mercredi, février 02, 2011
You might say I'm a little late getting on the bandwagon but I had no intention of reacting at all in the first place. No point giving them the satisfaction of an uprising.
I promised myself I wouldn't get affected by old Ah Kong Lee's senile ramblings but in light of the festive spirit, I can't keep mum about this.
To say I felt insulted would be a huge understatement of the year because the insult was not aimed just at me, or Islam, or even, Malays. It was aimed at Singaporeans as a whole.
Unless, Muslims and Malays are not considered Singaporeans.... or unless Old Ah Kong is not one himself, and therefore excluded from the binds the pledge makes upon us.
Whatever happened to "regardless of race, language or religion"? It angers me that people keep bringing up the race card.
Please. Stop. It.
So long as I'm a Malay first, Singapore will never be a perfectly united country. I would have thought that the racial and religion barriers have much eroded these days. (I mean, WHAT was he saying about not having meals together? Just because I don't eat pork, I don't drink alcohol and I wear a scarf on my head does not mean I can't sit at the same table as my friends who do. )
Understanding breeds unity. Perhaps you should understand first the reasons behind certain religions before insisting that we forget about God in the name of social integration.
Dear Sir, no matter what you have been led to believe, you are not bigger than God.
For whatever its worth, whenever anyone asks, I'm a Singaporean first.
Not trying to be patriotic, or anything, but really, this whole fiasco feels like being thrown out of the house because your parent thinks that you don't get along well with your siblings. I hate labeling myself as a Malay Singaporean because it's just stupid. I don't really care much. So, my race is malay, my religion is Islam, my mother tongue is malay, and so what if (despite the slight derogatory insinuations) we're labelled as the "indigenous" people of Singapore as of NDP 2010?
Fact remains that this is my home too. This is my family too.
And Ah Kong, I hope you open your eyes because true blue Singaporeans are a rare breed these days. Perhaps the ones you see not mingling with the "indigenous people" are in fact, not Singaporeans at all.
Time to question your own policies, sir.
If you think we're not integrating, who's fault is it exactly?
I will not stand by and swallow it when you say Islam is at fault.
And by the way. WHY do people keep forgetting that Malay doesn't necessarily mean Muslim and Muslim doesn't necessarily mean Malay?
Stop making sweeping statements, and stop using the two interchangeably like they have the same meaning.Libellés : anger, equality, life, purpose
>4:42 PM
samedi, janvier 22, 2011
"Is it possible to be a nice, quiet person in the advertising industry?" I asked.
She shook her head vehemently.
"You can be nice, but not too nice until you get bullied," she said, giving W ilson a sideways glance.
I snuck a peak at W ilson beside me to see if he noticed. Nope. Still happily eating and ignoring the world.
"And quiet?" she continued, "Nobody will like you if you're too quiet. You can be a happy-go-lucky person but don't be too nice, or too quiet."
And that's it. My curiosity got piqued and the old journalist (who never really went away) started to take over.
"Hmm... then why did you choose to go into this industry?" I asked.
"I didn't start out immediately in advertising. My background was in graphic... but after a few years on the job, I got sick of it. There's no challenge in being told what to design." she said, with a shrug. "So I got a job at an ad agency as a visualiser, then worked my way up to a senior art director."
I was beginning to think that this woman is truly an inspiration because no matter how nonchalant her tone was when describing her life story, I am quite sure that nobody gets to art director in 2 years without battle scars.
"Wow... 2 years? Isn't that really fast?" I ventured to ask.
"Mmhmm." she said, again with a shrug. So I figured she wasn't going to be more forthcoming on this topic. I started thinking about something else...
"Wait. So advertising... it's also something like marketing, right? Is it the same, the business advertising and what we're doing now?"
I learnt by heart the principles of marketing and business theories during my short stint in France. (Merci, M. Ortelli!) And I thought that maybe... there's more value in that cert where I'm going.
But no. She shook her head. "No no no no! It's totally different!"
Ohwell. There goes my 10 seconds of hope.
