Should a Child be Punished for the Sins of His/Her Parents?

Have you ever met people who are so entrenched in their beliefs that they often make stupid and hurtful remarks at the expense of people around them without using any cow sense? This is my story:

Once I tried to talk my friend out of the religious fanatism that she has gotten herself into. I suspected she has histronic personality disorder and she did mention more than once that she was more upset about being at being unnoticed and unpopular rather than being unable to commune with God or for having a weak faith. So after another emo session with her deploring her "ugliness" being the cause of her unpopularity, I sat her down for a good talk. I started off by trying to explain to her that there are people even uglier than her in this world, and how she should not use this as an excuse to diet and exercise like a fanatical moron. This is a rough transcript of our conversation:

ME: "Why do you think some children in this world are born deforned or defective in some way in mind or body?"

HER: "Erm, because of incest lor, It's their parents' fault"

ME: "What??? Who told you THAT?"

HER: "My Pastor lor"

Her answer shocked the hell out of me, I ditched her because I could tell what a lousy conversationalist she would be and I hated Mega Churches with a vengence ever since. I'm fully aware that it might be possible that she misconstrued the pastor because the other Christians that I know have never heard of such a thing. But give me a reason to hate mega-churches a littel more, will you? Anyway, this conversation raised many questions in my mind.

-Is this what religion teaches a person? Christianity's main tenant is to love and forgive everyone!

-Deformed people are a source of reflection that we should be happy with who and what we are. NOT as a source of criticism that they are like "this" because of some action in their past life or their parents' sin.

-What's the point of educating a person all the way to University level if they can't use their goddamn brains?

-What happened to all the science, biology and research topics that we've been given throughout our academic life? Shouldn't they help us to be more open to alternative and more realistic reasons as to how and why things happen?

When I ask this question to anyone else with a brain, that they know how to use, the answer is always linked back to genetics. When children are born like this, it's not because God is punishing their parents for commiting incest! It's just a matter of probability! Almost everyone has a defective gene somewhere in their DNA (we aren't perfect creatures) it can affect your offspring both positively or negatively. Unique traits such as eye color, jaw shape, hair color are all products of "defective" genes that branched off from the original DNA many centuries ago.

Children with deformities are unfortunate because the "wrong" gene was activated due to a freak of nature or because their parents didn't know they had recessive "problematic" genes. So you shouldn't blame the parents nor the children, they are equally innocent becaue it is something beyond their control. Besides, I always maintained the view that God frowns upon such stuff but he must be one heck of a bitchy bastard if he makes an innocent kid suffer for his parents' sin (if any).

Incest is a common sin worldwide, but normally they take pains to ensure that they conduct it discreetly and don't have children. I think every country in this world has laws against incest because it is established that it would result in long term inbreeding problems such as a concentration of genetic coding errors. From what I gather in my research, incest is fine for a few generations, but anything beyond 5 generations is problematic. How do I know this? From studying History!

The best example is the Habsburg Dynasty. Over the course of 500 years, they have intermarried a lot just to maintain power within the family. They are all Christians, so they don't practice incest in the sense of marrying within the immediate family (i.e. parents, siblings or first cousins). By the end of 500 years of marrying cousins, nieces, uncles, etc all the genetic errors accumulated into creating the disgusting Charles II of Spain.

Charles II not only suffered an extreme version of the Hapsburg lip, his tongue was said to be so big for his mouth that he had difficulty speaking and drooled. He also suffered from an oversized head, intestinal upsets, convulsions and, according to his first wife, premature ejaculation.

"He was unable to speak until the age of four, and could not walk until the age of eight. He was short, weak and quite lean and thin. He was described as a person showing very little interest in his surroundings," Professor Alvarez said. "He looked like an old person when he was 30 years old, suffering edemas [swellings] on his feet, legs, abdomen and face. During the last years of his life he could barely stand up and suffered from hallucinations and convulsive episodes," he said.

Taken from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/revealed-the-inbreeding-that-ruined-the-hapsburgs-1668857.html

Let us take a look at this German couple- they are siblings who grew up apart and fell in love with each other after the death of their biological mother. Regardless of Germany's incest laws, they had 4 children together. The first 3 children were forcefully taken away from them and place in foster care. It raises the question of ethics- did the government have the right to take away a mother's child from her just because they feel her choice in their paternity was faulty? Their children are all fine and healthy individuals, is the fear of parental influence so great that it necessitates the heartbreak of a mother for the good of her children?
Taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6424937.stm

My post is going to be a lot more graphic from now on. I want to use pictures to prove my point "If deformity is due to incestuous parents, that's a very harsh price for their children to pay". In reality, these children are all by products of faulty genes.

Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21)


This is a picture with a kid with Down Syndrome. It is NOT because his parents are incestuous. It is because he has an extra Choromosome 21. Individuals with Down syndrome tend to have a lower than average cognitive abilities, often ranging from mild to moderate developmental disabilities. A small number have severe to profound mental disability. It occurs in approximately 800 to 1,000 births. It must be noted that these statistics are heavily influenced by older mothers.

Harlequin type ichthyosis

Call this baby a demon spawn or whatever and I swear I'll slap you. Children with this defect normally die very young due to infection or dehydration. I can only imagine the pain they are experiencing. The oldest survivor is only 24 years old.

The features of sufferers are deformed facially and cranially. The ears may be very poorly developed or absent entirely, as may the nose. The eyelids are severely everted (ectropion), which leaves the eyes and the area around them very susceptible to trauma. They often bleed upon birth. The lips, pulled by the dry skin, are fixed into a wide grimace (eclabium). Arms, feet, and fingers are almost always deformed in such a way that they cannot bend properly, and may be below the normal size.

Taken from: Wikipedia

It is a hereditary disorder caused by recessive genes. So means if the child's father and mother both have this gene stuck somewhere in their DNA, it might become a dominant gene in the child.

Siamese Twins

Conjoined/Siamese twins are identical twins or non identical whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of pairs born alive have abnormalities incompatible with life. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25%. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3:1.

Two contradicting theories exist to explain the origins of conjoined twins. The older and most generally accepted theory is fission, in which the fertilized egg splits partially. The second theory is fusion, in which a fertilized egg completely separates, but stem cells (which search for similar cells) find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together.

Taken from: Wikipedia

Again, they are borned like this due to freak of nature, not because their mother commited incest.

Neurofibromatosis

Neurofibromatosis (commonly abbreviated NF) is a genetically-inherited disease in which nerve tissue grows tumors (e.g. neurofibromas) that may be harmless or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues. The disorder affects all neural crest cells (Schwann cells, melanocytes, endoneurial fibroblasts). Cellular elements from these cell types proliferate excessively throughout the body forming tumors and the melanocytes function abnormally resulting in disordered skin pigmentation.The tumors may cause bumps under the skin, colored spots, skeletal problems, pressure on spinal nerve roots, and other neurological problems.

Taken from Wikipedia

If either one of your parents has this gene, you have a 50% chance of getting it. So it depends on your luck. This is what the elephant man suffers from.

Ok, enough of graphic examples. Other genetic problems include: Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), Sickle Cell Disease, etc... Go read up more on your own.

Back to the topic, so is it fair for children to suffer from such deformities just because their parents' so called "sin"? Rubbish. Don't look down on these kids, EVER. Admire them and their family for having the courage to grow together and learning how to accept each other for who they are. These children have to grow up with the constant scorn and humiliation heaped at them by the so called "perfect" people who deem them to be misfits in society.

Think again, some of these people who are of "sound mind and body" end up being society's greatest parasites. They don't get proper jobs because they think the job and pay is beneath them, they ruin their health by taking drugs and alcohol, they refuse to study and spend their time loafing at the nearest shopping arcade leering at people, etc. And some of these people end up anorexic or bulimic because they think they are fat. By the time they are done damaging their bodies, even the starving kids in Africa look better than them. So who is worse off?

Ironically, the loudest voice decrying such children belong to religiously devout people. To them, it is easy to point a finger and screech "That child is a spawn of the devil, he is evil!" or "That child's parents must have commited a grave sin like incest for God to punish them with such an abomination" or even "That child's mother must have mated with an animal or the devil himself for such a child to be even born". That's just horrible, why has no one spared a thought for the pain that the child and his/her parents are undergoing?

On Patriotism

Since we’ll be celebrating the 44th year of Singapore’s independence in a day’s time, I thought it’ll be nice to talk about something uplifting.

People might wonder, is there patriotism in Singaporeans?

It’s arguable, but there are reasons for Singaporeans to be patriotic, however small these reasons might be.

De Maitre in the recent post, NDP 09, brought up interesting facts about Singapore.

These are the small things which bring about both bewilderment and criticism from the rest of the world, but they are also the facts that made us who we are today.

For me, I’ll like to talk about the “higher” things.

To quote from that old song: “There was a time when people said that Singapore wouldn’t make it, but we did”.

There was indeed such a time. It was a time only our parents and grandparents would remember.

