respect, harmony and self-discovery..

Nothing much to update from me.. classes started officially this week, so am expecting the work load to gradually increase in the next few weeks.. the mercury has dropped somewhat, bringing lots of rain and strong wind with it.. so I was slightly under the weather these few days..

Anyway, the reason for this post is to express a couple of my views on things happening all over the world.. so here goes..

It just beyond me that some like to antagonize others whom they know (for sure) would react to the slightest provocation. Thus on one side, you have a group of people who seem fond of testing the tolerance of another group of people whom have over the years shown that their religion is off-limit. On the other side, there is this group of people who will protest, hurt, kill and resort to (any and all) extreme action to show their 'displeasure' if they think that they (or their religion) are being insulted, to put it mildly. So is there any surprise that we are having these big messy situations we have now? Since it is impossible, in my opinion, to ask this side to stop provoking nor is it possible to ask the other side to look the other way when provoked, unless we have a sudden 'enlightenment' on both sides, we are looking at a no-win situation that might remain unsolvable for years to come... in my opinion, it is an issue about respect. It is very easy to demand respect from others but not paying any back.. We should all respect each other, not just for our similarities but more importantly for our differences.. I always held fast to "Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you".. (ps: I've written about my thoughts on religion 2 years ago here).

Next in Asia, we have this fight over a couple of rocks in the sea.. Protesters from one of the countries are rampaging and thrashing anything and everything that they deemed to be from that one particular country, without getting their facts checked first. Seriously, there is a World Court (otherwise known as the International Court of Justice) and, in my opinion, all countries involved should go there, state their case and resolve this contention in a civilized manner.. this is no longer an era where the one with the biggest fist wins.. Emotions and (false sense of) patriotism should be kept at bay and let facts and rationality lead the way in sorting things out.. these days, everything is interconnected and intertwined, including countries.. that's globalization! since we can't live in isolation, we should learn to live with one another, no?

another 'bad' career in e eyes of Asian parents

Finally in Taiwan, there has been a lot of brouhaha about graduates from top local universities going overseas to earn a living as butchers or crop-pickers.. Those people were called "menial laborer from TW" (台勞) by the media, putting them on par with 泰勞 (menial laborer from Thailand), 印勞 (menial laborer from Indonesia), 菲勞 (menial laborer from the Philippines) and 越勞 (menial laborer from Vietnam), which in the mind of the locals here is a major loss of face.

To me, these are much about nothing. What's wrong with working overseas as a laborer? At least it is an honest living! Is it better to stay in the country, be jobless and be a parasite to your parents for months after graduation?? In Asian culture, there is a tendency to scorn the poor and relish the rich, even if that wealth is obtained illegally or immorally (笑貧不笑娼). So this is the kind of message they are sending to their kids - that one should hold on to one's pride and live off one's family/community because he/she is too 'good'/'smart'/'learned' to do menial jobs in other countries.. Seriously??

In my opinion, the younger generation should be encouraged to widen their horizon by working or at the very least go backpacking overseas.. A 6-month overseas stint would teach them more about the world than the best teacher or the best narrative books/TV programs. Parents should make their kids leave their comfort zones and expose them to new experiences.. Although there is no age limit for one to be a globetrotter, late teens and early twenties are the best time to explore the world.. It is no longer sufficient to be a good citizen, it is now imperative that we are good GLOBAL citizen.. 

Sometimes I wonder what's the point of having so many university graduates... This is supposed to raise the overall literary and education level so people can make smarter choice and take better care of themselves and their family. Having a degree does not guarantee one a job or a livelihood.. You have to go and look for it..  And if a government can't bring the jobs into its country, then one should go where the opportunities are.. I am all for the younger generations to go overseas and experience 'LIFE'.. Kids nowadays are very often overly pampered by their guilt-ridden parents that they either take money for granted (parents have an obligation to provide for me, no matter how old I am) or have a twisted/wrong concept on money (money is the means to all ends)..

So here you have it, the 3 current issues that kinda rubbed me the wrong way and I had to vent my thoughts about them..