Hi Decoders! 
It’s been a while!!!
How has everyone been? Anyway, I was just watching updates on the Olympics preps. Each comment is a gold nugget. One of the sayings they have right now is, “Olympic wins are transient, but cultural impressions last forever.” I find it amazing that they are doing everything they can to showcase their culture. They even have officials with the designated job of “manners minder.” This century is really so different. To think, it has only been about 500 years since the Renaissance and the Reformation. John Gribbin says in his book, “Scientists,” that life in the West, anno domini, did not really change drastically for 1500 years. But zoom into the 21st century…only 500 years after, everything is just going so fast. Come to think of it, people in the 18th century would be so shocked to encounter the internet, which just began in the 20th century! Just take a look at our century now and you will notice that the time of the West has ended. It’s already the rise of Asia and most specifically the rise of China and India. Even “The Mummy” franchise is set in China right now. Wow. The History Channel has this beautiful feature (get the DVD) on China not having a Dark Ages during the time that the West was in the gloom! Yet China did struggle–much recent history will show that. Nevertheless, here’s the thing…. I find it interesting that the strength of the culture is reflected the most in how it makes a nation rise out of ashes. The strength of the culture is in how it brings out the best in the nation during times of tumult. The culture may sleep for a while and forget. But it later wakes up and realizes what it is made of.
-The Fool
Come to think of it, people in the 18th century would be so shocked to encounter the internet, which just began in the 20th century! Just take a look at our century now and you will notice that the time of the West has ended.
hello fool! good thing or not, i believe it is china and only chinese civilization as we know it that fit your description or definition best of what a resilient country and a culture mean. i think credit is due to both so-called continuing civilizations in the forefront of things. the west i think is worthy of admiration for its innovation and openness to changes necessary. i am referring to the post-reformation west as the medieval west and before that (save for greek influence over the aegean and the mediterranean with the romans). for before the reformation (arguably coming with the age of scientific revolution as embodied in newton’s “principia…” and the age of exploration), there could only be darkness and unrest. i think coldplay’s viva la vida track sums it best. the united states without doubt is the face of the west, or its battlefield. it is a reminder of a country built on a moral standard and a commitment to mankind. it grows because it adapts and it welcomes the world with its great promise. that was before. sadly, it is with this same speed that the west has recklessly fallen and is falling.
so we find the east as china clearly represents (at least the oriental tradition). in it we find your resilience and your fighting the ebb of time and decay. timelessness and harmony with the world, as magnified in the olympics opener is ever so clear. however, we also find a commitment to the idea of a middle kingdom. it has oftentimes been labeled irridentist however i think it is far more deeper and far more productive to mankind. in china now we see a rising tiger that has battled with the shame it also bore and has finally reclaimed its place under the sun. and goodness it is one big tiger! as i maintain, this is all inevitable. with something as big as china and a people so committed to an idea of empire and culture, there can be no stopping its return to prominence. for how long, we do not know. for what reason for all of us, it seems its getting clear. the east needs a face. and if this be the asian century, then china is most ready to take the lead. yesterday was a clear-cut, $44B example of what the asian century will be like and with china leading the way. hands down, it was spectacular!
as for the philippines, i think being spectator is not a comfortable position to be in. we can’t be left behind. we have to take part and i believe, our country being an epicenter of various natural resources is a hint on where to start.