Its nice to see kinds words being said about Charles after his premature death a few months ago. I hope his aesthetically pleasing one of a kind super swiftlet farm is doing well... I visited the link provided by Bobby C which goes to one of Charles's blog... I visited the site before... going through it again... one can see Charles certainly had a good sense of aesthetic in his articulate writings and the photos taken from nice angles; he was not only erudite and cultured but most importantly, he had times for others and his deeds spoke louder than words...
Before his death, I thought that perhaps one fine day in the future I might took some days off to pay a visit to his farm in Thailand and spend some time enjoying his company in his little kingdom (Where he was the sovereign among his wild life subjects such as various specie of birds(the most important are the swiftlets), animals, fishes, insects, microbes, etc) ... discussing not just about swiftlets
(As Lewis Caroll would observed in his rib-tickling poem-
The Walrus & the Carpenter):
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
but also simply in enjoying the splendor of nature and in observing the starry starry sky...
I like to think that the character of a person can often be judge from how he or she behaves towards those who are powerless; and when one render kindness in whatever forms (time, effort, food, items) to another person in need who can never repay... well, it need not be a great help or a large sum... but the actions and thoughts will serve to cheer up the persons receiving help and perhaps inspired them to help themselves and maybe pay the kindness forward in the future. Charles's attempts to raise funds for helping the orphans in Thailand was the manifestation of his noble character (Since now the cinema is playing
SKYFALL; so in James Bond' term, Charles was
The Man With the Golden Heart) which perhaps is best described by these words of Dalai Lama: "My true religion is kindness."
I would like to mention about a likable guy whom I knew in my town who was in his early 30s; he was in the swiftlet farming business... he kept a farm and also did renovations for others.... suddenly he became quite ill (painful headache) and was diagnosed as cancer of the brain... not long after he died... This happened a few years ago.
Death is not something we can expect only at old age.... So do seize the day, guys!
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.Henry David Thoreau
Read more at
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/...4JVdpmikBtlg.99A short intro about Thoreau:
The woods refers to Walden, a place of nature besides a pond. Thoreau was an American thinker who think highly of the Red Indians at a time when the general attitude was that a "good Injun was a dead Injun". He was deeply against slavery and actively helped runaway slaves going north to freedom by helping them as part of a network known as the Underground Railroad. He rather went to jail than to pay a poll tax in support of a government than condone slavery... out of the experience, he wrote the essay-
Civil Disobedience which Gandhi read and formed part of his strategy to confront the British Overlords of India. Thoreau spend two years of his life living in a hut he build himself by Walden lake, on land belonging to his great friend-Emerson. He raised some crops for his needs and for cash so as to enable himself to spend most of his time contemplating life and nature and did much writings. The result of his time at Walden produce a seminal masterpiece-
Walden that had since became part of the world literary heritage. Thoreau was a pioneering environmentalist at a time when the Industrial revolution is only just starting in UK... the earth was still shrouded in greenery and few person can identify with his worship of nature... for example, he would eulogized about the death of a venerable citizen of Concord where he lives... it was an great big tree that was fallen for its timber...
Thoreau had since became a prophet of the environmental movement... see how the manifold global perils of environmental wholesale pillage of resources and pollution that is causing great harm to human society, the foremost danger is climate change with the large output of carbon into the atmosphere... some believe superstorm such as Sandy that lashed NYC recently is a manifestation of the changes in our climate... See how the polar icecap at the Northern region is melting at an alarming rate? The largest of the land carnivore-The Polar bear that had adapted so well to the forbidding climate and flourished for so long is said to be facing extinction!
With the melting of the icecaps, its only a matter of decades before sea level will rise that will cause massive disasters to coastal cities around the world... about the only people disregarding such perils and actively argue against the science of climate change are the US Republicans who only care to loot from the economy for their selfish gains... see how they loosen the control in place for banks to sell junk investments to customers worldwide... US Republicans are morons that are warmongers and Robber barons that did not just the US great harm but the world as well... Lincoln who was the founder of the Republican party (GOP: Grand Old Party) must be turning over in his grave at the insidious creeds and deeds of his political heirs...
This post has been edited by philoswiftlet: Nov 6 2012, 07:29 AM 
Nov 3 2012, 01:08 PM
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