from green to black

moving forward together

Oh finally, something to write about. though
not surprising since lionel had to bash the idea
through to my thick skull about how things
are going on from the domain of the masses.
although i do admit that i'm am painfully not
up to date about this elitism issue, i am very
concerned over how it is turning out, especially
when it has ramifications on so many levels.
1. it reminds me of the jc - poly/ite divide esp
when wsm is from a top jc
2. it is a rich - poor divide between capital
owners and capital labourers.
3. our behavior and response to the situation.
we see merchants of venices, pharisees and
those who just want to roast her up.

This is a painful episode, but what is really more
important is how we pick ourselves up from here.
It is very upsetting to see those who have noble
motives of standing up for the disadvantaged,
stoop down to the same level and mirror the
same actions of meanness in order to teach her
a lesson. although it would be fair to postulate
that her family shares a similar trend of thought,
i would say almost all singaporeans do too and
we are all just lucky enough not to be in the
position of responsibility to answer for it unlike wsk.

observe parents from all walks of life when they
meet, students who have just received their
psle, o or a level results and conversation
starters. education and one's future is usually
the most discussed topic. parents aspire for
their children to have a 'comfortable' life. these
aspirations lean towards having a headstart,
connections, prominence so that one would
be able to survive and thrive. meritocracy
forces us to be result focused and thus favours
the elite. we place so much hope, such high
expectations, practically worshiping their
achievements and then we say but we are
all the same, sure and some are more equal
than others. if we ourselves subconciously
live out such values we make ourselves to
be a joke when one explicitly sound out this
belief and we beat her over the head for it
because god forbid we look into the mirror
and see ourselves there. better we conciously
tell ourselves it doesnt exist.

it is hard to argue that help is readily available
when there are indeed barriers to attaining them.
but to be fair, those who need help sometimes
find it hard to approach those who can help them.
it is seen as a loss of face, or they would rather
be noticed by the aid givers, or basically believe
it is not worth the trouble at all. i feel saddened
because the easiest option would be to lay blame,
create a ruckus and then everyone swings by
his emotions which just increases the distance
between two groups of people because they
will not understand each other.

other issues such as job security also peppered
our talk. which i knew relistically had to be
tackled impartially. yes i fear for the instability
of the job market, and i feel for those who
are vunerable. sure the government could do
more, but pray suggest something. protectionism
hurts us more in the end, foreign labour controls
could have political undercurrents that we
are unaware of and it doesnt help that there
are those who are just waiting for a free handout.
oh believe you me that you'd be similarly swayed
when u see how people behave in the army.
when they do less work but still want the same
number of off days or when the regulars
do almost nothing at all but still take a much
higher pay. though i dont blame them since
they are probably stymied in even attempting
to deal with basic discipline problems due
to the 'safety' doctrines anyway. pardon my
digression, but life still goes on with all
these setbacks anyway.

education is a great leveller, however to
pursue it also depends on choice.
hypothetically, we have mr kid. when he
was young his family provided well, he
asked and he received. he spent his days
on computer games, played hookey went
to parties with his friends and ended up
blue collared. at work he drank, smoked,
played more games and perhaps even
took to de-tensing at geylang. he reached
his mid thirties and had aged parents
and 2 children to feed. he takes home
2.5k a month and he starts to feel insecure.
and so he asks you for help. you are
generous. and so you do. multiply that by
1 thousand people per year. then what
is the point of others studying hard at
all since our fate is perpetual assistance.
remember the time when there was only
a misunderstanding about a friend not
pulling his weight in work, why the two face?

hence, just as we cannot force a horse at
the river to drink we have to accept that
there is no fruitful action to take at times
such as these. our elders should not take
our lack of action as apathy or resignation
but the maturity to realise that we cannot
do anything for others till we ourselves
are empowered to do so. as for me, my
branch of peace is always extended, that
i may be a partner to the disadvantaged
to the success of our makings.

posted by green unseen @ 8:53 AM