same way many others claim to be Christian. That is, I do my best.<br /><br />You have signed your comment "64 surviver." I suppose you mean you were at the center of events then. My heart goes out to you.flyingfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041819869743431324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-36502700885852884522009-11-15T22:38:44.953+08:002009-11-15T22:38:44.953+08:00"As I explained a minute ago, it's been t..."As I explained a minute ago, it's been twenty years, and in all that time I've had nothing to say."<br /><br />Let me take a wild guess. You have praised Obama on your blog. You have admitted that you are a liberal. Can one expect a liberal to have moral clarity? Not the last I checked.A 64 Survivernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-56142614295153986942009-06-23T03:41:14.974+08:002009-06-23T03:41:14.974+08:00stay strong. though we may have an emic, outsider ...stay strong. though we may have an emic, outsider view, sometimes someone else has to tell us when we can't see the spot on our own backs.Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06748969395995096741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2243295322488372497.post-53111864579821719622009-06-05T01:40:18.824+08:002009-06-05T01:40:18.824+08:00Your blog once again leaves me shaking my head, sp...Your blog once again leaves me shaking my head, speechless. For some things poetry is truly the only appropriate language.<br />WillowWillownoreply@blogger.com