It is. Or is it?

Forgive me if you think my title is inappropriate after you read but I hope you are able to see why I used it. Okay, back to my main post. I am sure that most of you here has been to at least one motivational talk in your life where they tell you to treasure what you currently have and be satisfied and things like that. Then they start showing you pictures of a very stressed up kid and say "do you hate studying?". Then they show you another picture of children from third world countries writing on the sand and tell you "they don't even have a proper classroom to conduct lessons." My first reactions are, yes of course I should treasure my time to study because they cannot even have a proper classroom or even shelter to conduct their lessons in. However, after thinking about it more, I realized, there seems to be some kind of mistake in this logic that I hate studying while they want to but cannot. Firstly, children nowadays do not hate studying, they just prefer to relax more than to doing work. Secondly, we are in a more developed country, we have i pods and computers and Facebook nowadays to distract us from studying, while they do not.

With all these distractions, children nowadays definitely would prefer all these things to homework whereas in third world countries, they have nothing to do except laze about, catch fish, or anything that they have done for over a decade. Of course if we let them study, they would love it as it is a change of activities for them instead of the usual stuff that they do.

Therefore, my take on this issue would be that, keep the message about treasuring whatever you have right now. Throw everything that they compare you to third world countries out of the window, because the living conditions between theirs and our's is imply too great for an equal or at least comparable comparison

Ostracism

I think that most of you here, when you see this lame old topic, immediately think of Negroes or foreign workers that have a darker skin complexion than us. However, my post today is not on that kind of ostracism that has already been debated and spoken about for a few hundred years. Rather, I will be discussing on the discrimination not of skin colour, but rather, one kind of ostracism that many many people have been through. I shall not tell you the exact kind of ostracism I am talking about here through definition but rather, through a short scenario.(I know this trick is old)

Student A: Hmmm! What a nice weather today. I think I shall take a short jog round the track!

(Puts down bag and starts jogging)

Student B: Eh? Isn't that the dwarf from 2K2 (Class changed to protect identity) "sprinting" round the track?

Student C: I think is him leh! Eh let's go "sprint" with him la.

(Put down their bags and sprint to the track, jogging next to Student A)

Student B: Woah! Not bad eh? The dwarf knows how to run leh! I'm very impressed!

Student C: Looks like our "teachings" worked after all eh? Finally can move his legs front and back! Oh, I feel so honoured!

Student A: (Stares at them and returns to his bag)

Students B and C: Aiyo, jog so little cannot run already, maybe his little dwarf lungs cannot take the huffing and puffing running causes.

Student A: (Quickly walks away.)

As it is pretty clear now, the kind of ostracism I am talking about is about body build and size. Many people around the world have been ostracized due to their body size, whether they are too big sized or too skinny. These people are normally shunned at school or any place else. They are tormented day after day by insults about their body size. These people take the insults, feel hurt, but normally can do nothing about it. Those people with a more average body size continue to insult them as they think it is fun and allows them to feel as if they are some great dictator. This could and most probably will scar those people emotionally. All I want to say here, is that nobody can determine the figure of your body. If you are obese, there is a slim chance that you will slim down to a "normal" body size anytime soon and if you are skinny, eating a lot will not help either, so my blog post here today is to put through the point that nobody can choose what his or her body is like, but they can feel less hurt if people do not ostracize them. Therefore, we have to stop this kind of ostracism before it really gets out of hand and the ostracized goes through a tough regime to get his body in shape which might endanger his health. However, this ostracism is very hard to curb as long as there are people that one to feel as if they are lords by insulting other people of different body sizes. Therefore, if one is on the receiving end of these insults, I say just take it as a small breeze of dirty air and blow it away, so as to enjoy the cleaner and fresher air around you that is your true friends.

Terrible terrible accident.

Right, I must make this clear before you carry on reading the rest of this blog post, the accident DID NOT happen to me. (Sorry to disappoint). Now that that point has been put through, I shall continue with the rest of the blog post. Ok, today, after boarding an unusually crowded bus during an unusually peak non-peak hour, I stood back and tried to relax. Through the entire journey, I lugged my heavy school bag behind me. Hoping for a place to sit that was apparently not going to come. I lasted through the entire journey. Heaving a sigh of relief once I saw the interchange coming in sight, I reached for my wallet, waiting to tap it when I saw this young boy bounding down the stairs. (It was a double-decker bus). Within moments, what began as a moment of joy for the kid, soon turned into tragedy.

The boy missed a step and fell face first into the unforgiving base of the stairs. Many people around merely gave off a "Ohhhhh" and just turned and enjoyed the "show". The parent of the boy then came running down. (He did not fall). He aggressively pulled up the weeping boy and gave him a tight slap across the face. My first reaction was like (forgive me)......WTH? I listened on only to hear the father scream at his son for being so utterly careless. The more I heard, the more question marks started to form above my head. First, I was completely stunned that the father added a slap to his son's already severe injury. Second, I was wondering, why the hell is his father scolding him for the fall when he is already crying as if he had just his hair pulled off violently? I alighted the bus, pondering over this question. Are parents nowadays using this "spectacular" teaching method? This method, I must say, is quite effective if it is used in a minor accident that occurred, but I feel what this parent has done today is too much. Come on, the child has fell face first onto the cold hard floor. Another slap to his FACE just worsens the injury. Though I must admit that the child can only learn if he has been through a terrible accident like this but I feel that the slap unnecessary.

Thus here, I sincerely feel that the parent is at fault here. Because the child has not done anything wrong. The slap was bloody "extra" What are your thoughts and takes on this matter?