Is Vandalism An Human Instinct?

Last week, I was wondering why the “Three Heads Six Arms,” a sculpture by Chinese artist Zhang Huan installed at Civic Center, has only five arms. Then this weekend, I was shocked and disappointed to see a big ugly green fence surrounded the sculpture. The San Francisco Arts Commission are worried about vandalism. They predict that people will climb up the sculpture during the World Cup and the Pride. Actually the poor thing already got marked all over by some morons before the fence was put up. Is vandalism a human nature? Is it in people’s blood, just like shitting in pants without having to learn, but doing it right after people were born? It upsets me. They leave their ugly marks everywhere, even on the Great Wall described in this article. Sometimes, I do think human being is an evil creature. They come to this world to destroy everything. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the Gulf of Mexico right now. One way to get away from people is to escape to my favorite place Marin Headlands. Sunday is much warmer and less windy, a perfect day for a wonderful hike. I got up early and boarded the first bus. I kept my steady pace pretty well hike over the mountain. It took me only about an hour to finish the route and return to the City. Predictably, I have a sore butt this morning, and I couldn’t get off the bed. When I reached the bottom of the mountain, I was stopped by a park ranger. I am like, “Sheet, what did I do? I didn’t even pee in the bushes!” He said somebody reported that there was an aggressive bobcat on the trail. He asked me if I saw anything like that. Obviously, I didn’t see anything. I would have taken a photo if I did, if I didn’t get scared to pee in my pants. The day was still young when I was back in downtown, so I stopped by AT&T Park to check out Urban Eats at the Giants County Fair. It’s amazing that I have never stepped into this side of the Ball Park after been in the City for so long. It’s a whole new world here, including a County Fair! The event is pretty lame, I left quickly, but not before I chowed down a few delicious lamb sandwiches, fresh, flavorful, well balanced with the sauce. It’s too bad that all the calories I burnt in the mountains earlier are put back into my body. However, it’s all worth it, because I enjoyed, and lived. Lived indeed. By this Saturday, I will be another year older. WTF!? Agora Undoubtedly, religion is a significant part of human history and it has contributes to the humanity one way or the other. Unfortunately, religion is also the root of much human suffering and killing. It is the origin of many endless wars, even today. In addition, religion rarely stands on the same side of science, but quite often on the opposite. Yet, after thousands of years, people still die for their faith, condemn those who believe otherwise, and refuse to learn from science. Academy Award-winning (“The Sea Inside”) director Alejandro Amenábar‘s thought provoking and beautifully shot historical epic “Agora” (Spain 2009 | 127 min.) subtly raises philosophical inquiries about religion by telling a story about a legendary Greek philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Hypatia. Set in the 4th Century in Alexandria, Egypt, Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) passionately devotes herself to science and teaches her students, both Pagans and Christians, inside the Library of Alexandria. One of her students Orestes (Oscar Isaac), who later becomes Prefect of Alexandria, openly expresses his love toward her, but she declines. Meanwhile, her young slave, Davus (Max Minghella) who later becomes a Christian in order to be free from slavery, secretly falls for her. Outside the Library, Christians are waging a war with Pagans. The conflict escalates into a killing spree, and Hypatia and Pagans are chased out of the Library and live in exile. After Pagans are out of the sight, the clash between Christians and Jews breaks out into horrific violence. During all these religious and social unrests, Hypatia continues her research and discovery until she becomes the target to be destroyed, in the name of God, by Bishop Cyril (Sami Samir). The film intelligently makes its philosophical points through its characters. Hypatia once summarizes the fundamental difference between a religious mind and a scientific mind when she speaks to her student Bishop Synesius (Rupert Evans): “You don’t question what you believe, or cannot. I must.” That is probably the reason why thousands of years later, science has made tremendous progress, while Christians are still reading the same book. Besides telling a gripping story, the film is a terrific lesson in both history and mathematics. It is enchanting to get an elegant and intuitive review about basic properties of an ellipse by the brilliant Hypatia in this film. Imagine what human history might have been if there were no religion. How about dream about it like John Lennon did? “Nothing to kill or die for.” “Agora” opens on Friday, July 23, 2010 at Bay Area theaters.