My New Year's Resolutions

I received a holiday greeting email from my cousin in Shanghai this morning. Surprisingly the attachment was not a greeting card but a slide show of children in need from Africa.

These children have to walk miles just to get water. Many of them have to take care of themselves and their younger siblings because their parents died from diseases. They face starvation and death everyday. I have no idea what their world is like and I don’t even dare to imagine.

Many years ago, I stumped upon a photo of a vulture preying on a young emaciated Sudanese toddler at The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. It was an overwhelming image that I was trying very hard to hold back my tears. It was the first time I heard of this famous, award winning and dead photographer, Kevin Carter. His life was very admirable and tragic itself.

For a long period of time, I tried not to read about all the wars and the bad things happening in this world because I feel powerless and guilty. I have finally realized ignoring them does not make me feel any better.

We have the luxury to create art, to imagine, to be materialistic, to be entrepreneurs. This kind of luxury is something we cannot take for granted. I think to celebrate our lives, to live it to the fullest and to be aware of all the people that need our help is what we can do.

My new year’s resolutions are to love myself, my friends and family better. As for the children in need, in honor of ippie design, we are donating to Oprah’s Angel Network starting from today.