A Great Friend

Anonymous
As I am now a senior high school student, I have a great many friends, but
there is one whom I prize over all the rest. I first made his acquaintance
when I began to go to school. He has been my constant companion ever
since.
Though he is serious in appearance, he never fails to be interesting. Often
he is clever, sometimes even merry and gay. He is the most knowledgeable
friend a person could have. He knows virtually every language of the world,
all the events of history, and the words of all the great poets and
philosophers. A kindly benefactor, he is admired and enjoyed by everyone
who makes his acquaintance.
To me, he has been a great teacher as well as a friend. He first taught me
the secrets of my own language and then those of others. With these keys
he showed us how to unlock all the arts and sciences of man.
My friend is endlessly patient. Dull though I may be, I can return to him
again and again, and he is always ready to teach me. When I am bored,
he entertains me. When I am dispirited, he lifts me up. When I am lonely,
he keeps me company. He is a friend not only to me but to millions around
the world. Shall I tell you his name? His name is “reading”.

I Have a Dream －－- by Martin Luther King, Jr

　
　 I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
　　　　
　　　　Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
　　　　
　　　　But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
　　　　
　　　　In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
　　　　
　　　　But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
　　　　
　　　　We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
　　　　
　　　　It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
　　　　
　　　　But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
　　　　
　　　　The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
　　　　
　　　　We cannot walk alone.
　　　　
　　　　And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
　　　　
　　　　We cannot turn back.
　　　　
　　　　There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
　　　　
　　　　Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
　　　　
　　　　And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream today!
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream today!
　　　　
　　　　I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."?
　　　　This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
　　　　
　　　　With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
　　　　
　　　　And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:
　　　　
　　　　My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
　　　　
　　　　Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
　　　　
　　　　From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
　　　　
　　　　And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
　　　　
　　　　And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
　　　　Pennsylvania.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
　　　　
　　　　But not only that:
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
　　　　
　　　　Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
　　　　
　　　　From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
　　　　
　　　　And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
　　　　
　　　　Free at last! free at last!
　　　　
　　　　Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Homework problem

　THE parents of students at a Houston, Texas middle school will probably receive strict punishment if students habitually fail to complete their homework and miss a mandatory afterschool programme. They could end up in court, school officials said last week.

Man bites crocodile

　　　A BUSINESSMAN who was attacked by a crocodile in Malawi, Africa eacaped by biting the reptile on its nose last week. Both his arms were inside the full-size crocodile’s jaws and the beast was dragging him into deeper waters when he decided to fight back. He sunk his teeth into the crocodile’s nose, one of the few soft places on th reptile’s body, and it let go of him.

Huang Ti Chinese Writing and the Postflood Settlement of China

Roy L. Hales

Genesis 11:1-9 indicates that after the great flood and their eventual arrival in their present homeland, the Chinese must have spent some time in Sumeria (the "land of Shinar"). At least one ancient Chinese legend hints that Huang Ti, the fabled "Yellow Emperor", led his people from Out of the west, and a primitive people, called the Miao, now living in southwest China, say that they arrived in China before him. The prominence given Huang Ti in ancient genealogies lends added substance to these legends. Ten of the first characters of Chinese writing, the T'ien Kan or "heavenly stems", were supposedly developed during Huang Ti's reign but actually look much like Sumerian script from the Uruk/Jemdet Nasr period. Much of the legend of the Yellow Emperor appears to be rooted in the original Chinese trek Out from Sumeria.

The Hill and Sea Classics

Many scholars once believed that the Yellow Emperor led the Chinese to their present homeland: they based their theories on an early Han dynasty (202 BC 9 AD) text called "Hill and Sea Classics". This book was traditionally regarded as "a curious Story", however, and it was not until Chinese scholars came under western influence that the Shan Hai Ching became popular.1 This, together with the absence of any hints of a western origin in earlier texts, has now led many scholars to reject the Shan Hai ChIng outright. Yet, several factors tend to argue for the historicity of this tradition:

(1) we possess only a small fragment of such Chinese literature as existed prior to the Han dynasty. As the Shan Ha Ching purports to convey ancient traditions, this leaves us with little material to test its credibility. Skeptics are probably correct in believing that much of its text is of a late origin, but there also remains the distinct possibility that some of the ideas in the text descend from antiquity;

(2) that hints of a western origin should appear in the literature of China which traditionally despised all things foreign is peculiar enough to be noteworthy;

(3) as was mentioned earlier, the Miao claim to have arrived first in China;2

(4) Chinese tradition tends to support the claim that the first war of their history occurred when the Yellow Emperor defeated the Miao. From the standpoint of chronology it is of interest to note that in many accounts the Chinese leader did not actually become the Yellow Emperor until after his victory;

(5) the Yellow Emperor is ancestor to every Chinese emperor for the next 2,500 years. There are legends of prior rulers, but they are only faintly related to subsequent generations; there were subsequent emperors, but none of them was to claim more than a fraction of the Imperial descendants that Huang Ti evidenced. Every emperor in the immediate period after him and the succeeding Hsia (2205-1766 BC) Shang (1766-1112 BC) and Chou (1111-256 BC) dynasties, was descended from Huang Ti (see attached genealogy). He appears as virtual ancestor to the Chinese nation.

