我左手拿叉右手拿刀，将生活慢慢享用

It just struck me this morning, as I spooned cereal and sipped coffee, the irony of things. Look at the banner on the top of the page: Help save lives, be a blood donor. And that article below: Thai protesters throwing gallons of blood at their PM to request for elections.

Take this 2 ways man. The more caustic ones among us might laugh, them being almost a perfect match: the banner a fantastic propagation of the red shirt message. While really, on the more empathetic side, think about the gallons of blood draw and thrown at people's doorsteps and what those fluid could have done for the needy out there. How many lives would we have saved?

The interesting is, the power of ideology; that can drive people to behave in a certain way otherwise so hard for us. The more interesting is, when such ideology can be even more powerful then all the sweet care-for-your-fellow-man cries out there.

I was at a conference by Institute of Civil Engineers last Thursday and one topic of discussion we had then was why certain infrastructure are well maintained in Africa and some not? I was shown a photo of a church made of straws and clay walls, and nevertheless, one of the crème of the top architecture given the local situation. Surprise surprise, it was even constructed by the local people using their own hands and own money. Given that the families are surviving way below the global poverty line, it is an amazing effort.

This is not about the church, nor about supporting ideology. But it indeed shows how much power ideology can have, and the significant role it can play in directing the actions of people.

Anyhow, coming back to the bloody issue, my heart goes out to the lives, those blood shed at politicians' doorsteps could have saved.