这“同一个”的世界正在不可避免地交织纠缠在一起，独善其身和兼善天下都很难。不过千里之行，无论怎样，交流和沟通都是足下的第一步。
摘录一些令我印象深刻的语句。如果有时间，它们值得全文阅读：
1. 许知远在FT中文网上的专栏文章（8月28日） 荣耀的暗示（上）
到了2008年，它（北京奥运会）果真变成了一种意识形态。似乎为了证明8月8日蕴涵的无穷意义，2008年的前7个月，中国充满了意外的灾难与冲击。每一次，它似乎都 隐含了对8月8日的直接考验，增加了它的悲壮感与“神圣性”。它不仅是对“西方世界污蔑与阻挠”的最好反击，也是对自然展现自信与能力的方式。2.Roger Ebert在Chicago Sun-Times上的专栏文章（8月24日） The achievement of China
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它真是讽刺性的一刻。我们期待一场奥运会能够展现中国的富强与自信，但它表现出却是强烈的不安全感；中国人期待国家的强大，是因为在我们的记忆里，个人经常因为国弱而蒙受屈辱，但如今，国家为了展现自己的富强，而直接让个人做出牺牲和屈辱……
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尽管大街小巷上都听到“北京欢迎您”的歌声，但是“您”是有着确切和清晰定义的。 …… 它充满了讽刺吗？我们抗议西方的傲慢，试图抵制家乐福表现自己的爱国热情，但是当西方真的到来时，我们又过分具有服务精神——我们愿意委屈自己人，只要外来者满意。（注：想起奥运期间一则新闻，美国代表团某人说，中国的志愿者服务真是太好了，我们来了几天手都没碰过门！因为所到之处都有人抢先一步替我们开门。）
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这种胜利意味深长，与其说他是中国人的胜利，不如说它是中国目前政治体制的一次巨大的胜利。 …… 那些发展中国家，加强了心目中对“中国模式”的渴望；而曾经对中国制度充满怀疑的西方世界，则开始重新思考——中国人是否真的与我们不同，中国的政治制 度，并不一定会重演苏联的悲剧。他们关于人权的批评，看起来不过是某种虚伪的讨价还价的筹码。东西方力量的转移，以一种醒目异常的方式展现出来。而中国公 众则感受到一种集体性的荣耀——中国从未如此强大过，这充分表明了此刻政权的合法性。 …… 在这种模糊与暧昧中，一种更深刻的历史变化可能正在形成。
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但是，真实的苏联与纪德想象的不同。 …… 在所谓的新制度给个人带来的幸福 上，他则体会到“众人的幸福是以每个人的非个性化取得的……是以牺牲个人而得到的”。 …… 重提纪德与苏联，不是为了做出那种冷战年代的不恰当类比——中国沿袭了苏联制度。这种类比简化了中国的复杂事实。我重提它是为了说明了人们如何轻易的被表象迷惑，出于自身的困境，而对陌生之物做出一厢情愿和不诚实的幻想。
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……我们时代的某种情绪——中国正不可阻挡的成为新的世界领导者，她给世界提供了新的模式、刺激与灵感。…… 而我不得不说，此刻的北京，又让我想起1995年的7月10日时（作者高考结束后），我沉浸在一种既轻松、又厌倦的感觉，看到堆积在房间里的参考书与试卷，恍如隔世——在从不怀疑的拼搏了多年之后，我发现原来的目标并没有想象的那样重要，我发现自己一直在按照别人的意愿努力，而听不到自己的声音……
……Media coverage discussed the walls constructed to hide poor districts from foreign eyes. In 1968, the first Mayor Daley built walls to hide Chicago's poor districts from the eyes of visitors to the Democratic Convention. My mother always closed the door so visitors wouldn't see an unmade bed. The impulse is human.
两则作者特意指出的、令其受教（educated）的读者留言：
（Tony Zhou）……any country has to do is create a "story" for itself. This isn't just "history," but has to do with how a country sees itself, and how it generates nationalism among its people. It also paves the way for the future, setting a template for action.
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So the Opening Ceremony is really not just a spectacle, but a narrative. It is a narrative about people – how people control other people like puppets, how people work together to create an image greater than the people, how some people focus on images and then realize the people behind them (remember those “digital” cubes you were surprised by, Roger?), how people use discipline and art to attain spirituality (there is a woman doing tai chi who becomes water, which becomes a ring of kung fu fighters), and how people represent things that are abstract (for instance, each flag carrier represents his country).
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（Richard R.）……It's quite safe to say that the Chinese people are just like any other people in that they desire good lives for their families and hope for the future. But I think part of the disconnect between China and the West is due to the fact that Chinese culture traditionally has focused much more on questions of prosperity than the post-Enlightenment value of unfettered individual expression. Not that the West doesn't seek prosperity, but it is generally couched in a broader notion of individual rights - "the pursuit of happiness," and all that jazz. In China, there is not such an overarching conceptual link between the freedom to pursue financial gains and the freedom to express oneself in whatever way one sees fit (including by choice of representatives in government).
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As numerous astute observers have pointed out, the fact that so many Chinese have risen from poverty to a conspicuously-consuming middle class has greatly empowered the government. And with the much-lauded Olympics proving such a source of national pride and further economic growth, the Party has proven its continued worth in the eyes of many.
Ebert对其留言的回复，粗体为本人所加：
The desire for prosperity may be greater than the desire for freedom and justice among many peoples. In our recent history, the story of the Enron Corporation shows that process at work. It was praised for its wealth, obtained by theft, fraud and conspiracy. Any reasonable person regarding Enron should have realized something was fishy. But its "success" was blinding. Corporate profits now outrank all other factors in the board rooms.