Haha, calm down, Alpha, everything's alright. I'd thank you for the advice if I hadn't already removed the link. So please, if you happen to see something I don't, you can always +rep me xD Seriously, you're cute
Whoops! Ignore that VM, you're on to it. EDIT: Ignore that reputation. The ****, Alpha?
Heh, thanks, that's great to hear. I was just absent for a few weeks because I didn't have access to the internet. I (finally) moved from my parent's place to my own appartment and it took three to four weeks for my internet to be there. But now I'll be checking TFF at least once a day again.
Are you still alive? You should hang out here more, I like you
I wouldn't want to go to Australia. That's a bit too much warmth for me. ^^" And also, my mother told me that New Zealand was a really beautiful country. So I'd rather go there... at least in winter. Imagine, you look outside your window, everywhere's snow, and then you read about a place where the sun's still shining. Then you just wish to go there.
Why would't it still be summer? Is it not still winter for you? I always thought my summer and your winter went from sort of mid-November until mid-February. It's pretty nice here right now, overcast but at least 23 degrees C. If you don't want a winter, consider Australia. But that's if you tolerate like 40 deg C in the worst of summer. Personally I want more winter. It doesn't snow in my specific region, and I've only experienced snow twice in my entire life.
It's still summer in New Zealand?!?! Oo" WHEN exactly is winter for you? And - most importantly - HOW LONG is summer over there? I dream of a warm country without any winter at all @_@
Nah your description just made it seem as though you had written it in primary school, but when I read it, I thought, 'no way can someone write this good at that age', so then I convinced myself that you must've been older, but I still mixed it with the impression that you must have been somewhat young, and came up with 14/15, as an absolute minimum. 17 makes a lot more sense!
Another thing I don't like to tell you... xD" Yes, I was in school when I wrote that short story... but I was in High School. ^^"" Meaning I was about 17 when I wrote it... xD" Does it sound as if a young girl wrote it? .-." I didn't want it to seem like a child's story... it was about adults, actually. ^^"
Nah don't read the whole thing, I had to read it again the other day for study, it's just variation around that excerpt. Basically, the Chinese invented democracy, but so did the Greeks, independently. So I'm not slagging on the Greeks, but it's worth pointing out that democracy isn't uniquely Western, especially to people who blame the lack of "good governance" for poverty in the world. How old were you when you wrote that happiness thing? Did it say that you were in primary school? Wait, why don't I just check... You say you wrote it in "school". Define "school" - is it like before age 10? Cause I couldn't write anything like that at that age, and they put me in extended writing classes. I looked at the stuff I kept from primary school, and apart from maths, it mostly pretty bad. Well, I s'pose I don't know what 'bad' is for a primary school child. Anyway, it's amazing. You must have written that when you were at least 14, 15?
Erm.. erm... thank you. .-." *flattered* I still haven't read the page you sent me... Perhaps I'll do by tomorrow - I've got a day off tomorrow x3"
This is beautiful, Freya. Thank you!
"...It is widely accepted that English political philosopher John Locke laid the foundation for modern democracy. According to Locke, sovereign rights reside with the people and, based on a contract with the people, leaders are given a mandate to govern, which the people can withdraw. But almost two millennia before Locke, Chinese philosopher Meng-tzu preached similar ideas. According to his "Politics of Royal Ways," the king is the "Son of Heaven," and heaven bestowed on its son a mandate to provide good government, that is, to provide good for the people. If he did not govern righteously, the people had the right to rise up and overthrow his government in the name of heaven. Meng-tzu even justified regicide, saying that once a king loses the mandate of heaven he is no longer worthy of his subjects' loyalty. The people came first, Meng-tzu said, the country second, and the king third. The ancient Chinese philosophy of Minben Zhengzhi, or "people-based politics," teaches that "the will of the people is the will of heaven" and that one should "respect the people as heaven" itself." -Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values - Kim Dae Jung I might start a thread for something along these lines when I come back (properly).
The Chinese invented democracy? O.o That's some shocking information. How come THEY did it? Haven't they always had their monarchy?
Because that's the way we (Westerners) believe the world goes. It's true though, Western ideas permeate most things, and one can easily get the impression that all the good ideas are Western. But I could have a good discussion about how the Chinese actually invented democracy; how, despite Napoleon's conclusions, the Egyptians had philosophy (including the oldest known philosophical writing: "A man in distress wants to pour out his heart, more than that his case be won." - Ptah-hotep, c. 2300 BCE). I could go on. It seems strange learning about anything non-New Zealand here, seeing as we are so far from, well, almost everything. I mean, look at the map below. Looks like the Chinese found Antarctica, and misplaced Australia, but I can barely see New Zealand
