Random Thoughts Pt 1
So i thought i should write something here, especially when someone has asked me why i haven't written anything in a while...I know the title is similar to Fong Ming's own domain (with a slight deviation), but i was thinking an update and some random thoughts would be good to show what's going through my mind right now...
Actually this is version II. had written the original entry this morning, but good ole' me didn't save a draft before doing my funny business. So i end up having to write another entry, hopefully in the same vein, albeit different in feeling and word.
I'm watching 如来神掌 while writing this. Not sure how that'll affect my writing, but i want to finish the series anyway, and besides, i think i can understand enough chinese to listen to it in the background as i write.
Life has been more or less mundane, especially now that summer's gone, and i'm embarking on my final year in school. Its with mixed feelings that i started Fall 2005. EDB has granted me permission to continue and complete my double major, of course still under probation based on my grades. Let's see how it goes, shall we?
My summer ended with nary a glitch, unless you consider how badly i did academically for my AIDS class. But i love the class, mainly because it has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I know i might sound naive and ignorant as i say these words, but bear with me. Tanya asked me before about what i have learnt in my time here, and i have to admit, i've realised that there is more injustice in the world than is clear to most people. Yeah, i've known of it for a long time, but to have it put into a clear picture and vocalized into a concrete issue, makes it harder to ignore what is going on in the world today.
My version I involved a very elaborate rant about the injustices of the world, but i think this version will be a lot mellow. For the AIDS class, we had a required reading in the rather liberal book "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts. This book chronicled the early years of the AIDS crisis, focusing on the effects in America. This might have provided a big picture of what was happening in terms of AIDS efforts in the States, but in terms of how large this crisis in the world, there was a lot left unsaid. There was a passage that illustrated how bad things are, and summed up how the stupidest people are in charge, how the people who did not care disrupted the efforts of others, and the people who could have made a difference? Powerless because of the people in charge, the people around them, and the constraints of society, who believes in its own comfort and ignorance. The person who coined the term "Ignorance is Bliss" must have had a real-life example to draw from. To my mind, the media and the governments (anywhere in the world) are the most obvious culprits; but it is the people, including me, who are guilty of perpetuating the illusion of ignorance and comfort. The saddes thing is that people only realise the severity of the problem when its too late, and by that time, it becomes too little, too late. Is the world so reactive in that way? Can people be more pro-active instead? But before i advocate such thoughts, i have to prove myself as an example first. Awareness and Service are my first steps. I enjoin all who read my entry to embark on this ideal too.
But here's the passage i've been introducing for so long...
"Later, everybody agreed the baths should have been closed sooner; they agreed health education should have been more direct and more timely. And everybody also agreed blood banks should have tested blood sonner, and that a search for the AIDS virus should have been started sooner, and that scientists should have laid aside their petty intrigues. Everybody subsequently agreed that the news media should have offered better coverage of the epidemic much earlier, and that the federal government should have done much, much more. By the time everyone agreed to all this, however, it was too late. Instead, people died. Tens of thousands of them."
pg 491, And the Band played on, by Randy Shilts 1987.
Makes you grit your teeth and say "how can people be this stupid?!" right? I may have known about all this from the start and watched the world go by with all its ills and injustice, but to live not in ignorance but in in-activity is sad.
Let's hope more people awaken to the various problems in the world...
PS. I do apologise that this entry sounds like a really terrible rant...bear with me...
Actually this is version II. had written the original entry this morning, but good ole' me didn't save a draft before doing my funny business. So i end up having to write another entry, hopefully in the same vein, albeit different in feeling and word.
I'm watching 如来神掌 while writing this. Not sure how that'll affect my writing, but i want to finish the series anyway, and besides, i think i can understand enough chinese to listen to it in the background as i write.
Life has been more or less mundane, especially now that summer's gone, and i'm embarking on my final year in school. Its with mixed feelings that i started Fall 2005. EDB has granted me permission to continue and complete my double major, of course still under probation based on my grades. Let's see how it goes, shall we?
My summer ended with nary a glitch, unless you consider how badly i did academically for my AIDS class. But i love the class, mainly because it has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I know i might sound naive and ignorant as i say these words, but bear with me. Tanya asked me before about what i have learnt in my time here, and i have to admit, i've realised that there is more injustice in the world than is clear to most people. Yeah, i've known of it for a long time, but to have it put into a clear picture and vocalized into a concrete issue, makes it harder to ignore what is going on in the world today.
My version I involved a very elaborate rant about the injustices of the world, but i think this version will be a lot mellow. For the AIDS class, we had a required reading in the rather liberal book "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts. This book chronicled the early years of the AIDS crisis, focusing on the effects in America. This might have provided a big picture of what was happening in terms of AIDS efforts in the States, but in terms of how large this crisis in the world, there was a lot left unsaid. There was a passage that illustrated how bad things are, and summed up how the stupidest people are in charge, how the people who did not care disrupted the efforts of others, and the people who could have made a difference? Powerless because of the people in charge, the people around them, and the constraints of society, who believes in its own comfort and ignorance. The person who coined the term "Ignorance is Bliss" must have had a real-life example to draw from. To my mind, the media and the governments (anywhere in the world) are the most obvious culprits; but it is the people, including me, who are guilty of perpetuating the illusion of ignorance and comfort. The saddes thing is that people only realise the severity of the problem when its too late, and by that time, it becomes too little, too late. Is the world so reactive in that way? Can people be more pro-active instead? But before i advocate such thoughts, i have to prove myself as an example first. Awareness and Service are my first steps. I enjoin all who read my entry to embark on this ideal too.
But here's the passage i've been introducing for so long...
"Later, everybody agreed the baths should have been closed sooner; they agreed health education should have been more direct and more timely. And everybody also agreed blood banks should have tested blood sonner, and that a search for the AIDS virus should have been started sooner, and that scientists should have laid aside their petty intrigues. Everybody subsequently agreed that the news media should have offered better coverage of the epidemic much earlier, and that the federal government should have done much, much more. By the time everyone agreed to all this, however, it was too late. Instead, people died. Tens of thousands of them."
pg 491, And the Band played on, by Randy Shilts 1987.
Makes you grit your teeth and say "how can people be this stupid?!" right? I may have known about all this from the start and watched the world go by with all its ills and injustice, but to live not in ignorance but in in-activity is sad.
Let's hope more people awaken to the various problems in the world...
PS. I do apologise that this entry sounds like a really terrible rant...bear with me...
imagined by Desmond at
15:59
1 Comments:
hello! haven came by for so long! glad to see a new entry! hehe. just tot that things that are so obvious to us now, may not be so obvious previously. maybe that's why change takes time. for pple to realise. or to overcome prejudices? I dunno man. never read the bk, but it sure sounds interesting.
but i agree, life is very unfair. to the poor and powerless. but we can all do our part to make it better. at least thats what i believe. --dongz
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Anonymous, at 10/01/2005 9:11 AM
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