Delusion of Money

As the saying goes, “Money is the root of all evils”. These sayings are centuries old and currently rebuked by many motivational book writers such as Robert Kiyosaki, Merry Riana and Peter Tan. They argue that money is not the root of all evils but it is the wrong use of this instrument that leads to wrong doings. This idea is further supported by one of my close friend in his blog, where he argued that money is one of the necessary ingredients to get other important things in life, inclusive of happiness.

The current situation of our world authenticates the notion that money is an important element in human life. It will be a very naive of me to disagree with the majority as I am one of those that keep looking for opportunities to multiply my assets. I have the very same believe that money can be used to facilitate us in reaching comfort and pleasure in today’s world.

However have you ever wondered why we need money or why there is money as our exchange tool? The original intention of money was to facilitate exchange of goods and services between humans, which were previously done by barter. Further reflection of mine resulted into a conclusion that money was created to reduce conflict between humans due to the non-standardized exchange of goods. In other words it was intended to craft more peace in the civilization.

Unfortunately the original purpose of money itself has ruined over centuries and people started to gather money to build up their wealth. Our current society, definitely inclusive of me, has forgotten the most important function of money itself and started to race in gathering them as private wealth. As the result, the current world is too cruel for those that are less able or willing to gather the exchange tools. This stupidity has trapped us in an endless race with our own species. The competition has become compulsory for all human beings to survive. Regrettably it seems impossible to quit from this race or even stop the mass battle.

I argue that this yearning of mans to create wealth for themselves is originated from our very deep desire of freedom, free from the worry of starving or any sufferings in general. Our limited knowledge as a human causes our brain to hallucinate that getting more and more wealth or money will set us free. It was a delusion at the beginning but has become a bitter reality that we have to face nowadays.

I have ever watched several movies that shown primitive lives. They do not need money as they are able to satisfy their needs as well as live happily and freely with the Mother Nature. They do not worry about tomorrow but are able to live their life to the fullest today. It sounds abstract to us as we cannot imagine where on earth one can live without money. But our ancestor did that.

It is not suggested to quit from the race. The only thing what we can do now is to join the battle and be one of the winner. The winner will be able to inspire and help others to get out of the endless race.

Family

The family is like a book-
The children are the leaves,
The parents are the covers
That protecting beauty gives.
At first the pages of the book
Are blank and purely fair,
But Time soon writeth memories
And painteth pictures there.
Love is the little golden clasp
That bindeth up the trust;
Oh, break it not, lest all the leaves
Should scatter and be lost! .
The husband needs to be blind at times;
the wife, deaf;
both need much of the time to be dumb.
Ivan N. Panin

The above poem was introduced to me in this week “Mental Health” class and prior to this on the same day I did simple graphic editing on my family photos. (This is going to be my first post with a picture on it)

Family and my life

I tried to express how grateful I am to be given such a wonderful family. They are not perfect individuals but our unity as a family compromises the flaws in us. It is just too astonishing to be a part in such an understanding and caring family.

Despite all the blessings that I have received, I was also aware of people in this world that is not fortunate enough to have a good or even complete family. According to some researches, the majority of them are more likely to fall into mental illness. This fact was also affirmed by my lecturer, who is a practicing psychiatrist in SGH. A family does impact the way we perceive and act, it is the foundation of believe and norm.

I, myself, agreed with it but I also believe that we are the one that are responsible to our own attitude. As a human, we are unique and blessed with a brain that is so magnificent. It is possible for us to change anything, inclusive of our own improper behaviour. Let me tell you a piece of my struggle in building my confidence.

I was once a boy with little self confidence as I grew up with my grandmother, which is a conservative yet lovable and caring person. It was terrible for me to even think of speaking in front of a group of people. I stammered and felt cold of just being seen by the audiences.
To cut the story short I was lucky enough to be given opportunities (I won’t disclosed it in this blog) that helped me to realize that nobody is perfect and superior or inferior from the others. My father kept reminding me by saying: “We ate the same food and I believe that whatever things other can do is also possible for us”. It shouldn’t be taken literally; it is true that every person is unique and able to do great things in their own ways. However I believe that my father is trying to tell me that as a human we have the ability to improve ourselves and be even better than the other.

Today I still keep trying to improve my confidence level. I am still far away from being fully confident but I can feel the difference between the old me and now. Hence I want to emphasize that it is not the environment that confined our choice as we usually think but it is ourselves that let us being dragged by the environment. We, as I did, have the choice to form our own personality.

Non academic activites

Finally the proposal for Barclays Technology Challenge had been submitted two days ago. It was a tiring yet exciting experience to work in a supportive and cheerful team. Thank you Erlin, Henry and Max! After the submission I was hoping other slacking days in my last semester (of course without taking FYP into account). However this morning I woke up with a list of to do list and found out that I still have a number of non-academic activities that I have committed myself to.

Tuesday: Prayer Meeting – to help me grow spiritually. It’s a place to recharge myself with a bundle of prayerful activities.
Wednesday: Yoga class – an opportunity that I think I won’t be able to get after I graduate. It costs $10 for 5 sessions. I believe that this exercise will help me to regulate my body better.
Thursday: Toastmaster Chapter Meeting – to learn public speaking skill and built up confidence level.
Friday: Karate training – It is actually scheduled to be twice a week (Tuesday and Friday). Due to other commitment I have to sacrifice the Tuesday training for good. This is my passion sport. I love it. It builds not only physical strength but also your mental power.

The activities take up almost every night of my weekdays. Should I reduce it?

History and Now - Soeharto

What a tiring yet a recharging weekend it was. Sunday is always a wonderful day for me. After going to church, I went for LISC preparation day in NTU (I am staying in NTU hostel anyway). It was a recharging spiritual experience that lasted for four hours to five o'clock in the afternoon. After dinner, I went to sleep and found out that it was 10 o'clock at night when I woke up. What a fulfilling rest it was...

At that very night I started to wake my computer up and journeying together with it to the virtual world of internet. A series of chats with friends welcomed my presence and accompanied me until I ended up reading a news on the visit by MM Lee to Soeharto. Here was the link to the news in Channel News Asia:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/322309/1/.html

He visited the second president of Indonesia, which was laying in hospital in his critical condition. Lately the successor of Soeharto had been sued for its corrupt action before the reformation regime.

I have no idea about the extent of corruption that Mr. Soeharto had performed during his governance in Indonesia. It is also hard for me to understand the sufferings that he had caused to Indonesian society. However I agree with the comment of MM Lee that Mr. Soeharto was a hero of the past that had brought Indonesia to come out from crisis after its independence and he deserved to receive that recognition.

This issue brought me to a reflection of how easy human forgot their history. Even for me, there are many times that I had failed to recognize the companion and care that I had received from others in the past and started to take the current representation of him or her that did not satisfy my expectation as the lasting image of the individual.

Is there not a meaning of the past to us?