SAVING GAIA....

Saving Gaia....save our Earth. It is everyone's duty to do so. However small is Singapore, we are playing our part. The amount of harm we caused the Earth, we are killing it slowly. The above video is by courtesy of Singapore MediaCorp. I love the message, the song and the kid who sang the song. Kudos to all these kids...they are the "future"

We are pleading to you to give a little attention the our Earth. It is a place we all live on and our next generation and next generation and future generation will continue to live. Even if we are no longer around, we hope our decendants will live a happy and safe lives. It is still not too late. I am sharing this and hope whoever comes to my blog love this video too.

…spur of the moment

Many of us acted at the spur of a moment without thinking and the results can be quiet alarming. At a spur you flew up in anger and hit someone. At a spur you have hunches to buy a set of numbers that win you big prices….but to act in a spur could be irrational and may get one into trouble.

I read with mixed feeling of a teenage who burnt the National Flag. Is it just a flag? Did she see the meaning of this flag? All these years of education, what was taught to her? Is it the failure of the education system or failure of her upbringing? Did her parents know what she is up to?

At 10pm at night, why is a 13 year-old still hanging around a park? It is not weekend nor is it school holidays. Her friends said they did not know she did it…so why? Are there no more games or things for her to be interested in that she did what she did? She had friends with her and they did not stop her, or are they even aware of what their friend is doing?

A National Flag represents a Country. It is as important as the land you live on. It gives you identity and provided you a place called home. We say The Pledge in school everyday – We, the Citizen of Singapore, pledged ourselves as one united people…it holds the country together. It has the aspiration of the country and the people – ‘regardless of race, language ore religion’…. that we work towards religious harmony.

The daily saying of the Pledge obviously did not appeared important to this 13 year-old or many teenagers. So it is just mouthing and carries no meaning. There is no pondering to the meaning and associate it with the National Flag. What will our younger generations become?

Around us, there are people who care about the country. There are more out there who do not know the meaning of the National Flag and the Pledge to their homeland. There are people out there who are Stateless, they are not even qualified to have a National Flag. I hope it is teaching her the values of the Flag, her Home and Herself. She is a juvenile does not mean she can get off lightly. How does schools see this act? What actions will they take?

My Country, My Home is makeup of everything here that we call Singapore. It is not the Government, it is the People, our Values and what we see ourselves.

With National Day around the corner, it is time we fly the Singapore Flag and I will always fly one in my Blog because I am proud of who I am.

MOVING OFFICE...

Sitting around for one year and for me it is better off  working. The job I was looking for is actually backend admin work, 9 - 5 type of routine. Work that keeps me busy and yet fulfilled. Responsibility but manageable. I no longer longed for lime light, big post and high pay. Actually I am working only to maintain my car, give myself some coffee money, enough to donate and sleep with a peaceful mind.

However one can never hide ones ability and I landed a job I was happy like above BUT recently with the yearly reviewed (although I am only with them 6 months), I got my confirmation before due date, got my promotion and increment and even blessed with the maximum of bonus allowed. Alamak! No, don't misunderstand me, I am grateful that I am useful but I have to take on more.

I was entrusted with finding a new office within reachable location by MRT. Town/CBD areas are getting too expensive for us who needs at least 10,500sq ft.  Between us we found a location. I should be happy as it is 5 minutes drives from home and I save like crazy (i.e CBD and the exorbitant car park), Naturally I am also entrusted with renovation. The search for IDs was fun looking at designs. Pinning an ID down and working with them in details was both fun and tired. The selection of designs, the furniture, colors and all nitty gritties are part and parcels of the work.

When I realized that even if I have thoughts for the well beings of colleagues, taking into consideration as many aspects as I can...I forget that I am not the head of the company. My enthusiasm overrun me. In the first place I took the project with faith, now I wonder whether I can shoulder the blame if things don't go right.

Liaising with the Landlord is another pain. I actually don't blame them. It is a new building and many things need to be done. Due to our urgency as the lease of the old office is up soon and the delay from all the consultants are making me sit on needles. Yesterday I lost my temper !!! Such and idiot was I. But with 26 days more to go and renovation not even started yet...do you expect me to stay cool?

A girl friend once told me...'Lian, you are only a staff and that's much you can do. If the thing cannot happened on time, it is not your fault. Just communicate to the management and they have to think of a solution and lose sleep...not you'. How true, but can I? Anyway I have a good Boss, so he is the good cop and I am the bad one.

Doing this project is not sitting on roses, roses have thorns. I expect many criticism and blames. People grumble when there is a change, both internal and external when things are not to their convenient.

I hope people won't come and tell me....'you did not let me check the Feng Shui and thus .........

FEELING RECIPROCATE

Can one really reciprocate a feeling? Recently I have a friend who told me a story. She was hurt by a friend whom she loves, she said ‘Lian, I can even die for her’. I saw tears in her eyes and I know how hurt she was.

They use to meet every Friday, their families go outing together. My friend took in the children of her friends when she left for a long trip. She supported, not just emotionally but also monetary. She said she did not expect anything in return. I told her ‘you did ask for return because you expect her to do same for you as you have done for her or at least treat you as best friend and priority is for you’. The expectation is subtle, you think it is not there but actually it is there. We are all very human after all. When we treat someone nice, we expect someone to treat us nice and when that did not happened, it turned to sadness, bitterness and ended being very angry.

I have gone through all these. The expectation of friends is ‘FAKE’. People are ‘thick’ because they share common topics of discussion, interest, religion or there is something in them that ‘clicked’. It is affinity. It does not happen to everyone in the same group.

She moves away from the norm group because she does not want to be tagged. She wants to go around her routine quietly. She is religious and it taught her to be humble; it taught her to be compassionate; it taught her wisdom but the other friends did not see it. When the whole group runs after someone who claimed to be religious or know a lot about the religion and speak like one, she saw through him when he asked for expensive items which a religious person does not need. She warned her friends and they all said that she is disrespectful. How do you think one can teach the fools? Even her friend said she is ‘Lay cheh’ in Malay means ‘troublesome’.

All these are not new. I realized that when one pursue a religion. As one advances, one tends to move away from crowd. One tends to spend time with selected people and keep a low profile, going around doing things for one self and others quietly. Not asking for name, fame as well as monetary because enough is happiness. I saw through name and fame. When people use it as a facade, I bow away from it.

Therefore when recently I was hurt by what a friend said, I let it go. There are people who look at things from their own point of views and they believe it is for the benefits of everyone, I do not doubt it. It is a choice to be petty about it or choose to let it go and keep the ‘friendship’. There are people who are sensitive to others, I am not a very sensitive person but I care about people so I am sensitive about them.

When Buddha taught ‘NON ATTACHMENT’, it is a way to move away from being hurt. Anyway remember you cannot owned a person, or his/her mind or thoughts and not even physically. NO ONE belongs to anyone, not even husband and wife nor children. They are individuals with their own Karma.

I wish my friend well and that she finds Peace.