All men are (not) created equal

My mind was seriously disturbed for the past 2 days. I have been thinking of quite a number of things. Luckily, I thought of those things during my holiday period. If it was during my exam period, then my exam would have been a gone case because my mind was seriously pre-occupied by all these issues (apart from those happy moments I have with my gf though! =p muahaha).

I started to watch <Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion> few days ago, but get hooked by it and I finished both the 1^st and 2^nd season 50 episodes! =x lol. In one of the episode, The King of an empire said something like this: "All men are not created equal. Some are born with greater beauty, some are born into poverty and others are born sicken, both in birth and upbringing. Every human is inherently different. Yes, that is why people discriminate one another, which is why there is struggle, competition, and a march of progress. Inequality is not wrong, equality is! We fight, we compete, evolution is continuous! We will fight on. We shall struggle, compete, plunder and dominate. And in the end, the future shall be ours.".

Hm.., fundamentally, I do agree that inequality by itself is not wrong, because precisely because we are born unequal, that is why we all try to improve ourselves – if I am poor, I will work hard to be rich, if I am weak, I will train myself to be strong, if my grade is not good, then I will study hard to improve my grade. It spurs the competition up, which is good. Only when there is a competition then it will speed up the innovation. My competition does not narrow to competitions between humans, but also competitions between non-humans. For example, scientists are trying to analyse the recent swine flu virus and rush to develop the vaccine. Isn't it another form of competition?

I was trying to think this: What if from the start, all things are equal? Are will still going to improve? Will all fighting stop? My answer is probably not. The reason is very simple. We as humans have desires. We want to be better than others. If all people are equally rich, surely there are some of us who want to be richer. If all of us are equally smart, surely there are some of us who want to be smarter. This list goes on.

Hence, does it matter whether equality or inequality is right or wrong? Inequality will always be there and there is no way we can achieve equality. Hence, what is the use of equality when there is no way we can achieve it! And if we think it from the start, are we really pursuing for equality? Are we working hard just to be as rich as others? Or are we working hard to be RICHER than others? Are we trying just to be as smart as others? Or are we trying to be SMARTER than others?

Hm.. If all men not born equal, are they entitled with the same rights? The right for freedom, the right to live, the right to receive education. The right to receive education for example, in order to fund education for all, there is a need to channel resources through the government from the rich, which is often said to be income distribution – tax the wealthy heavily and channel these resources to the poor. Thus, this group of wealthy people, which may not use this service (perhaps they send their children overseas or anything else) but nonetheless will have to subsidized this system to support the so-called 'equal education' when they themselves do not enjoy the benefit! How equal it is from their perspective then? Are we trying to build an equal world that is based on inequality of a certain group of people in society?

However, how about those humanitarian works then? Aren't they the same as the example above? If you ask me, I would say that there is a fundamental difference between the group of people that contributes those funds and resources. In the example above, I assume that people are forced to pay more taxes because of the law that requires them to do so. Hence, it is a compulsory contribution back to society. In the latter case, however, I assume that people are willingly giving out more than what they are required to give. Hence, it is a voluntary contribution back to society. If we are forced to do something for the sake of equality, is that equality really equal? However, if we are willingly contributing more than we are required, does that really matter whether for it to be equal or not? I owe everything that I have now from society, thus it is equal and fair for me to give back more to society since I am able to do so.

Hence, if we are on the strong side, we can see that the definition of equality is based on how we can see interpret it. We can do so because we are on the strong side – we command all those wealth and resources. The notion of 'all men are created equal' no longer sounds as divinely as it is. Rather, it is simply a matter of choice based on our interpretation.

Oh, but don't get me wrong. I am not trying to say that 'you poor people, whether or not I help you is my choice.'. It is never my intention to say that the weak is so pity that they are subjected to the mercy of the strong. Of course, it is undeniable that it is purely based on the strong's self interpretation and choice on whether he wants to help the weak. Some may argue that as long as the strong keep the weak weak, the strong will remain as strong. Okay that is reasonable.

However, while my view is that we are not created equal, but that doesn't mean that the strong can bully the weak. The strong can continue to remain strong, but not at the expense of the weak. It is not a zero sum game where I have to extort the weak in order to stay strong. Rather, by helping the weak to become strong, the strong can become stronger.

