Smelling the roses

It has been awhile since I've left school, give or take 2 decades, that is...

And like almost everyone, there was for me, a teacher in class who made a world of difference, whose philosophy in life still influences up till today.

This was a teacher who at that time when she taught social science, was in her early or mid-fifties. She taught us to stop and "smell the roses", she taught us about the "ying and yang" of life and she taught us that it was okay to go against society's expectations.

I can still recall the time when she came to classes with a hangover after a good night's partying.

And today, as I sit here, I am truly thankful for someone like her who told us that she didn't have an ambition or a goal then... and that that was okay. It was okay not to have an Oxford or Harvard education and not to have a million-dollar-salary.

It was and still is, much more important that our lives be lived authentically... for so long as we have the ability to smell the roses, everything would be okay, too.

So, here's a toast to my teacher.

Today, I can proudly say that I don't have a goal yet... I've just been busy LIVING!

Honourific titles

From Biblical times even, man has sought to be greater than their Creator, with the likes of the Tower of Babel erected in honour of their achievements. Today, while superstructures may be considered passé, man has turned to elevating themselves instead to incredible heights of honourific titles that are even lengthier than their given birth-names.

I have witness how this ludicrous behavior has extended into the family unit where children address their own parents by the parents’ official laurels instead. Far from being a mark of respect, it is an indication how degenerated human life has become when a child cannot even address their parents with normal terms of endearment like “dad “ or “mom” anymore.

I fail to see how having grand titles makes one any more superior a human being than his peers. After all, doesn’t every human blood flow red and most religions demand humility? (The very same religion that these honourific title holders claim utmost devotion to).

Why, even the most powerful man on earth, the U.S. President is addressed merely as “Mr. President” while the richest referred to without any fancy titles attached – Warren Buffet.

Hmm… this only leaves the wannabes that still bask in having others address them as gods with titles longer then the passage of time dating back even way past the Tower of Babel to the fall of Lucifer. You know… the same guy who wanted to be greater than his Creator, too?

The good old days

Ever come across people who reminisce about the past incessantly? - "Oh, those were the good old days, blah... blah... blah" where even broken lightbulbs, leaking roofs and creaky floors seemed like the land of milk and honey with shades of sepia-toned memories thrown into the scene.

I, too, have many-a-times indulged myself in the glory days of the past. Make no mistakes about it... youthfulness is addictive.

But when that addiction becomes socially debilitating, when obsession and wishful thinking and a constant longing for the past creeps through, it's time to call it a disease. Honestly, can you actually imagine yourself now with broken lightbulbs, leaking roofs and creaky floors? Get my drift?

When we're indulging ourselves in the past, we forget to appreciate the present.

Yes, I know that often the present can be shitty to say the least. But hey, Maybe it's time to appreciate the air that we're breathing, the evolution of life that's unfolding before our world stage and just the little things that'll make for tomorrow's good 'ol days.

Who's stupid now?

There's one phrase from my editor that has stayed with me all these years despite having left the reporting field quite some time back.

It's this : "Never take your reader for a fool".

In simple terms, one needn't over-write a point till death because readers are not stupid. They get it the first time around.

But if I may rephrase, I'd like to add "Never take your audience for fools. They too, know the first time around".

See, some people actually believe that they are getting away with lies just because people don't seem to respond negatively at that point. Come on, who are we kidding? At best, its telling about you as a person - a LIAR. Worst, you'll suffer for it later, whether you realise it or not. These can come in forms of either deprived opportunities or revenge, both of which you'll lose.

So, perhaps it's time to make a change. Be someone with a little character instead.

The Asian crisis

First of, this posting sounds like a lost cause... maybe it is (most likely it is!). But I'd still like to think that Asia still provides some hope for change.

A couple of months back I had an interesting conversation with an in-law in the U.K.. Now retired, he was a former CEO of one of the world's largest tobacco companies.

I asked him, "Why is it that with so much hype on Asia being the next goldmine, are European companies not coming here in droves despite themselves telling everyone how Asia is going to be the next BIGGEST thing to happen?"

He replied, "The problem with Asia is that no one respects another. Everyone will undercut someone else to make the sale. As a result, the margin just isn't profitable for us to move there."

Sadly, this is true and reveals much about the "Asian mindset" today.

We have debased ourselves so much that regard for another as human being has degenerated almost to the brink of extinction. Money has replaced humanity, it has replaced natural goodness that once resided in each of us and if we're honest enough to ourselves, it has become our god. Despite all the Church-going, mosque-going or temple-going, one can still deceive himself but God? Come on...

The honour that our forefathers once pledged is gone as did fairplay, integrity and a universal respect for people. We have allowed ourselves to freefall, all the while chanting our "greed is good" mantra.

So, when are we going to ever wake up, smell the roses and for a single moment, at least, believe that human life (ours and others) is sacred.

It is sacred enough for God... when will it be sacred enough for us?

Win-win situations

People have a ridiculous sense of well-being. Where they are lacking, they pat themselves on their backs and contemplate on how well they’re faring despite the circumstances. Well, this is not to say that optimism isn’t good, but one needs to know what is optimism and what is mere excuse for shortcomings.

For example, I find that the term “win-win situation” to be of mere fallacy, in any negotiation. It is nothing more than to soothe one’s bruises.

For in any negotiation, there is no such thing as “win-win”. There is and always will be a winner and a loser, the difference being the degree of wins and degree of losses.

So, the sooner we stop kidding ourselves and face facts, the sooner we’ll be on our way to better manage defeats, identify root causes and correct what needs to be corrected so that we’ll have a firmer ground to stand on for the next battle.

Thinking out of the box

Do you ever tire of listening to people regurgitate the words "Thinking out of the box" where their mantra is a reproduction of Robert Kennedy's words "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?"

By the way, RFK's words were not originals since George Bernard Shaw's "You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" were immortalised in his book "Back to Methuselah" published more than 20 years before RFK was even born.

See a pattern now?

People just love to quote lofty words, thinking that if they did it often enough, they'll actually be "thinking out of the box". And honestly, there's nothing that these people whom I've come across have anything new to offer, except a copy of another idea that's already out there, however repackaged.

For one to really be creating new ideas and thoughts, he/she has to be able to visualise things that are not yet seen and not just to ask "why not?". Now, that's real creativity that's not regurgitated.

That's originality!