Monday, July 10, 2006
2 great individuals
College day was a memorable event.
There are 2 individuals whom I "met", but sadly didn't say hi to (though I wish I had! No courage... too small a fry). K so who were they? No, not Superman nor Spideyman nor Batman or Wonder Woman (though they are Super heroes in their own right).
K so who are they? The first was Elizabeth Choy, whom I managed to get a peek of. At first I didn't realise who she was, but after some questioning around, I discovered who she was! She's a war heroine, who got tortured by the Kempeitai with electric currents to force her to admit her "crimes", while her husband was made to watch. She amazingly survived and did alot more worthy things in educating the younger generation. I apologize for the simplicity of her biography and her greatness. But really, it's thanks to God's grace that she has survived to be an inspiration and make important differences in others' lives.
http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/war/headline/ec200.html
The next individual is Kishore Mahbubani. Before this, only the name Kishore was familiar, and ignorant me knew nothing about this great man. Well, his credentials are far-reaching and impressive it is. He was the Singapore Ambassador to the UN and even the President of the UN Security Council! WOW! But that's not why I admire him. I admire him cos he's a wise man, and has his values rooted. He gave a speech that day at College Day, casually with his arms folded. He mentioned that both his happiest years were spent here, though ironically 1965-1966 were Singapore's gloomiest period. He concluded that this school has to be something, to cushion its students and make them feel so safe and happy despite the somber mood of the day.
As he talked on, I was mesmerized and paying total attention to his speech... not moving a bit. Maybe cos the topic that he was talking on was of much interest to me. No, not the outdoors or play lah. He was talking about how when Asia emerges, how will and/or should we react to it or embace it. Sometimes I am intellectual too k, well, just in a blue moon or so. Heh. Anyway, he was talking about the shift in superpowers, and the change in geopolitics. Out of the next 4 predicted superpowers of the world, 3 of them would be from Asia. The superpowers, when ranked in order, would namely be China, USA, India and Japan. And those were my predictions too! Yay! Haha! Cheapt thrill.
He gave an acronym - RTV, and he stressed that it's not "Road Tax for Vehicles". Heh. It actually stands for "Read, Travel and Values".
"R" for Read:
He encouraged us to read more from different authors from different countries. He promotes fiction books over non-fiction books. Only then will we be able to learn about their values, their ideas, their philospohy...
"T" for Travel:
He encouraged us to travel more, not to commercialised and tourist-saturated places like Los Angeles, New York, London, etc, but to less-developed countries... even Africa! Yay! More reason to venture there! Heh. I totally agree not cos of my adventur(ism) and my si-gin-na-ness to venture into the unknown and blaze the trail and go off the beaten track. Well, not totally at least! Haha! But I cannot deny the fact that you do learn a whole lot more from these places, and you become so enriched with the culture... it makes you think, and to some extent, changes your worldview on things that were usually taken for granted. So yeah, anyone up for venturing to some unknown place to me for some adventure?? =)
"V" for Values:
He confidently assured us that none of us will experience success throughout our lives. There will definitely be times when we fall or fail. And the only thing that will keep our heads above the water and allow us to stand up again is our values. This is not to say that academic qualifications are not important (He did everything that Singapore defines as successful, that is, academically, and came up tops in everything possible, but he cautioned us because at the end of the day, it's our values which matter the most.), but they are not the MOST important.
Yep, so now my blog has a slightly more intellectual tone to it. *satisfied* =)
I have to say this has re-fuelled my desire to venture a little more into geopolitics. Heh.
There are 2 individuals whom I "met", but sadly didn't say hi to (though I wish I had! No courage... too small a fry). K so who were they? No, not Superman nor Spideyman nor Batman or Wonder Woman (though they are Super heroes in their own right).
K so who are they? The first was Elizabeth Choy, whom I managed to get a peek of. At first I didn't realise who she was, but after some questioning around, I discovered who she was! She's a war heroine, who got tortured by the Kempeitai with electric currents to force her to admit her "crimes", while her husband was made to watch. She amazingly survived and did alot more worthy things in educating the younger generation. I apologize for the simplicity of her biography and her greatness. But really, it's thanks to God's grace that she has survived to be an inspiration and make important differences in others' lives.
http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/war/headline/ec200.html
The next individual is Kishore Mahbubani. Before this, only the name Kishore was familiar, and ignorant me knew nothing about this great man. Well, his credentials are far-reaching and impressive it is. He was the Singapore Ambassador to the UN and even the President of the UN Security Council! WOW! But that's not why I admire him. I admire him cos he's a wise man, and has his values rooted. He gave a speech that day at College Day, casually with his arms folded. He mentioned that both his happiest years were spent here, though ironically 1965-1966 were Singapore's gloomiest period. He concluded that this school has to be something, to cushion its students and make them feel so safe and happy despite the somber mood of the day.
As he talked on, I was mesmerized and paying total attention to his speech... not moving a bit. Maybe cos the topic that he was talking on was of much interest to me. No, not the outdoors or play lah. He was talking about how when Asia emerges, how will and/or should we react to it or embace it. Sometimes I am intellectual too k, well, just in a blue moon or so. Heh. Anyway, he was talking about the shift in superpowers, and the change in geopolitics. Out of the next 4 predicted superpowers of the world, 3 of them would be from Asia. The superpowers, when ranked in order, would namely be China, USA, India and Japan. And those were my predictions too! Yay! Haha! Cheapt thrill.
He gave an acronym - RTV, and he stressed that it's not "Road Tax for Vehicles". Heh. It actually stands for "Read, Travel and Values".
"R" for Read:
He encouraged us to read more from different authors from different countries. He promotes fiction books over non-fiction books. Only then will we be able to learn about their values, their ideas, their philospohy...
"T" for Travel:
He encouraged us to travel more, not to commercialised and tourist-saturated places like Los Angeles, New York, London, etc, but to less-developed countries... even Africa! Yay! More reason to venture there! Heh. I totally agree not cos of my adventur(ism) and my si-gin-na-ness to venture into the unknown and blaze the trail and go off the beaten track. Well, not totally at least! Haha! But I cannot deny the fact that you do learn a whole lot more from these places, and you become so enriched with the culture... it makes you think, and to some extent, changes your worldview on things that were usually taken for granted. So yeah, anyone up for venturing to some unknown place to me for some adventure?? =)
"V" for Values:
He confidently assured us that none of us will experience success throughout our lives. There will definitely be times when we fall or fail. And the only thing that will keep our heads above the water and allow us to stand up again is our values. This is not to say that academic qualifications are not important (He did everything that Singapore defines as successful, that is, academically, and came up tops in everything possible, but he cautioned us because at the end of the day, it's our values which matter the most.), but they are not the MOST important.
Yep, so now my blog has a slightly more intellectual tone to it. *satisfied* =)
I have to say this has re-fuelled my desire to venture a little more into geopolitics. Heh.
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 7:44 AM 