"The business side of advertising is more towards marketing. Usually, account executives. The only similarity is that you get to write the brief that we're doing now as account executives. But advertising design is totally different from business."
"Oh," I said, "yeaaah. It's different. I did business for awhile..." totally thinking of the dusty chalkboard and rusty chairs in the university classrooms in France.
"I did economics before..." she said suddenly.
"Wait. Whaaaaaaatttttt?" My eyebrows jumped up in surprise, "that's, uh, very different!"
She gave a tight smile. "I tried for awhile but my goodness, cannot tahan. My father wanted me to be a banker, " she explained.
Haha! I guess all parents are made from the same mould.
She continued, "He thought that bankers can make a lot of money but design? There's no money in design."
"Well yeah," I said. "Bankers DO make a lot of money."
She went on to talk about what she would have loved to do if grades and money weren't an objection. And I told her what my first choice in life had been. And I realised that, there's not really that much of a difference in all our lives.
We all want something we cannot get, no matter how hard we strive to achieve it. Just because we decide to settle with our lesser 2nd choices, does not mean we're any lesser. It just makes us more practical. And nobody said you can't bust your ass to make the most of your 2nd choice.
I guess the advice is to stop whining and make the most with what you have right now.Libellés : purpose, school
>3:06 PM
jeudi, mars 01, 2007
You never know how whimsical or impetuous the angel of death can be.
Death can come anytime. Anywhere and to anyone.
There is no bargaining. No time extensions.
When your time is up, your time is up.
It doesn't happen exclusively to commonfolk.
It cares not how many millions you have in your savings account.
No rules, no laws can stop death doing his job.
Only orders from up above.
More importantly when one broaches the subject of death, it is, of course, imperative to speak of life.
How do you define life?
Life is not all about material gains. This is one thing that, as a materialistic little bitch, I find a little hard to come to terms with.
In fact, it is true. The purpose of life is not self-contentment. Sure, one is supposed to find happiness in doing things for others, but not for the sole purpose of one's satisfaction.
Imagine a world where no one is self-centred. Everyone makes it a point to serve others above themselves. That is what I would call utopia.
But seeing what narcississtic basketcases we are, the odds of this utopia becoming reaity, of course, is much slimmer than of me going to the moon. And despite everyone saying nothing is impossible, admit it, I will never reach the moon. (:
As quoted from this smartass guy whose name escapes my mind completely,
"All it needs for evil to flourish in this world is for good men to do nothing."
Think about it.
The world is, by no means, poor.
There are countries who matter and countries who don't.
Do you consider yourself to be among the ones who matter?
If so, what makes you think your life is worth more than that of others?
God made everyone equal.
It was man who divided themselves. Man was the one behind war and destruction.
War and Destruction was not by any means on the divine agenda of life.
In other words.
God gave man life but man destroyed it.
What is the point of hating that girl's attitude or hating that boy's mannerisms?
Essentially, everyone is going to die.
No one person (except probably a certain authoritative figure we all love to hate) is going to live forever.
Why not make it easier for everyone, yourself included?
Get rid of the pessimism, the negativity.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there won't ever be any hatred or those "I want you to die a horrible death" thoughts in the world had everyone been maestros at sidestepping.
and no, it's not a dance move. (:
My perception of life is to persevere though the daily struggles and to make sure I go to bed happy. (or at least, too stoned to feel depressed) I'm also of the opinion that life is about balance.
Balance between the Spiritual, Emotional and Intelligence quotients.
Damn, I make myself sound so self-righteous.
But as quoted from some odd book, not all perceptions of life has to be righteous.
"Life had to be challenged, attacked every instant, with reckless speed in a Ferrari, with profligate spending, with unrestrained sexuality, with artistic ambitions as monumental as they were impractical."
And to that, I'd say, life is not a right.
Life is a privilege.
Live life as you may; righteous or no, the purpose is to live.
At least, live before life is taken away from you.
Everyone dies someday. (:
Libellés : death, life, purpose
>10:21 PM