The results are coming out in less than 24 hours (less than 12 hours actually), but I realise there are many more things to worry about than my results. Not that I am complacent or anything, expecting As or wat, but those grades are just a few of many things that are more worrying in this whole wide world.
Like children killing each other, whether or not it's on purpose. Like traditions (not all though) which constantly go against the principles of modernity. Like the telling of lies to strangers from half the way across the globe.
I don't actually have any solution for these worries, for my words are but the words of a young woman on the little red dot on the map, which for your information is not always known to the other side of the world. Even when we supposedly boast many of the No. 1s in the world.
How do I know? Through chatting over yahoo!games. Some people from the Land of Freedom do not even know where Singapore is. So, whatever I say in this post may not even matter to any of you reading this, much less those in other continents. But oh well, I still need an outlet to express my astonishment, displeasure, worries and what not. Hmm where am I heading now? I ain't exactly sure but I know when I read these things below, I was disturbed. Not many things beyond gossips and football attract me these days, be it in the papers, TV news broadcasts or online papers. But when my eyes caught these, I was suddenly aroused from my slumber, realising how little I know about the world around me sometimes. Oh well, I shan't ramble on before I list the 3 things that grabbed my attention recently, in ordinal form according to the degree of 'disturbance', if I may use that term:
1. Lying, at least partially lying (by excluding part of the truth) to the world about the quality of your men This is damn serious because it concerns the very premier institution I am studying in. It may be hilarious at first glance, but when you think about it again, we are including such lies in our promotion of ourselves to the world and that has to be worrying. I dunno whether any of you has noticed the ad which has this ang moh girl open her envelope and she and her mum jump for joy at the thought of her going to Singapore to study. And then towards the end of the ad, while they are walking away into another room the mother says something along the lines of "I heard the boys there are cute...". Err I was truly disenchanted ya know, cos in my whole life in this premier institution, I haven't heard exactly heard of many cute boys.
Well, I know this is just a way to sell your business and it is pretty much a corporate world out there. But while I am still sane and not equipped with a corporate mind, let me shout: WHERE GOT CUTE GUYS?
2. Children Killing Each Other
This is not so much about just the children because afterall, children are angels. We don't need to have our own children to know that. What's worrying is the way they are brought up, the way the world is now such that children, not only adults, are stressed out. I am including some whole sentences from
this article I read because I think they are self-explanatory and any attempt on my part to restructure them will render them less disturbing (what more with my limited ability in summarising and restructuring).
"He saw a parked bus," Detective Gregory said. "He entered a parked bus. He wanted to drive the bus. The bus started to move. He got scared. He saw a crossing guard jumping up and down. The bus stopped after hitting a pole."
During this school year, Ms. Lawton said, Tafari has been absent 40 times and late 14 times. His school has called the Administration for Children's Services to report inadequate guardianship. He is not allowed on school trips and has been found wandering around Crown Heights unsupervised.
The article included this piece of information:
Last May, when a 9-year-old girl stabbed her 11-year-old playmate to death in an apartment in East New York, Brooklyn, the police said that no one could remember charging one so young in a killing.And this bit which broke my heart:
When it (the hearing) was over, Tafari asked a court officer how old the judge was and what her hammer was used for. He said he wanted to go home.You tell me which part of this is not worrying.
3. Inadequate social mobility in India due to the caste systemI am not saying India is the only country with inadequate social mobility, because in all fairness, lands of freedom and promise and opportunity are still very much tainted with structural inadequacies that make climbing the social ladder a difficult task. This issue was flashed across the bottom of the CNA screen (what's that scrolling thing called?) yesterday I believe, something along the lines of lower castes in India not being able to get good jobs. Couldn't catch the exact words cos I saw it at like 2am last night (morning?). So why is this worrying?
Because in this age of modernity, we are still trapped in the times of yesterday. I don't even dare to challenge the rationale behind the caste system (or any system of stratification for that matter) but I believe traditions are upheld because there is some goodness in them. Some say they are there to keep a check on modernity's ills, to help us cope with modernity.
But what happens when the forces of modernity take advantage of tradition, use tradition for their own ends, in turn leaving millions under the reins of the rich minority? What happens when the rich (and the higher castes) come and tell you you are what you are because you are born in a certain caste, therefore your life chances should only be as high as your status in the whole caste sytem?
I guess the answer would be absolute poverty (so much for eradicating poverty throughout the world), till the day the Almighty saves us from all these ills. But never am I saying that we should just resign to our fate and believe in what's predestined for us, because the more we think so, the easier it is for the system to exploit us. Therefore we must always strive for the good of ourselves, our families and our people in general. It is true that for every suffering we go through, there is a blessing in disguise, but that is not reason enough for us to resign to our fate.
Somehow, we'll need to work our ways up the ladder, at the same time wait for Judgement Day, when justice will be meted out duly.
But to strive towards our goals, we need ample, sufficient rest. How else are we going to keep it sane and plan our way there? I need that rest now, but if you are not sleeping yet, just think over what I've posted today.
I painted my dreams at
8:32 AM
