Mothers and Life Goals

Parents aspire for the best for their children, hoping that they will win awards, get the best grades, attend prestigious universities, and have a comfortable economic future. But do 'Chinese mothers' raise children that become the best members of society? In response to Amy Chua's article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior", I would offer Barack Obama's comments at the memorial service in Tucson.

[...] in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame — but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

I'm certain that 'Chinese mothers' can raise children that can do well by this criteria of what matters in life. Yet they certainly have still to be proven as the superior formula for achieving it.

Sticker Shock Diet

First post of this year, and since returning to Cambridge from vacation. Walking into Marks & Spencers on my second day back reminded me of how expensive food is here in England. I don't know the relative prices of food in other European countries, but perhaps Europeans manage to control their weight better than stereotypical Americans because they buy less food. I've not looked in the relative purchasing power between America and the United Kingdom, but it sure seems like a good way to lose weight for a foreigner coming from a country where food is cheap: Sticker Shock Diet.

Oh how glad I am to be from a state that grows much of its own fresh vegetables and fruits. My stomach is missing California already.