The T'ien Kan (or "Heavenly Stems")

Ten of the first characters of Chinese writing. the "heavenly stems" were supposedly developed by one of Huang Ti's ministers. The names and shapes of these characters have been preserved by tradition. Correspondants to the shapes of five of them appear in Chinese neolithic pottery marks (see attached figure). That so few of these characters should be evidenced is understandable, as less than forty pottery mark forms have passed into modern times, Allowing for some slight modifications the tilt of "I", the reversed position of "Wu", the added dashes to the ends of "Kuei" the shapes of these characters can be seen to be faithfully preserved. However, as Kiang Kang-hu pointed out in 1935, the names of these characters "are unintelligible in the Chinese language. The same terms are often written in different characters in various places. It appears that they might be words of foreign origin translated into Chinese according to their pronunciation."3

The T'ien Ken Appear Sumerian

The actual shapes of the T'ien Kan are much like that of Sumerian script from the Uruk/Jemdet Nasr period (Chart 1). (As the Sumerians gave their script a ninety degree lilt during this period I have added an extra column where the Uruk/Jemdet Nasr symbols can be adjusted for better comparison -Chart 2). With the possible exception of "Hsin," the Chinese characters can easily be explained as deriving from the Sumerian. "Chia" is virtually identical to the Uruk character designated 234. "I" is a more linear rendering of 450. "Ping" is only a more compact expression of 692. "Ting" is L 405. Take the half circle away from 444, and we are looking at "Wu." "Chi" is 864. "Keng" expresses a similar idea to 386, though theY shape has been taken away from the sides and instead thrust up the center. "Jen" is a simplified 515. "Kuei" is merely that figure designated 8 78, with dashes added to the ends. Nine of the ten characters of the T'ien Kan can be explained as being derived from Sumerian script and the neolithic pottery marks actually appear to sit as an intermediate form. This is exactly what should be expected if the T'ien Kan was actually derived from Sumeria.

Conclusion

Many hundreds of years later the Chinese were to exhibit an egocentric pride in their own culture combined with a worship of the reigning emperor and a contempt for all things foreign. This led to an abandonment of traditions of an earlier homeland or else a retelling of such stories in Chinese settings. One might point to the Chinese flood epic which stands alone, in the many world traditions of a great flood, in that their "Noah" conquered the flood waters: Yu, their "Noah" was an emperor and he obtained his victory through the means of magic dirt obtained from heaven. Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered that the later Chinese considered the legend of Huang Ti's western origin a "strange story," but it is remarkable that such a story should survive at all When we consider that this story finds agreement with Miao tradition and that Huang Ti is virtually the ancestor of the Chinese in ancient genealogies, this story appears remarkably historical (see Chart 3). The names of those Chinese characters developed in his reign appear to be of foreign derivation and the symbols themselves are like those of Sumeria's Uruk / Jemdet Nasr era. Scripture explains this situation quite simply, all mankind lived in Sumeria after the flood. One can only surmise that the legends of Huang Ti incorporate the memories ot the Chinese trek eastward

FOOTNOTES

1 Kiang Kang-hu, T-ai Yu Chul Chi Chinese Civilisation (Shanghai: Chung Hwa Book Co., 1935) p.4.

2 See Roy L. Hales, "Archaeology. the Bible and the Postflood Origins of Chinese History." Creation Social Science and Humanities Quarterly, Winter 1983 or Hugo Bernatzek, Akha and Miao (1970) p.15.

3 Kiang Kang-hu, p.6.

NOTES ON ILLUSTRATION OF FIGURINES

T'ien Kan symbols taken from Chang Kwang-chih. `T'ien Kan: a key to the history of the Shang," David T. Roy and Tsuen-hsuin Ts len (eds), Ancient China: Studies in Early Civilisation (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1978).

Neolithic symbols from Chang Kwang-chih, The Archaeology of Ancient China (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, edition of 1977) figures 51 and 129.

Sumerian figures taken from either: (1) Adam Falkenstein, Archaische Texte Aus Uruk (Berlin, 1936), these have purely numerical designations like 234, (2) G.A. Barton, Origin and Development of Babylonian Writing (Leipzig, 1913) as reproduced in L.A. Wedell, The Aryan Origin of the Alphabet (Hawthorne, Cal.; Christian Book Club of America, edition of 1968), this sign is designated B 78. This sign also appears in figure 62 of Hans Jensen, Sign. Symbol and Script (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1970). (3) S. Langdon Pictrographic Inscriptions from Jemdet Nasr (Oxford University Press, 1928) fig. designated L 405.