It was through hard work, and good governance, that brought us to where we are today. We were lucky, because while many other post-colonial countries are still struggling in the modern world, Singapore went in a different direction, the effects of which were unexpected even to the leaders themselves.

But so much for an introduction, what is patriotism?

The definition is different for different countries. For the US, it’s the fact that they are a superpower. (Though if you ask me, that title is increasingly becoming hollow), for the Chinese and Indians, it’s the thousands of years of history and culture. For the Europeans, it’s the intellectual, artistic and cultural values that are important to them, plus the quality of their own products.

Singapore has, arguably, little of these. We’re far from a superpower, even though we have one of the most prosperous economies and the most advanced military in the region, we are, well, only 44 years old, 50 if you add in the years of self-government, and we haven’t given birth to any intellectual or artistic “greats” (at least not yet).

But people still love Singapore, at least, again, arguably.
This is because we have the many things other countries want, but just can’t seem to have.

Good governance, from which springs forth many more things, like low corruption, foresight, etc

Economic growth

Rule of law.

What’s holding the other countries back? For many, it’s bad governance. For others, it’s the sacrifice of economic prosperity and social order for such things as “people power”.

Ultimately, there are costs to be incurred for any choices a country may make in the charting of its political direction.

For that, we should also remember, we are so lucky to have had travelled in that right direction, despite the costs that we may have had to pay for that.

Good Old Movies- Boring to most, but rewarding if you watch

I'm a great fan of old movies before of their more in-depth dialogue and better acting skills. There's very little CGI to cover up bad acting or distract me from the skills of the main actors. =)

I'll share a few good classic shows with you guys here:

Magic Voyages of Sinbad (1953)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAmev0oYg1c&feature=channel
This show is very cute. If you notice, the costumes don't look as middle eastern as what Sinbad would typically wear. Instead, the costumes have a very distinctive Viking/Russian in design. This show was released in 1953, it was filmed in Russia and the original story was about a Norse legend- Sadko. Unfortunately, the US released it as "Magic Voyages of Sinbad" after dubbing it in English and editing the original video. If you guys recall, the Cold War was in play at that point in time, so the US would do anything to degrade a Russian film.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7boNOrs-v4g&feature=related This is a silent film. I know many people at this age have never experienced the joy of silent movies. It's called silent because there's no dialogue, not because there is no sound... It is a good experience because the actors have to rely a lot more on body language to express their feelings. Just to let you know, I hated the disney cartoon about this story. I think it didn't cover Quasimodo's feelings enough.

The 300 Spartans (1963)
Part 1: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/rrzmOVdNO6c
Part 2:http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Ek0VQqtVYnM
This is my favorite quote from the show "The Gods have a sense of humor, they make pretty girls and turn them into wives". Hehehehe, the death of the honeymoon period. Unlike the new version "300", it is a lot less graphic as it deals more with the political aspects of prior to the battle. How the Spartans would reject one of their own just because that man's father was assumed to have less than honorable dealings with the Persians, and his journey to prove himself as a capable Spartan regardless of his father's deeds.

Hercules (1958)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSSVvEz-hAI
This movie features Steve Reeves, Mr. Universe (1950). He was one of the body building icons made of 100% natural muscles without the help of drugs. This is a rather interesting movie that focuses on Hercules' sturggle between the choice to be human or immortal, and how he learns that being a mortal only meant pain and suffering but he chose to be human rather than a cold blooded immortal, immune to time and feelings. I particularly like this movie because it dwells on concepts such as how difficult it is to be "special", how positive encouragement can motivate a person to belief himself more than any criticism, etc.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
http://www.supernovatube.com/play.php?viewkey=c694cd0fd49e71249d61
I'm not sure if this show is a public domain film, but it is a definite must see due to its then "state of the art" stop motion feature than generated the fight scene between Jason and the Skeletons. =)

Cleopatra (1963)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzruB19CFgI
I'm not sure if this show is a public domain film (so please search for Part 2-25 on youtube by yourself). I can never get enough of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Not because they're sex icons, but because of the way they delivered their lines! Taylor is always brimming with sensuality and suppressed emotions, whereas Burton delivers his lines with confidence and authority. The effort channeled into creating the costumes and sets were simple breath taking! Remember, they didn't have CGI to create the fake landscapes at the background.

The Ten Commandments (1956)
http://static.youku.com/v1.0.0052/v/swf/qplayer.swf?VideoIDS=cc00XMTUyNzM0MzI&embedid=-&showAd=0
This is another breathtaking costume drama movie that stars Yul Bryner (I can never get enough of his intense gaze), Charlton Heston and Anne Baxter. I really enjoyed this show because it examines the Journey of Moses as he progresses from being a prince to a commoner, how he struggles to adapt to his new role as a spiritual leader and his secret doubts and fears.

