Know your league

Was clearing my emails when I stumbled upon sthg I sent to some frens eons ago...think Bak Chew has seen it. It's from my all-time fav author - Robert Fulghum...problem is I dunno where I quoted it from (his books? or website?) *scratch head* Anyways, here it is... something to ponder :)

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Some sense of being successful in life may lie in knowing which league to play in. If your dream of success means playing striker on a World Cup soccer team and you are short, chubby, and slow, you will die disappointed.
Wrong league.
If you are pleased to play goalie on a local playground team with other short, chubby, and slow people – and you have a wonderful time doing it, then you are a successful soccer player.
Right league.
And the same is true for any sport – tennis, baseball, volleyball, poker or whatever - pick a league worthy of your abilities and flourish there.

Or, as Epictetus said in the 4th century B.C.:
"If you can fish, fish. If you can sing, sing. If you can fight, fight. Determine what you can do. And do that."

Likewise, some sense of being successful in life may lie in knowing on which scale you work best. For example, an astronomer is one whose mind can function on a cosmic scale. A physicist is one whose mind can handle the quantum scale. A theologian – a metaphysical scale. A historian deals with the long picture. A psychiatrist works with the deep picture. A cook or taxi driver works with the immediate situation. Poets and artists work on a very personal scale. Politicians – the public arena.
Many die confused and unfulfilled because they spend a life trying to perform above their abilities and perspective – usually a matter of working on the wrong scale.

Epictetus said, "Why worry about being a nobody when what matters is being a somebody in those areas of your life over which you have control, and in which you can make a difference?"

Why am I telling you this?
Two reasons. My 70th year begins this week, and I am in a reflective mood.
And my thinking was provoked when I arrived in Crete this year and found on my desk a letter to me from a German scholar who had lived in my house for a time while I was away. (She has read my books and reads my web-site journal postings.)
After expressing appropriate appreciation for my writing and the use of the house, she asked some hard questions:
Why did I not address the political issues of our time, especially the actions of the present American government administration? Why did I not address the humanitarian issues of our day? Why was I not outraged as an American with the evil done on my behalf? Did I agree that might makes right, that the end justifies the means, and that God is on our side? How can I support the fundamental position of Zionist Israel? Did I really believe the American Way was the only Way? Did I have any real understanding of how America is perceived in the world now? How much hatred and contempt is felt? Why was I silent on these burning issues? Why did I not run for office and do something?

Answer: It is a matter of league and scale.

My mind works in the scale of the local, the daily, and the ordinary.
Writing about that is the league in which I am competent.
I tend to be simple-minded, plain-spoken, and optimistic.
I attend to my corner of the world as best I can with the tools I have.

Of course I know that evil and ugliness exists, as much now as ever.
These get all the headlines. We all get the bad news.
And I send money and vote and march in response.
But I remain astonished at the good and lovely that exists.
And most of it is free and readily available – if I stay open-eyed.

Of course there is reason for pessimism.
We shall all die. The earth will fall into the sun.
Meanwhile . . . is the league and scale of the amateurs like me.

I have not the skill to play professional sports. Wrong league.
I have not the competence to be an astrologer, physicist, theologian, chef, historian, politician, psychiatrist, cook, or taxi driver. Wrong scale. Nor the talent to be a poet, musician, or artist. Nor writer of great literature or even thrillers or detective stories or political commentary. Not me.
When people ask why don't I do this and this and this instead of that and that and that, I can only say that I am a man who has found his league and scale, who goes about trying to be awake to the news of the immediate ordinary world; to make sense of what I see; to pass it on with the implied question: have you seen what I see?
Look! Don't miss the good stuff – that is my message.

There. Not self-defense or apology.
Just a statement of position.
Meanwhile . . . I know what I can do.
Meanwhile. . . I do it.

It never stands still

Clock always turns in clockwise direction, never anti-clockwise. The blood in our body is constantly flowing. Never ceasing. And our heart is constantly beating. Never resting. Sun rises and sets everyday. So does the moon.

Nothing exists in a permanent state. Life is always evolving, ever-changing. So why are we afraid of change?

Chasing away the blues...