But again, we need to know that not many strong people are willing to help the weak. If that is the case, then we have no choice but to force the strong to help the poor? Oh dear, while I never believe that we should sacrifice one small group of people for the benefit of all, in the end I reached the same conclusion that I never agree on! =x

It this world is so contradicting, or it is just me myself who is contradicting? Hm..

Exam is now OVER!! =D

Anyway after that I went to school, realised that all of us like already in holiday mood! =x lol. Didn't feel like studying for our last paper! =x lol. But luckily, I guessed all of us did study! =p lol. Anyway, this is our favourite study corner – this corridor in the corner is like reserved for us! =p lol. No one sit there before except us! =p lol.

Omelette

My dearest baby came to deliver 爱心 omelette! =D Very nice!! She woke up early in the morning to make the omelette! And according to her she used 3 eggs and 2 hotdogs with lots of cheesessss!! =DD lol. Thanks a lot! It was really nice!! *hugz* =]

悯农

When I was eating my dinner just now, I saw a table with one grandmother, one mother and one daughter.

The grandmother was eating chicken rice and finished all the rice.

The mother was eating fried rice and finished half the rice.

The daughter was eating "sweet-sour-pock rice" and literally never eats any of the rice.

….............................

I always believe that rice is underpriced, so maybe we should increase the price of the rice. =x

《悯农》

李绅

锄禾(hé)日当午，

汗滴禾下土。

谁知盘中餐，

粒粒皆辛苦。

Random

Done with my Politic paper, 3 more to go! =] Oh dear, how am I going to study my accounting theory? Edgar Wong is going to kill me! =x lol..

I just realised that sometimes, I am just doing something that in the end I don't see the point of doing that thing. Haiz.. =p lol..

When i was eating my dinner, i realised that i am just another normal person, just like another other person..

一切都会过去

有这样一个故事：

一个王国曾经在梦中得到了一句箴(zhēn)言，可以行之终身。有人告诉他：在世界上你只有记住这句话，那么这一生你都将忘怀得失，能够安然度过任何的大宠大辱。

但是，当国王醒来，竟然把这句话给忘记了。有一言可以行之终身，这么重要的一句话，到底是什么呢？国王百思不解。他就告诉大臣们："你们去给我找这句话。谁能把这句话找回来，我就奖他一枚很贵重的钻戒。"

有一天，一个最聪明的老臣对国王说："把那钻戒先给老臣吧！"

国王说："你找到了吗？"

老臣不说话，拿过钻戒来，在钻戒的戒环上刻了一句话，把钻戒又还给了国王，扬长而去。

国王一看，恍然记起了梦里正是这句话，一句淡淡的话，叫做："一切都会过去。"

这一句话是我们每一个人都会记住的。光荣会过去，耻辱会过去，辉煌会过去，苦难会过去。虽然我们的人生道路上会有坎坷和不平，但无论是辉煌还是苦难，一切都会过去。

Chill people.. 一切都会过去.. =]

Reference: 于丹 - 《庄子》心得

小老鼠的寓言

有这么一个寓言：小老鼠觉得自己太渺小了，一直希望找到最大的东西。抬头一看，什么大啊？莫过于天。所以，小老鼠问天： "天啊，你什么都不怕，我却这么渺小，你能给我勇气吗？"

天告诉它说："我也有怕的，我怕云，因为云是可以遮天蔽(bì)日的，太阳和天空都可以被云彩密密地遮住。"

小老鼠觉得云更了不起，就去找云，说："你能遮天蔽日，你是天地之间最大的力量吧？"

云彩说："不，我怕风。我好不容易把天遮得密密的，哗，大风一吹，云开雾散，风过云飘，所以我还是有怕的东西。"

小老鼠又跑去找风，说："你力量太大了，天空上万物都抵挡不住你，你没有什么可怕的吧？"

风说："我也有怕的，我怕墙。天上的云彩我能吹散，但是地上有堵墙我就绕不过去了，所以墙比我厉害。"

小老鼠就跑去找墙，说："你连风都挡得住，你是不是天下最强大的？"

墙却说了一句令小老鼠非常惊诧（chà）的话，墙说："我最怕就是老鼠。因为老鼠会在我的根基上一点一点咬出很多墙洞，总有一天，我这面伟岸(àn)高大的大墙，会因为这些个老鼠洞而轰然倒塌。"

在这个时候，小老鼠恍然大悟：原来这个世界上最了不起的就是它自己。

其实，这样一番寻找，难道不是我们从小到大膜拜偶像，崇拜榜样，一生追逐而最终发现自己内心的一个过程吗？

每一个人的一生都是独特的，崇拜偶像不如认清自己，因为我们自己永远不可能成为别人。=]

Reference: 于丹 - 《庄子》心得

Since when getting your own drink is a CHORE??