Ben Hur (1959)
http://static.youku.com/v1.0.0052/v/swf/qplayer.swf?VideoIDS=XNDYzNzY3NTY&embedid=-&showAd=0
This is another breathtaking costume drama movie that stars Charlton Heston and examines the whole notion of faith, integrity and revenge. Will revenge help to quench the fire of vengence? The setting is in classical Rome under the reign of Emperor Tiberius.

The King and I (1956)
- no links -
I find this movie really unique because it reflected the white man's superiority mentality at that point in time. Yul Bryner adopted one of the most disgusting oriental accents I have every heard for this movie. Beyond that, it was a good show that shows the learning journy of Anna, her son, the King and his children/wives.

The Sound of Music (1965)
http://static.youku.com/v1.0.0052/v/swf/qplayer.swf?VideoIDS=cc00XMzAwOTIzODg&embedid=-&showAd=0
I adore Julie Andrews, period. =D Boy can she sing... This is one of my all time favorites because of it's light hearted tone. How a scruffy girl learns her place in her world by filling everyone around her with joy and laughter, how a stiff Captain von Trapp learnt how to bend a little and love his children with a lot more flexibility, communication, hugs and laughter.

Ulysses (1955)
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v14079501ksfsyets
I can only find this on veoh, so just sign up for a free account or something. It's pretty good film based on Homer's Odyssey. The story of a man who pit himself against the Gods and lost, how his love for his wife guided him back home after being seperated for 1o years. It's a good movie, but I prefer the 1997 version with Armand Assante though.

Why can't people just be themselves?? ( Anorexia Nervosa)

In my previous post "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder- or isn't it?" I did talk about annorexic women. Annorexia is becoming a really problematic issue in today's society where looks are highly prized over brains. I was surfing youtube and I stumbled across this documentry. Please take time off to watch it. It covers the dangers of online anorexia communities.

I'm sure you guys all know what is anorexia nervosa by now. Personally, I think anorexia is terrible. It makes people look as appealing as a set of chopsticks you can dig out of the nearest bin. It robs them of their mental faculties and common sense. They look half dead and terrible. I don't know how they can find such joy in being such bony wrecks. Even the Jewish P.O.W.s found in concentration camps after WW2 look better than them.



As a food lover, I hate skinny people. They put me off my food because they don't eat together with me. It's so damn unfriendly and plain rude. And I noticed that constant dieting makes them so insecure that they drive their friends away. Because they ask everyone if they look skinny and sexy, and everyone has to lie through their teeth. As anorexia affects women more than men, all I can say is the ideal woman has curves. CURVES you know, like Monica Belluci?



Compared to this:


In Singapore, Anorexia is a growing problem, thanks to this stupid fashion trend that only makes your feet look big- the SKINNY jeans. And thanks to idiots like Fuazi Rassull who denies inspiring his readers to be anorexic. [READ HERE] That's bullshit, people cross the line from being skinny to anorexic when they cannot control the urge to be thinner and they set more and more unrealistic goals when it comes to weight loss. Besides, his moto is "Get Thin or Die Trying" that's a typical anorexic's goal.

But Fauzi, who is also the creator of "The Thinspo Club" on Facebook's rival social networking site Friendster, said all he was trying to do was gather like-minded individuals to share slimming tips.

"I just want Singaporeans to lead a healthy lifestyle as well," he said.

By the way, I hardly call the diet of bread and instant noodles healthy... Anyway,it might be a good thing if he starves himself to death. Singapore is a country that learns best by example. If he dies horribly, his followers will stop following him and society as a whole will learn how anorexics can be so caught up in their own "fantasy" that they die uglier than the day they were born.

To me, the ideal figure should be fit. A little fat here and there is fine. The last thing we need in this world are a bunch of wimps who can only smile and taking pretty pcitures but unable to do any physical labor. In the case of Rassull, I wonder if he's even capable of completing a road march with a full pack or practice 2hours of rifle drill. In fact, I predict that his life might be worse than hell if he enters the army because they will force him to eat and make an example out of him due to his penchant for being flashy.

There are more medical and psychological reasons as to why people become anorexic. One of which is control- eating is something that you are fully in control of. But I won't go into details. I want to focus more on the devastating effects of anorexia on the patient and his/her family and friends. Many people have starved themselves to death due to anorexia. Why can't people just be happy with themselves?

