Method

I desire to live richly. The wealth I desire is a wealth of experiences, skills, opportunities, relationships, all of which should be significant as opposed to trivial. At the end of my life, I will that all that I claim as mine cannot be listed as mere possessions or publications or quickly summarized in a ten-line eulogy; all the wealth of my life must be lived to truly appreciated.

I demand that you earn my respect. While I will provisionally nod my head to the customary trappings of respect such as degrees, age, the glowing recommendations of others, upon meeting you will be subject to my own custom of constant reassessment of everything from wine to women to friends.

I demand that you evaluate me on objective and ideological grounds. Based on your personal experience of me, I want you to judge me on what I think, my carriage, my own judgments, my growth, my accomplishments, my loves. If you have constructive critiques and solutions to offer me, I would like to hear them out.

All I demand of you, world, reader, whomever you are, I demand of myself as well. It is my current method to live and attain my desires.

— Truc-Ha Luu Duong 2005 Feb 11