Yes, after all, he who later became the Buddha only set out on his path toward enlightenment because, like we, he couldn't close his eyes to the suffering that surrounded him. And although Buddhism is essentially a means by which we can learn to accept that suffering while moving our consciousness to a higher plane, it also carries with it the tenet that when one sees someone, or something, that could benefit by our assistance, we are bound by that belief system to do our best to solve the problem - even at the cost of our own safety or well being.
It brings to mind an anectdote that I read long ago, perhaps in The Biography of Paramahansa Yogananda - not a Buddhist, but nevertheless:
While sitting next to the rivers edge, the master and his disciple noticed a scorpion struggling in the water. The master, using a leaf, scooped the scorpion from the water and when it was safe on the shore it stung the master. "But master," remarked the disciple. "Did you not know that the scorpion would sting you?" "Of course," replied the master. Naturally, the disciple was curious as to why the master took that course of action. The master's answer was that had he not done so the scorpion would have drowned.
It is not always easy to know what the correct course of action is to alleviate the suffering around us, but often self sacrifice is the key. Being an imperfect human being though, I often plead ignorance to knowing what that "correct action" truly is. Somewhere though, in the recesses of our consciousness the answer dwells and awaits our true motivation to seek it out and find it. In light of that and in somewhat of the same context, I believe that we all have the ability to affect positive change. Yet, as I stated in a previous posting, we can't always expect to see quick results.
There are those who would say that altruism doesn't exist...it's only a word. I for one disagree.

Thanks for the response Raoul. Yes, I too seem to be here for the long haul. And, like you, I sometimes feel as thoug my empathy for what I witness drags me too far down. But we can't avoid it can we? One amazing thing about China is that its shortcoming are far too transparent. In that context I have to often remind myself that what I'm witnessing is not so different than what I may, or have in some cases, witnessed in other parts of the world. Even in America for example it is estimated that more than a million children go to bed hungry every night. And throughout the world.......well, you know the deal - human suffering, man's inhumanity to man, the relentless and shocking degradation of the planet. Well, some of us just haven't got the ability to turn a blind eye to it all; especially in the light of the truth that if we could all work together to solve some of these problems we could start to turn things around.

But also like you Raoul I haven't the cash flow to make that kind of difference. We can only tell it like we see it and meanwhile do our best to help out where we can. This is why I'm a firm believer in "The Hundredth Monkey Syndrome."

At one time there was an institute called "The Hundredth Monkey Institute." (HMS) They were very low key and in fact so low key that they still very will may exist. Stated simply, their purpose was to elevate consciousness. Kind of like Buddhism if you break it down to its bare bones. The concept behind HMS stems from the obversation of a startling change in a tribe of monkeys on an island off the coast of Japan. For many years yams were daily brought to this little island so that the monkeys would have a proper diet. The yams would be dumped on to the sandy shore. One day something remarkable happened. One young monkey picked up a yam and took it the shoreline and washed the sand off it. Over a period of time the monkey created the amazing change that all the members of the tribe were now washing the sand from the yams. It didn't happen quickly. The first to follow suit was that monkey's aunt - the mother quite adamently refused and resisted. But ultimately she, like the other stubborn ones, gave in and found how satisfying it was to eat a yam free of sand.

Now, here's the kicker. Shortly after a hundred or so monkeys began washing their yams, the monkeys on another island where yams were also provided started doing the same thing! Thus the belief that elevating consciousness is the key to the planet's survival and the key to what Buddhists call "right action." And who knows? There very well may be a magic number that creates a sea change here on our planet. Suddenly X amount of people "get it," and wham things start changing for the better quickly. One can hope.

So yeah, we can't all follow the example now being set by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet - bless their charitable hearts. But we can hope that by setting good examples and educating others in terms of the possibilities that exist for a kind and caring society, and for a planet that can be healed of the harms we've caused, that we will create some kind of snowball effect.