Most anorexics are lonely and they spend a lot of time on self pity and criticism. As a general rule, they are never happy and content. I think it's fine to be a chubby as long as you have a lovely personality. Skinny but sensitive and emotional people are definitely not my cup of tea. =D

In this documentry, the presenter actually experiments with a diet plan provided by one of the "pro-ana" websites. She has to survive on a total meal of 100 calories a day. That means half an apple for breakfast, half an apple for dinner and one cucumber. She broke the diet by the end of the day and was suprised by the sense of guilt that swamped her. When she tried to diet again, it was clear that she was starting to be incoherent and distacted.

In the documentry, it was revealed that many of the anorexis are very young. Approximately 10 years old. They gain inspiration from famous celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Kiera Knightley, etc.










This documentry brings out this million dollar question: Should we shut down such websites?

I would also like to highlight that if you're single and you can't find a partner. It might not be because of your looks, but your character. As demonstrated in my previous post "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder- or isn't it?" there's always someone out there who will love you for what you are. =D Character improvement beats plastic surgery, liposunction or crash dieting because you will always have the knowledge that people hang out with who you really are than what they think you are.

Boys, give me your opinion on what do you look for in a future partner? Please think hard about it and give me your honest opinion.

Girls, give me your opinion on what do you look for in a future partner? Please think hard about it and give me your honest opinion.

Singapore: The nation of closet slobs

Singapore is an economically developed country with one of the most modern infrastructure in Southeast Asia. We have a reputation for being a clean and green country with a very polite and industrious working force. We have a strong economy, sound political structure and social harmony. Our students are intelligent and capable potentials being groomed to lead Singapore into greater heights.

Well, that’s what they all tell you. In truth, we are a nation of slobs- the main philosophy in life here is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Nothing resembling progress occurs until someone submits a serious complaint that sends everyone scrambling to fix it before they lose their jobs… We hire others to do the dirty work whilst we maintain the illusion of soaring success and acute intelligence.

Look at the young adults today, for all their academic and corporate achievements, how many are actually capable of cooking a full meal? I.e. rice, fish, meat, veg and soup? Most of the people I’ve spoken to are woefully unable to progress beyond frying an egg and cooking instant noodles. When I spoke to my old art teacher who went for a year long course in Australia, she told me the horrors she noticed in the hostel there. Singaporean students were making a lot of calls back home to mummy to ask stuff like:

“How long does it take to boil an egg?”
“How to use the laundry machine?”
“How to get rid of the stain on my white shirt?”
“What type of soap powder to buy?”
“How to cook rice?”

The first and last ones were a real joke. To me, they are really basic. Ok, maybe rice cooking needs some skill and practice. As a general rule, the water level should reach your mid knuckle when you press down the rice. It varies with different brand and type of rice. As for egg boiling, it’s about 10 minutes for hard boil and about 5 minutes for soft boiled eggs. This is a website for all those who can’t even manage an egg- http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ask.asp

Singaporeans are too dependent on their mothers and maids. I’ve witness many a scenario where children are brought up in a completely safe environment till the point that they are nothing but spineless upstarts with a brain that they don’t know how to use properly. Scoring well academically does not equate to intelligence in my opinion. Having a PHD means you are clever but not necessarily wise nor insightful.

For example, when children fall down and scrap their knee, the maid gets blamed and scolded. As a result, the kid is always kept closeted to ensure his safety. To me, there’s nothing wrong with children getting a little bumped and scrapped now and then as it teaches them the following principles:

• Pull yourself up when you fall; mummy isn’t going to be there forever (she has a shelf life and expiry date, you know)
• Pain reminds you that you are alive and it will be a constant factor in your life. Learn how to cope with it and use it as a motivating factor to push you into achieving greater feats in life. Mummy isn’t going to coddle you and give you a big kiss each time you undergo emotional turmoil or an injury later on in life.
• There is danger everywhere, you (and only you) can protect yourself by learning how negotiate your way around them with care. Mummy can’t be telling you to mind the wet floor everyday of your life.

These are precious lessons in life that we need to learn through experience. If parents deprive their children of experience, all the children have are certificates proving their academic capabilities and nothing more.

Singaporean children are so spoilt that they have almost everything they want and need. Primary school kids have a handphone, mp3, computer, good clothes, a lot of assessment books, tuition, etc. Is it the fault of the parents? Yes. It is possible that they work hard to give their kids the luxury they never had in their youth. It is possible that there is a competition among them to see who can provide the best for their children. What they do not know is that they are spoiling their children beyond belief. I’ve seen children screaming at their maid to get them a glass of water and it’s suddenly the maid’s job to ask hospitable questions to guests such as “Would you like a drink?” Tsk, that’s what the host should be asking the guest and instructing the maid to serve up.

