The Dead

Pivoting off the link about not frothing at the mouth for a minute, I'd like to present the life and death of Huang Hua. He's someone whose politics I would probably find completely loathsome and yet I respect him as a someone who was tirelessly devoted to his country, even if at times, his dedication was severely misplaced and at times in ways that led to suffering for him and his family.

Ultimately though, the man served his country and the cause of international peace. More than ably. Magnificently. In many ways, he was the first diplomat of modern China. Most notably, he was pivotal in the opening of post-war China to the West. He helped reestablish diplomatic relations with America and served as China's first representative to the United Nations when the country gained a seat. Additionally, he held talks that led to the signing of a peace and friendship treaty with Japan and treated with Margaret Thatcher over the British transfer of Hong Kong.

I cannot stress this enough: Consider a world wherein China and America did not have diplomatic relations...That's the sort of thing that makes the current crisis in the Korean peninsula look like a table game. Huang Hua was pivotal in resolving the issues and bringing the necessary people together.

That said, he was a communist. And for me that is frankly a malevolent position to take. But he deserves honor for what he accomplished. And I'm happy to afford him that. I think he deserves it.

On a personal level, this was a personally significant edition of "The Dead". Because I'm in love with a self-described socialist, something that's difficult under the best of circumstances for anyone of a libertarian bent.

But I love the girl to death. And part of the reason why is that we disagree but never stop talking. The arguments we have never devolve to name calling, never to shouting, never to fighting. In the end, we both want the best for everybody. We have very different ideas about the means but we recognize that our ends are the same. We remain civil and loving. And challenging and infuriating. But always, there's a respect for our shared sense of basic decency and compassion towards others, even though it might be expressed in different ways.

Which is probably why Kacee and I should run Congress.