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Through my macro lens, I find myself in
love with this most common plant in nature. Tempted by its magic, I decide
to give a new look at the human world with the same lens. I set myself off
on a flight.
On the flight, I am utterly delighted to
encounter a lush planet earth. As I fly over its majestic mountains, oceans
and plains, I quickly spot smokes and fires (from bombs and bombings), and
immediately sense the conflicts between geographical regions, nations and
races. My attention is, however, attracted and diverted by some magnificent
skyline in the far horizon. Propelled by an intense curiosity, I make a
stop at this place.
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I am, of course, impressed and in fact amazed
by its extensive highway networks, large shopping centers, big houses and
cars, and all sorts of high-tech inventions at first sight. As I follow the
roads to visit cities, towns and the countryside, I meet: single moms who
work three hourly-paid jobs a day yet unable to afford health insurance;
students from poor families who bear a heavy burden of debts for their high
education; hardworking households (there are several million of them) that
have failed to pay mortgages and lost homes while Wall Street dwellers
cleverly channeling the flow of dollars to their own pockets. I hear talks
too: many are mad at the President for his "socialist"
policies (including a health care plan intended to cover the whole
population); some party activists are calling for killing the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education; politics
has become extremely complicated (or simple) - one party says NO to
whatever proposals the other party proposes and no matter what issue it is.
At the end of the day, I come to a grand-looking
city, illuminated by myriad lights and colors. As I walk through its
streets, I soon discover: two gangs are shooting brutally against each
other; a group of terrorists explode a subway station, successfully
stirring terror; a jobless man, full of hatred in his eye, waves a knife
toward some innocent children. I quickly flee to some bright spots. I open
the door of a beautiful house. In a lovely living room, a fireplace glows
with golden flames. People who live in the house are all beautiful, each
occupying a room tastefully decorated: a man is watching sports on a big
screen; a woman is fiddling with some paper; a youth devotes himself to a
purely artificial world of games. It looks very peaceful. No sounds or what
so ever - everybody wears Sound Isolating High-Definition Stereo Earphones.
But somehow I feel a delicate tension in the air. Like a fly caught on a
thin spider's web, it's difficult to
breathe. So I get back to the streets again. There I notice an elegant man
stand out tall in the crowd. I follow him around, as if a goddess falls in
love with a mortal. He is glamorous and charming. He does science and
performs art. He has the finest mind since Plato. It doesn't
take me long, though, to recognize his true nature: he places himself at the
center of the universe (in both dimensions of space and time); he never
looks (or simply can't look) from other people's
perspectives, and totally ignores other people's
feelings (maybe his too); he does cost-benefit analyses with such
proficiency (it almost becomes an instinct). Disappointed, my heart sinks.
Thus
my magic lens seems to have lost its magic.
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