Children today do not know the meaning of having to go hungry because their parents go hungry for them. They don’t know how to make their own beds because the maid or their mother does it for them. They can’t cook because parents are afraid that they will burn themselves as well as the entire house. Children are taught to packet food or eat cup noodles rather than cook a proper healthy meal for themselves. Children contribute to household cleaning with a broom/mop or “Magic Clean” dusters. That’s easy. But many of them do not know how to sweep or mop the floor properly! By my standards, they are merely rearranging the dust. When I mean clean, the floor is the “safe to eat your food off the floor” clean. =) I’m a Detol monster who insists on moping the floor by hand.

Look at home economics taught in schools today. In my mother’s generation, they were taught which parts of the cow/pig/goat were to be used for what type of cooking. They were taught how to do mending in addition to doing pretty stitches. They were taught how to use the sewing machine. Mum said she was thought how to cut and make her own dress. They were taught how to bake muffins and cookies! And the used the proper fire stoves and ovens.

By my generation, home economics was a joke. It was more like a financial management class with cooking demonstrations thrown in. All I learnt was:

• How to differentiate between a want and a need when it comes to spending
• Kitchen and household safety
• How to have a healthy balanced diet (not that I follow it)
• What I would call a sewing demonstration rather than a actual sewing class. We made a hand puppet and a letter holder. The stitches I learnt were oversewing stitch, running stitch and cross stitch (for sewing the button eyes onto my puppet. And I also learnt how to use fabric glue. That’s it. The pieces were all precut for me and I didn’t go anywhere near a sewing machine. I guess they didn’t want students to cut or prick their lovely little PERFECT fingers.
• I learnt how to cook macaroni chicken soup, shepherd’s pie and spaghetti. The stoves were all induction cookers to ensure that we won’t burn down the entire building or ourselves. The macaroni was the most tasteless and healthy soup I ever had in my life. The chicken meat was so fat free that I could kill you if I threw it at your head after boiling it. It was dry and HARD. Never mind that, there’s no salt at all. The shepherd’s pie was a greater joke. There was a pre-boiled potato waiting for me. All I had to do was to take a fork and mesh it. The teacher fried the meat for all of us. Than she filled up the aluminum foil cups for us with the meat, told us to spread the potatoes on top of it and baked it for us. The Spaghetti was also an interesting experience- boil the spaghetti and open a bottle of tomato paste (not the Preggo Spaghetti sauce type, it’s really tomato paste). Again, it was a tasteless disaster.
• I also learnt the cooking appliances were unpredictable monsters since only half of the stoves/ovens in the HE room can be used at one time. Out of which, you have to chose to use either the stove or the oven. Otherwise, the whole building will black out.
  

All in all, I call the revised HE curriculum a joke. It overdid the tradeoff between safety, taste and health. Ask any mother or grandmother, who can cook well, how many times have they been burnt by spraying oil or being too careless near a hot wok/stove? I have quite about twenty burns accumulated from the past 10 years. My interest in sewing died as I grew older, but I still do it for fun when I feel like it. =)

Another point that I’ll bring up is- how many Singaporeans can actually survive on their own in a jungle, without modern technology? I’m going to throw out the NS guys and OBS monsters for the sake of this argument. If a war comes to Singapore, how many Singaporeans know how to identify edible plants and animals from our forests? How many Singaporeans can start a fire without the following tools- matches, lighter, solid fuel and a fire starter?

Here we are, all proud of our meager accomplishments in life when most Singaporeans don’t even know how to unclog their own sink or toilet bowl… Did you know that one part of baking soda and 4 parts of vinegar can unclog a choked sink? How many of you know how to change your own lock? Given our ever increasing levels of affluence, we rather call the handyman to do this short of menial labor and call them stupid and unaccomplished behind their backs. Well, don’t call people idiots-with-no-future unless there’s nothing they can do that you can’t do.

Most of the Singaporeans that I know are lacking general knowledge. They read the newspaper religiously for exams and to ensure that they won’t look like a complete idiot when questioned about the latest global scandal. They reject the notion of reading beyond the school curriculum because they have this mentality that the important stuff will be covered in school, anything beyond that it useless. Well, they’re wrong. There’s never such thing as useless knowledge. Almost every Singaporean, who doesn’t specialize in history, is blissfully unaware that Singapore was MORE than a little fishing village when Raffles swung by. We have archaeological evidence that we were once a thriving trading center during the Srivijaya Empire. Secondly, I would like to highlight that Sir Stamford Raffles isn’t our founder. The name “Singapore” was given to us by Sang Nila Utama, so he is our founder, not the angmoh that waltzed by looking for a nice place to set up a new trading post. See how terribly history can be misconstrued? And how stupid students gobble it up wholesale for the sake of exams? We can’t even be bothered to question what we have been taught, because it is unacceptable and it’ll most likely lead to an F grade.