Yes, you are so right Raoul, charity doesn't seem to be high on the list of importance for the rich of China, nor even for the newly created middle and upper middle classes. Yeah, the East of China and the West of China are as different as night and day. China's leaders plead with the wealthy and successful to share the wealth, In fact, Deng Xioping's (sp.) belief was like Reagan's - the old "trickle down" theory. Not.

It gets harder and harder for me to keep my trap shut the longer I stay here. When I was much younger, had I not made the break from the mainstream in America and moved off to the woods for 11 years and lived a fairly solitary life for several years after that, my mouth probably would have gotten me into serious trouble. It could happen here too because now I find myself walking a tightrope in that regard. Albeit, I refuse to shut my eyes or my mouth that so wants to report what my eyes see.

And so I babble away.........blah, blah....and have my secret hopes to accompany my not so secret hurts.

Interesting that the recent flow of communication in this forum has touched on such topics as abuse to animals, which has naturally led to forays into environmental abuse and even worker abuse and oh yes child abuse. I find this heartening. For one it shows me that my fellow ESL/EFL teachers are for the most part caring and compassionate individuals. And for the other it shows me that we are mutually meandering through this maze called Asia with our eyes wide open.

Now, although we are in some ways mandated to maintain a certain degree of political correctness, it begs the question how far are we willing to go to set the young people of these countries onto paths of "correct consciousness?" Granted, it would take a real dolt to expouse his or her personal feelings in the classroom regarding such issues as Tibet or Taiwan - in fact I know of at least one teacher who has gotten the boot over the Taiwan issue; however, I feel no compunctions about letting my feelings be known about the need for an expanded environmental movement here in China or the need to create an environmental consciousness in the young people here or elsewhere in Asia.

If indeed we feel that certain issues are critical, is it not our responsibility as compassionate, caring individuals to make even small attempts to alter the wrongs that we see? I think so. Depending on which environment I find myself teaching in - having first tested the waters of course, I often incorporate into my lessing planning or communication sessions some discussion regarding the environment, my personal axe to grind.

So while we are grinding our individual axes here, I hope that at the same time more of us will follow examples such as Robin Day's who protects a sixty acre section of Canada. (Kudos for that Robin!) I'm not sure if it helped, but here's an example of something I did that may have, in a small way, created change. I was working at a business college in Qingdao. The college was on a campus that had the potential to be quite beautiful. Unfortunately, most students on that campus either didn't give a damn or were just plain ignorant of the need to protect the environment. Every day on my way to work I had to cross a little bridge that spanned a creek that flowed through the campus. Could have been a nice little stroll to lighten my head before classes. Ha! No such luck. The creek was so polluted and so littered with garbage from the students and campus workers that it was not only disgusting to look at but also carried an unimaginably potent reek. Ah the winds of Qingdao - those cooling breezes in the hot summer that supposedly make it such a nice tourist destination. Well, not that part of Qingdao. The winds carried the near unbearable odor and it was wafted all about the campus.

Finally, I had enough. I always set aside a certain amount of classroom time for open discussion with my students. I carefully breached the topic of "the campus creek." One young lady, the brightest in the class, listened with rapt attention before offering up this little tidbit, "But what can we do about it?"
"Hmmmmmmmm," I replied. "Have you ever heard of the EPA?" (Yes, there is an Environmental Protection Agency in China.) Well, no she hadn't heard of it, but I watched with admiration as she wrote it down for later translation into Chinese. Perhaps she will create change. Perhaps she will shy away from confrontation with higher authority, But either way I left the classroom that day feeling as though I had accomplished something beyond trying to hammer English into the thick heads of students in a class where only 10 percent had any real interest in learning it.

But we keep on keepin' on don't we? So thanks again all of you who have raised such interesting points for the last few days. I hope we can all, even in small ways, make a change. Whether we see the change in our lifetimes or not is inconsequential. What really matters is that we try. Do you know about the "Hundredth Monkey Syndrome."