Hello Jack and Jackie, Are you having a good time in the country ? Here rain is falling all day long now. I am amused at your writings with English. You devote yourself to describe things easier for me. I deep down in my heart thank you for your helps to be learned in English under your teaching. About my son : I cant tell you everything but Some secrets are existed between us. It doesnt amount to much or amount to nothing. However I am afraid of his paying generous amount in geting to know me. He can not see the sky yet. My mistakes are mainly about studies with much oppression, in addition to insufficient environment of living, lacking in conversation and shortage of my love when they are very young here. It is unavoidable things to keep them hard and diligent. Although this is his best endeavor, As a result, he can enter the national university free now. Korea Maritime and Ocean University in Pusan google/url?sa= t&source=web&cd=15&ved= 0CFIQFjAO&url=http%3A%2F% 2Fkmou.ac.kr%2F2013% 2Fmain%2Findex.jsp&rct=j&q=% ED%95%B4%EC%96%91%EB%8C%80%ED% 95%99%EA%B5%90&ei= t5hTVK7lBYGRmwW5jIKABw&usg= AFQjCNFcDpeM6vQL16w2YUaVOxdyA8 vGvg&sig2=j_ r2pmRUbVHoLeWUmU98Tg&bvm=bv. 78597519,d.dGY I hope that he will try to make efforts to study something in stead of fighting me in his youth. We have much problems to each other, but in seeing other vewpoint, we will have nothing in the long run. I will only wait and see. He dont telephone to me now. He is practicing at sea in Vietnam or Philippines with a trainee. His life is very hard in long voyage I think. He can read and write English more than I. He will not read this in Face Book. About The Noth korea problems and my interests in my living I will send my opinions to you. Please have a fun with your friends and Take care of yourself in shooting. Talk to you later. Jeun. (You can call my name is John I am O.K not impossible if you want to) Hello Jeun, YOUR SON: I am very sorry to hear that you have been experiencing difficulties with your son on Face Book. What do you quarrel about that should be so difficult? Sometimes, fathers and sons... also mothers and sons/daughters... have strong personalities and while agreeing on most things in life, have different perspectives on a few things based on age, life experiences and other factors, and that leads to quarrels. It is very common that young people... who are at their peak of intellectual power... sometimes confuse this period of time in their lives, as if it is the same as having wisdom make good decisions, to hold proper opinions, and to act appropriately on a whole range of lifes situations. This is sometimes a very harmful mistake... for everybody involved. For too many young people, anger and emotions too often cloud judgment and gets the way of making good decisions and acting appropriately. Most young people out-grow this situation by their late 20s or so, and start to polish their skills of life and acting with more wisdom. Hopefully, you and your son will grow together with time and enjoy a harmonious relationship as son and father. Everybody makes mistakes... and most people eventually learn from their mistakes and become wiser with age. Questions: Does your son speak English? Is he planning to come to America anytime in the foreseeable future? Where exactly is he now? At sea? Where? I would maybe like to meet him and talk to him. RIDING BICYCLE IN GROUPS OR TRAFFIC: Yes, you are exactly about keeping a constant line and avoiding any sudden, and unexpected course deviations. When riding with hundreds of other cyclists, it is essential that everybody know and trust everybody else to act predictably so as to avoid any surprises or sudden changes in the path and speed of the bicycles as they navigate through the various terrain in very close proximity to each other. I have had two minor crashes in recent years because of the breakdown of this concept. Once, in the 2010 MS 150 Ride, Ritchie and I had been riding together all day back from Williamsburg towards Richmond. We were both tired and we were slowly climbing up a long hill. I was following Ritchie up the hill very closely... like maybe withing one foot separated my front wheel and his rear wheel. Everything was going fine until Ritchie just got tired and stopped peddling... and I crashed into the rear of his bike. Fortunately, we were going slow so the crash caused little damage and no injuries. Cause of crash: I just did not expect that Ritchie would all of a sudden slow down to a stop. On another occasion, I was riding with a friend on a road ride out in the country. There was no traffic and the road was good... but it was hot. I was riding to the left of my friend and nearly an entire bicycle length behind. We were talking about stopping pretty soon to get a drink and rest, and I agreed that we could stop anytime he wanted to. In just a split second after I spoke, my friend swerved hard to the left and started to slow so that he stop under the shade of a big tree that we were just passing. I of course did not expect this sudden move and could not avoid in clipping his rear wheel with my front wheel. He was able to maintain control and stay up, but I was immediately thrown to the right and down on the road experiencing cuts and abrasions (we call this road rash). On many other occasions, I have had people passing me very closely and nearly hitting me as they passed... both cyclists and motorist. I try to be careful, but there is always some risk especially on the highways. AMERICAN POLITICS: We are only a few days away now from the Mid-Term National Elections. It is on the news non-stop, every day from morning to night. I am getting tired of hearing the same old propaganda and smears over and over. Both Republicans and Democrats have resorted to very nasty negative campaigns where the candidates do not do such a good job of explaining what they themselves will do that is so good, but focus instead on demonizing and criticizing their opponents for the rotten job they have done or will do. Most regular American citizen /voters are reasonable people and really dont care so much about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Today, most Americans either officially declare, or informally describe themselves, as independents... not being rigidly affiliated with either party. Also, most Americans are not slaves to political idiology... conservatism, liberalism, progressivism, environmentalism, feminism, greenism, internationalism, or any of the other identity politics. Most Americans are pragmatist... they want things to work. At one time, I was officially a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party, but for most of my life, I have been a practicing independent who can be very fickle from one election cycle to the next... voting sometimes Republican and sometimes Democratic, sometimes for no particular party member. I like to know the details of who the candidates are and what their histories are. Unfortunately, too many politicians will say virtually anything to get elected and often pander to the various factions of the voting public (pander means that the politician will tell the public what they want to hear just to get their votes). Accordingly, I am often critical of both the Republican and Democratic parties. Presently many American citizen /voters are tired of partisan politics and do not approve of many of the political talking points that so many politicians continue to repeat (talking points means standardized words, a narrative, a story that they want you to believe whether there is a shred of truth to it or not). I am one of these citizens. KOREAN POLITICS: You are most likely right about the difficulty of reunification of the two parts of the Korean peninsula. Attached here is an article on the subject I have read recently: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_reunification . It sounds like it will be very, very difficult to overcome all of the difficulties and bad history. However, it could be very good economically and socially as the North Korea has many natural resources, but has not done a good job of developing them for the benefit of the citizens. South Korea looks to be very advanced and modern and good for the people. If good government and good business practices could be brought to bear on the North, it could create many new jobs and good opportunities to improve the standards of living and relations between the Korean people. The key to success (one Korea nation) may be time and education. From what I understand, most of the people in the North Korea do not get much news or information about the rest of the world, or even of South Korea, and do not realize the potential advantages of a modern and entrepreneurial economy. Also, with the passage of time, maybe the old political rivalries and bad memories of the war will fade and disappear allowing younger generations to get past those barriers presently standing in the way of reunification. Definitely better education of young people would help. Recently, Jackie and I have had some guests here in Farmville from Nanning China. They are English teachers and faculty at universities in China and were here for six months as a cultural exchange exercise. Over this time, we have gotten to know them and learn a great deal about modern China and the progress they are making economically. They have returned to China two weeks ago but Jackie and I have learned that they are very nice people and that China and America have much in common that is good. So, I am optimistic about the role of education and time to solve some of the most difficult of political problems. (I will send you some further information about these people in the future.) TODAY: It is Thursday afternoon now and it is sunny and cool. I will be leaving now for a while to go out into the country. Talk to you later. Jack
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 14:56:22 +0000
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