Schools today are so anal about MCs, which is something I frown upon greatly. I understand that this system was set up to prevent students from forging letters on their parents’ behalf to excuse them from school, so they can do more meaningful stuff like playing. But if I’m having a fever due to a cold, why do I have to see a Doctor so that I can get an MC when I can just bloody well spend a day or two at home gulping down lots of water, Panadol Cold and sleeping the illness off? I have better things to throw my money on. I think more discretion should be practiced such as calling up the kid’s parents to verify the authenticity of the letter. See, even teachers are lazy!

Look at parents today! As long as they can afford to hire the maid, the maid has to settle the household chores, taking care of the employers’ mad temper, their rabid children, etc. In Singapore, maids are the surrogate mothers to their employer’s children. It’s their “duty” to make sure the child eats well, sleeps well, shower well, study well and play well. It makes you wonder- what the hell are our Singapore mothers doing? I think the excuse that she has to work for her children’s comfort is crap. All children need are clean comfortable clothes, a full stomach, comfortable bed and a mother’s love/companionship. The last factor is the most important; they don’t need the branded clothes, expensive fish/meat, King-Koil mattress, etc. They can live without it. I strongly suspect that such expensive treatment is due a mother’s guilt that she isn’t spending enough time with her children. That’s why when children turn deviant; I blame their parents first more than anyone else, for not nipping the problem in the bud.

The Melodramatic Imagination

I read an article in the Chinese paper, Lian He Zaobao a couple of days back, which inspired me to do this post.

What was the article about? It was from someone who was involved in a recent Chinese essay writing competition for primary school students.

The person was lamenting the essays that were written for the competition.

Badly written? No.

It was an issue of the plots.

For example, one of the topics was “The day our teacher didn’t come to school”. Most students wrote, well, you could have guessed it, that their teacher was diagnosed with cancer, or had an accident, and from there they wrote about how much they took their teacher for granted…

Another topic was “Now I understand” (note: the topics were in Chinese. The translations are my own.) The students always understood something after some death or accident.

Of course, there were other topics, like describing your weekend with your mother, which didn’t go beyond shopping…

So what’s the issue? As the title suggests, the writer in the article was lamenting the melodramatic imagination of primary school students, and fearing for their psychological development.

In my opinion, the problem of all this melodrama is understandable, but psychological impact? This is harder to tell.

And I have the following reasons.

It’s not that students are fundamentally pessimistic. It’s pretty much to do with the way they are taught to write essays. Students are often told to write something with greater emotional impact, with more room to explore emotions, and can express more values. Like not taking your teacher for granted, for example. Writing something that has greater emotional impact, they’re told, looks better than a “boring”, essay that has got a “happily ever after” ending.

Besides, even famous authors do that, except with much more stylistic flair, of course.

The next reason is that of socialization. Students are socialized to accept certain values, and these values are expressed in their writing. For example, they could write about how the class cheered wildly the day their teacher didn’t come to school, because the teacher was one from hell, for example, but first, that wouldn’t be “addressing the topic” in the eyes of the judges, and second, it doesn’t reflect well on the values of the student.

But of course, all these melodrama is not without its concerns. For a start, it doesn’t reflect well on creativity. Think about it, even Mediacorp is into this melodrama, with all the rape and kidnap scenes in their drama serials. Society seems to be overwhelmed by this fetish for tragedy, while forgetting the value of the comedic and the light-hearted.

Just think about it, what’s wrong with writing about a shopping trip with mum?

Misplaced Pity and Misunderstanding

When I travel overseas, I always get plagued by beggars. It brings up the question: to give or not to give? On the practical note, it is not advisable to give them any money because you will be merely feeding the begging industry, which is already overstaffed with all the lazy never do wells. Not to mention, once you patronize one beggar, you might see a long queue forming up behind him. On the ehical level, it is hard not to feel pity for the poor people trying to get some money to feed their families.

