Just read this complaint about the horrific travel industry in Hainan. It saddens me that Chinese are never more fierce than when robbing each other of money. My sister was telling me, seeing as how I haven't been back for a few years, that I won't believe what goes on nowadays: the moral decline, the extreme focus on money, that there is a sense of everything being "rotten to the core." Even kids are obsessed with money, conversations revolve around how much one's dad makes, and what kind of car or house one had. What has China come to? I know not everyone is like this, there are many, many good people trying to keep their heads above water and not do bad things just to make a buck. The overall climate breeds evil though, and being good doesn't get you anywhere.

I hope I could stay away from evil in situations where I'm challenged. But say I had a kid who could get into a better school if only I paid 20,000 Yuan in sponsor fees and the only way I could get the money was by doing something unsavory: lie, cheat, or steal, would I do it? I'm afraid I'd chalk up the action as necessary and do the deed. Then comes the next one, and the next. It's easy for me to say judgemental things when my environment is more forgiving.