Was reading Miu's 无耐 entry and I felt compelled to share this song with her. Am drawn to its optimism, and it does have an uplifting-mood effect on me. Haa... Yeah, we will never know what will happen tomorrow so carpe diem! :)

Who Knows by Avril Lavigne

Why do you look so familiar?
I could swear that I have seen your face before
I think I like that you seem sincere
I think I’d like to get to know you a little bit more

I think there’s something more
Life's worth living for

Who knows what could happen
Do what you do
Just keep on laughing
One thing’s true
There’s always a brand new day
I’m gonna live today like it’s my last day

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

How do you always have an opinion
And how do you always find the best way to compromise
We don’t need to have a reason
We don’t need anything
We’re just wasting time

I think there’s something more
Life's worth living for

Find yourself
'Cause I can’t find you
Be yourself
Who are you?

So you go and make it happen
Do your best
Just keep on laughing
I’m telling you, there’s always a brand new day

Education

My think-aloud thoughts...

Read from the papers recently about the education plans govt has or is thinking for the people…which makes me think about the role of education in the first place.

In The Aristos by John Fowles (written in 1968), he wrote in Chapter 9 – A New Education

1. At present almost all our education is directed to two ends: to get wealth for the state and to gain a livelihood for the individual. It is therefore little wonder that society is money-obsessed, since the whole tenor of education seems to indicate that this obsession is both normal and desirable.

2. In spite of the fact that we now have almost universal education, we are qualitatively one of the least-educated ages, precisely because education has everywhere surrendered to economic need. Relatively far better educations were received by the fortunate few in the eighteen century; in the Renaissance, in ancient Rome and Greece. The aims of education in all those periods were far superior to our own; they opened the student admirably to the understanding and enjoyment of life and to his responsibilities towards society. Of course the facts and subjects of the old classical education are largely unnecessary to us today; and of course it was the product of a highly unjust economic situation, but at its best it arrived at something none of our present systems remotely approach: the rounded human being.

3. ...

And in a Newsweek article dated August 2006, Martha Nussbaum wrote:

We live in a world that is dominated by the profit motive – which suggests to concerned citizens that education in science and technology is crucially important to the future success of their nations. I have no objection to good scientific and technical education, and I don’t wish to suggest that nations should stop trying to improve it. But I worry that other abilities, equally crucial, are at risk of getting lost in the competitive flurry. The abilities associated with the humanities and the arts are also vital, both to the health of individual nations and to the creation of a decent world culture. These include the ability to think critically, to transcend local loyalties and to approach international problems as a “citizen of the world.” And, perhaps most important, the ability to imagine sympathetically the predicament of another person…in short, an education that cultivates human beings rather than producing useful machines. If we do not insist on the crucial importance of the humanities and the arts, they will drop away. They don’t make money. But they do something far more precious: they make a world worth living in.

Some 40 years ago and now, we are still facing the same issue. We are well aware of the fact that education is supposed to ‘cultivate’ a well-rounded human being not only to serve economically but also as a humane human being. But the scale has always been tilting to one end.

Recall the recent coverage on underpaid and under-appreciated social workers…and also the recent news about some students getting 4 straight As, yet they feel upset about it (their concern lies in the number of As they can achieve and the type of scholarship they can be awarded (local vs. foreign uni). But what about the majority of the JC students?).

SIGH, need to remind myself we are living in the ME era. ME has been taught to study hard, so that ME can earn more money (of cos, ME also want to earn more money) and ME can have a better life. It’s all about ME. Gee...what have we become?

I succumbed…

…to alcohol.

Yah, I did the most uncle thing tonight (the last time was with Mr. Ng years ago at the coffee shop near office). Anyways, I had a beer in front of my home TV. It wasn’t some glam red wine, or some hip Heineken or Hoer garden beer…but 皇冠. And I complement my drink with snacks (fortunately it was chips and not some peanuts or dried bbq squids).

I just can’t help it......when I took a break from my work and then I saw my dad savoring his beer, it just hit me. The sudden intense craving for a beer - I NEED that cold beer LOR. Had to sheepishly ask my dad for supplies. “Yah, one last one…in the fridge” he said. Thank god!

I am sooo happy with my beer. It's damn refreshing and I felt so alive when I tasted it. I can only say my senses have been deadened by the report that I am working on and I really need some catalyst to pump the life into me again. Haa…

Yes, am a happy gal now…so back to reality again, recharged!