When I read this article "Do your kids do chores?", I was like so surprised!

The most popular chores included getting their own drink, getting their own meals, frying an egg and making the bed. I was like, "WTH is this? Since when getting your own drink became a chore to youngsters nowadays?" You meant getting yourself a cup of water is a CHORE? To go and da bao food is a CHORE? Okay loh fine, so the next generation will say "The most popular chores included drinking water and eating food" and you all need people to feed you right??

My definition of household chores are sweeping and mopping the floor, cleaning the window, washing, hanging and ironing your own clothes, and cleaning the kitchen and toilet. Since when looking for drink and food is a chore??

A youngster said, "Oh, chores are all about common sense. When I need to do it, I am sure that I will be able to do it well." Ya right. You think doing chores very easy arh? You try and go and do lah! To be fair, let me go to your house and we do chores together, let complete who can finish better and faster. You do know that different ways of holding your broom can give you different results? Do you know that you need different brushes to clean different part of your toilets?

Some may say that "Walew, why do I need to know all these sia? It is not as if I am going to do all these next time." Oh yes, you are right. But my point is this: doing chores help you to think things different, how to do chores in a more efficient manner? Rather than the hard skills of doing chores, what I want to emphasise here is the soft skills that you may gain from doing the chores – to stimulate yourself to think, can I do this in an easier way? Can I do this differently?

Most importantly, doing household chores help us to be responsible to ourselves. If we messed up our room, then we should be the one who tidy up. If we are the one wearing clothes, then we are the one who should wash and iron it. Why do we need to hire other person to take care of our ownselves? I have some friends, once their maid took leaves and no one handles the chores, they really messed up their day-to-day lives. They don't even know how to us the washing machine – they mistook softener as detergent, they don't know how to iron their clothes – they just came to school with their clothes full of wrinkles. I meant, you cant even take a good care of yourself, how do you expect other people to believe that you are able to take care of your own life and to take care of your future partner and family?

*shaking my head*

We got to be more proactive!

I recently came across this article of "Politics? Not for me" where a talented Singaporean (I assumed he is because after all he managed to get into a top university) said something like this, "A lot of it has to do with contentment. I'm happy with the way things are, there's no reason to be an activist. I've benefited from the system, I don't feel that there is anything worth changing."

I am not trying to criticise this person in particular. I am just trying to reflect on what he said. If we have benefited from our current system, then can we just say that there isn't anything worth changing? How about those people who have not been able to benefit from current system? Can we just say that, "Oh! I benefited can already what! Why should I care whether or not other people benefit? As long as I benefit jiu can liao loh!".

I beg to differ. We are living in the society where there is always another group of people who has not been able to benefit from the current system – the poor, the underprivileged, and the destitute. Does that mean that they are ought to be forgotten? A good example is our education system. Our education system has evolved over the time and it is widely-recognised that it is at world-class standard. Now, supposed during the 70s, there was this person who benefited from the 70s system said, "Oh, I have benefited from this system, so let us just keep this system because I see no need to change since I benefited from this system." Then what will happen to us who are living the in 90s or now?

Have any of us thought of this – if those people who benefited from the education system in the 70s did not push forward with the reform of the education system, would more people in the 90s benefit from the reformed education system? Without these reforms and changes, we will not be able to benefit from current education system that is more holistic and allows more people to pursue more diverse interests and passions.

What I wanted to say is this: Just because we have benefited from current system and thus do not see the need to change is a dangerous view. To passively wait and only when we see problems then we change may be too late in some cases. We should, instead, take a more proactive stance and continue to seek improvement to come out with a better system that allows more people in society to benefit.