Random Contemplations and Quotes

The following is a compilation of quotes and contemplations from the last few days. Though each has its own merits, I have recently been unable to articulate or expand my thoughts into cohesive posts. Thus, I have decided to create a hodgepodge post. Maybe in later posts I will expand on some of these.

“Don’t fake it” – Bernice (Teaching instructor)
Bernice advised us to search for our own strengths and weaknesses. We do not have to change ourselves but simply learn how to leverage each characteristic to our own advantage. She said “the truth is, even if you do fake it, you can’t do it forever. They’ll find out.”

(This is a cheesy thought… just be warned.)
"The best things in life happen by accident" - Australian at the Ambassador's House describing how he became the president of multiple international universities.

Recent Quotes from Thuy (Our adorable Vietnamese Language teacher)
"I am very good at solving problems, especially problems of love"
“(Translated from Vietnamese) I am young because I laugh often, if you laugh with me you will be young too.”

(Another cheesy thought)
After going to dinner with a member of the World Bank in Hanoi, I started to think about economic development in a country specific context. Though it isn’t uncommon for me to be a loser like this, the other day I realized how silly it is for countries to measure their development based on faulty economic indicators. It just gives poor incentives to skew measurements, marginalize other factors, etc. This is especially true since measurements, such as GDP per capita, do not account for income gaps or even true human development. So why even have these numbers? Daniel, from the World Bank, stated simply “because they want to compare themselves to their benchmark peers.”
Can we really assess an economy's development based on countries that are “similar”? Why is it so important to have comparable statistics and figures? Things like quality of life cannot really be summed up with quantitative assessments. Then I thought, “Wow, I have fallen into a similar trap”. Much of the time I find myself comparing my life to my “benchmark peers”. But life cannot be measured by accomplishments, shiny additions to diplomas, or money. Happiness is so much simpler than that. Moral of the story: comparative development measures, whether they are for countries or individuals, are bad news bears.