Distinguished President Obama,

This is a Chinese citizen, a villager living in the Global Village. I am writing this letter to deliver my devout congratulations when you assume the office of US president.

I have long believed that you will be elected since you became the presidential candidate; I expressed the estimate in my book published in July, 2008. The estimate did not only come from your personal charm, but also the strong will that Americans want a "change", and also an assumption in eastern logic: you will be elected, if Heaven never seals off all exits to America and human beings.

During the 234 years in US history, there is probably no other president than you who faces so arduous and complicated challenge. President Lincoln once faced the Civil War; President Roosevelt once faced the 1929 financial crisis and the Great Depression. However, the coming Second World War was his and America's opportunity, rather than challenge.

Now you have to be confronted with difficulties from two sides: financial tsunami and economic downturn, and subsequently rich-poor and racial conflict domestically -- that is domestic abruption; meanwhile, the contention of different states, races and civilizations over limited resource will be more sharp-even there will be a world war - that is human abruption.

Facing so many difficulties, the US, as the most powerful country of the world in more than 70 years and the sole superpower in the last 18 years, can not be out of guilty. Of course, it was not your fault; however, today, when you swear to be US president, it has been your responsibility, because the more power, the more responsibility. If US president is the most powerful man in the most powerful country, then you will take the most responsible on your shoulder.

No one other than you is suitable for US president in hard times in future. You are a black-white mix-blood Kenyan African American; you played with Indonesian children with yellow-skin in Asia, your father-in-law believed Islam; you took the best elite education, but gave up enviable jobs with high salaries, went back to poor community of Chicago to continue to help vulnerable groups.

This unusual experience only belongs to you - Mr. Obama. This is your most valuable fortune - you are ties between American Black and White, between the poor and the elite, between US and Africa and Asia, even between Christianism and Islam. You can be ties of human beings.

However, to be ties probably leads to two results: one is to connect different people, classes, races and countries into one; the other is to be split by the power of differences. It will be luck of yourself, America and human if it comes to be the former. Else, it will be our common tragedy.

Whether the ties can be split depends on two elements: one is if the ties is strong enough, depending on whether you and your team have comprehensive, unite, just and strong value; the other is how to loosen the ties by decreasing the steam of "splitters", making them calm down, even turning to negotiation, which will change the ties into their safety net.

We should believe that all human beings have aspiration to be alive, and wishes to pursue happiness. No one in the world is born to sacrifice his life as "Body Bomb", as no one is born to make a suicide like western ex-billionaires; but the unhealthy world makes them do so. If we do not remove the root, there will be more and more body bombs and more and more ex-billionaires.

Where is the root? It is short-sight and greed! As human nature turns more and more greedy and speculative, the atmosphere of gaining without working spreads. The world is increasingly lack of people who create real material, plunders that want to reap others’ fortune increase. More and more bubbles of paper money are created, while the gap from real material widens. In that process, more money is gathered in fewer people, polarization will be aggravated. The tension among different civilizations, countries, classes and people will be more serious. If that trend lose control, more people will lose property, dignity and the last hope of survival, and desperate will turn aspiration for survival into anger to death. Then, the ties will be split no matter how strong it is.

Moreover, will the less and less "winners" gain happiness? No! As their bodies get older, even they successfully commercialize the beauties, their soul will be of more sorrow - even Viagra cannot change it. As death approaches them, their souls will be filled with fears: money cannot pave their way to heaven, but to the hell. That world has no real winner.

Actually ,it is fairly simply to escalate the happiness index of this global village---let the one who has extra fortune disperse it to the severe hunger for food and education in order to win the respect for the less privileged ,for the chance one can be sent to heaven by the respect of others is much bigger than by money.

Unfortunately, why haven't the elite done so? As they, the smartest one has already been desperate. After the self-conscious was awake in the modern world, the existence of god as he "can't be proved by "I" human devoutly believes in god, however, one can only be accepted into heaven after his death, but the dead can't prove the existence of heaven when they are alive.

The easy deduction is since god is dead and heaven is somehow hopeless, why can't we experience the pleasure of conquering, satisfying our desire? The elite began to rob the world's fortune ever since then.

In other words, German historical philosopher Oswald Spengler has described the desperate of elite as :human are small universes, however, the tragedy of human is it has been isolated for the giant universe, through which it obstructs the self-willingness from becoming together with the universal spirit.

The orient Wiseman solved the problem 2000 years ago. As making a metaphor, the relationship between spirit and body of human is like bird with birdcage: neither the spirit bird of modern world can escape the birdcage nor it can fly in the giant universe. Nevertheless, as the greedy of lust accumulates ,the cage of body becomes firmer and the spiritual bird becomes dying .The key of orient wisdom is turning greedy into wisdom - turning the energy of "cage barriers" into the growing force of the "cage bird". When the barriers are becoming thinner, the birds get stronger. When the day comes, the spirit bird will get rid of the cage, as the individual universe and the giant universe becomes one. By doing so, they find a way of saving - yourself - is - saving - others and altruistic.

This road is not just a theoretical design in the orient, but a result which has been constantly proved by the elite. Therefore, in the past 2000 years of Chinese civilization, the wisest one chose this way. Led by their wisdom, Chinese invented the powder and the firework to welcome the friend for far beyond but didn't invent the artillery which was used invading the world later on. The Zheng He's fleet he sailed the world but didn't rob other countries.

It is pity that when the fireworks were in the hands of some foreigners, it become artilleries destroying China. By destroying the oriental civilization ,the leafy but aging tree, can it be grafted on the new branches if independence, strongness and individuality of the western world. After hundred years of suffering the war and integration of genes between the east and west, now the tree has become fruitful. Although it is still at its earlier stage, but it must be sweet overtime, and becoming the wonderful harvest of all human. Now what we have to do is to prevent those who are trying to stop it from maturing.

The view of value in terms of consciousness, altruism, Internal Holy and External King of the orient can be used to enhance the morale of your team, and also can be used to clear up the division force between people, race, countries and culture, helping you facing the enormous challenges you will have to face. On the contrary , if the pressure makes you try to seek benefits for itself at the expense of other countries ,diverting the crisis to china ,you will not only get our firmly opposing ,and also will lost the most important tool for a peaceful solution from the one who wish sincerely that America can improve. As if America can't  reach the compromise between cultures, it can't reach the peace domestically.

From this point of view, helping china to let the premature fruits getting mature ,not only will benefit the Chinese from tasting the happiness of cultural integration ,but also when the fruits are really mature ,the Americans and westerners can taste them ,and the real engraft between the west and east culture can really begin.

In short words, the only way-out of human is the combination of the harmony between people, nature, between the body and soul from the east with the freedom, equality, human rights and law from the west. This is required by the enclosed global village. And the only joint of this two is the justice beyond people, races and countries.

Change only can be from the heart, the view of value, and it only can begin from the sacrifice of the real elite, giving up the self for the big picture and giving up the one country't interest for the mutual interest of human for a longer term, as we are in a world of benefiting ourselves in way of harming the others. This is going to be a very excruciating change and also a progress of stepping up and taking the hits. American and Chinese need to prepare them fully for this: the one who is gaining without effort will pay equally. But if we pursue the royalty of life and the freedom of spirituality, it would be a great opportunity of growing up. If this time will be an engraft upgrade of the new mainstream of human civilization, then we are duty--bound.

Finally, please take care and make sure your security and your health.

Good luck to you, good luck to American and good luck to human.

Zhang Tingbin

Source: Zhang Tingbin's Blogs