In the past, I donated money only to beggars who lost either both arms or all limb because I figured those with hands and legs can jolly well make themselves more useful than that. This continued until the day that I found out that some of them had their limbs forcefully amputated by gangs in order to use them as icons to milk sympathetic money out of soft hearted people. So I'm a hard hearted person now. I gave up the moralistic battle because I'm not sure if I'm helping to feed the beggar or the godforsaken gangster.

Take a look at the following video about the street kids and the dead poor people in Manila. Do you feel pity for them? People stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty, unable to afford school or even a proper meal, etc?


Well, I don't pity them because of a few reasons. In Jarkata, I learnt that women walking around with a troop of children to beg for money along the streets are not necessarily poor and neither are the kids their beget. They have an industry of borrowed children. These women "rent" their neighbours kids in order to create an image of a poor woman bogged down with the task of feeding her children.

The business of begging has reached the point where pretty much everything is staged. Walk along the streets of Jarkata or Manila and you'll see children lying down by the roadside as if they are halfdead from the lack of food. It would be natural to assume that they would be living somewhere nearby as they won't have the energy to walk off right? When nightfalls, the street is mysteriously empty, and there are no little kiddies lying postrate on the road pavements. And I've once seen the kids get up and run at the sight of an aggressive policeman too! So I have my doubts.

In ELDCs [i], the poor aren't as poor as they look due to the low standards of living. When I drove into the rural parts of Indonesia and the Philippines, I learnt that you can survive on very little money there. For example, a trishaw rider in the kampung probably earns less than 10 SGD a month. He peddles probably an average of one or two kampung women and her shopping from the market to her home each day. Each trip costs only a few cents. And yet, he can bring up a huge family of probably 4-8 children. You must be thinking, how is that possible? Unlike the gluttons that we Singaporeans are, they are normally content with rice and some chili paste for their daily meals. Meat and fish are only served on special occasions or to a sick family member only. Even the extremely poor loafers in the kampungs get by on coconuts they pluck from the multitude of coconut trees growing around. Very few people have died of starvation in Kampungs unless there is a famine.

Some foreigners insist that Singaporeans violate human rights by paying our maids a criminally low wage. All I can say is HA HA in the most sarcastic tone I can summon. A maid earns approximately SGD50 working in Jarkata. She earns approximately $350 here. That's seven times more! And some caucasians have even said we treat them worse than humans because we don't give them a room on their own nor do we give them a bed. Why must we give our maid a room on her own??? Unlike most Americans who can easily afford to give their in-laws and children a room on their own due to cheap landed property, most Singaporeans are barely able to buy landed property. Given a kid his own room is tough, much less a maid. And what's wrong with sleeping on the mattress?? Back in the Kampungs, they use mats in most households! In fact, they are so poor that its quite a feat to have a sofa in the house.

As I get older, I think it is good to be generous to some people rather than everyone because they have the will to improve. For example, I wouldn't mind "adopting" a few street kids in Jarkata and Manila by paying for their education and some decent food. However, I would only do that IF the kid is willing to possess a little more ambition in life than being the next king of the beggars.

To me, the poor people always remain poor for a reason- they don't know how to keep their money. I was a little taken aback when I was in Jarkata. Almost everyone had a handphone (even the beggars dammit). In the kampung, I see women yaking away on their handphones whilst their children are dressed in rags/hand-me-downs, with no other toy beyond a cardbox (because they can't afford anything more). Calls might be cheap there, but it's still money. The men in Indonesia can easily be mistaken for chimney pipes- they are serial chain smokers! Even 14 year old boys are smoking. Sheesh. Ciggies are cheap there, but once again, it's still money. Money that could be channeled to better uses such as education or patching up that hole in the roof which could pass off as an airwell or sun roof.

This is a photo I took myself of a little boy playing with a cardbox. That's his only toy and his father can't even afford to buy him shoes. The clothes you see on him is a gift from his neighbours. His father has a really severe case of pile due to heavy labor (his pants are always bloody at the back). His mum is working in Taiwan, but she just went there, so she has no money to send back yet.


So, should we pity them? It is hard to say isn't it? But that's life to them. If we give money to them, are we helping them or harming them? After my long exposure to these poor people, I realized, it is better to leave them on their own because you can never help them all. If you truly want to help them, the old saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a life time" could not be more true. You will have to teach them to value of working hard for what they want instead of giving them money in hope that their lives will improve in time.

[i] Economically Less Developed Countries- please note that this is the politically correct term to use when describing countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, etc. The terms first world and third world have be phased out after the Cold War and Vietnam War. F.Y.I.: First World refers to US and its allies (i.e. democractic countries), Third World refers to Communist Countries and Second World refers to all the other countries that don't fit into either categories.