A hodgepodge of ideas

2004-03-20 6:14 p.m.

Usually, I can find a main theme or incident to write about but suddenly I just can't think of anything at this moment. Yes, my diary entries are erratic these few weeks, maybe it’s due to stress from work and the burden of engraving my future. Oh yes, even though Amandae told me that the future is not ours to see there is still a possibility that we can shape it and build the road ahead. If I remember correctly, there was one history S question about controlling the past, present and the future. I use to think it was absolute nonsense but it does generate some yearning to manipulate the steps ahead. Choices pop out in front of us, and we either grab them or alter them to suit our own whims.

Speaking of choices, girls seem to have a larger scope of choices in one certain area: clothes. Shorts, jeans/pants, Bermudas, shirts (long and short sleeved), suits, jackets and ties are the few types of clothes available to boys. Oh ok, vests and coats in different seasons. Girls on the other hand can choose to wear fabric that covers every inch of their skin or wear dresses that expose parts of their body. Spaghetti straps, gowns that expose their backs, sleeveless/strapless shirts, mini skirts, shawls, low cut jeans…the list goes on and on. With all these things, they can alter their appearance almost every day. Let’s not even talk about the different brands here. No wonder girls spend hours deciding on goods to purchase during a shopping trip. (Ok, that is my own opinion but surely you can see the frustration on men’s faces during shopping trips.)Anyway, this wide range of choices can be beneficial and disadvantageous. So you aren’t limited in the task of beatifying yourself. Then again, with this bombardment of choices, you’ll end up pouring away your savings over new items often. (Peculiar argument—damn I lost my touch in GP)

Moving on from there, the different form of clothes—whether for males or females—stem for the globalised world we live in. Globalisation brought in all the gowns, silk ties, Armani suits and Reebok shoes into third world and Asian countries. Simultaneously, people around the world get exposed to the diverse range of food so much that it is common for Asians to stick mainly to western cuisine when eating out and Caucasians targeting spicy food from the east. The assimilation of parts of culture has gone with little conflict in the post World War Two era. Westerners find alternative treatment through acupuncture and ginseng while Middle Easterners find progress by adopting the western practices. The conflict arises between the different ethnic groups and different races. Indians in London or Eastern European workers in Australia may enjoy benefits in those countries but that does not prevent them from facing racial abuses by people who love a plate of curry or enjoy wearing saris. As for conflict between religions, that has been around even before the world became increasingly integrated. The matter has just rose to a different level with countries taking different sides or adopting different polices.

Speaking of polices, local policies, while part of the path of progress, sometimes cause a stir right down to the grassroot level. Singapore’s new mother tongue policy has several implications although the government sees hardly any change. They of course claim that by removing mother tongue to be part of local tertiary entrance requirements, students struggling with the subject will benefit. In a sense, time is freed for them to concentrate on their core subjects or even their special papers—time which I did not have. On the flip side, teachers and some of the older generation fire back and say that this degrades the ability of youths to converse in their mother tongue. In my view, with the idea of the syllabus B and the streaming taking place in primary school, students in Singapore are already divided into their ability to handle a second language. In any case, even if one obtains a C6 in his second language that does not necessarily imply that he is weak in his own native tongue. No one can complain in any case for there is a certain lack of relationship between the people and the government (Ah heck, I hate dealing with local issues like this.)

Speaking of relationships, this year elections in the different countries—the US, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Spain—have never has such a great effect on inter-govenrmental relations before. We have just seen what has happened with the landside victory of Spain’s Socialist Party—they pledge to remove their troops from Iraq and reverse their country’s stance in the war on terror. John Kerry, no matter how promising he may be, will be less open to the idea of FTAs with other countries, and in turn causing economic ties to be cut. Taiwan’s brash idea of a referendum and the idea of two Chinas may have resulted in the assassination attempt on the President and his deputy. Now, naturally elections will alter ties between nations but the intensity of the change is what people seek to find out.

Gosh, I just jumped from one topic to another. This will never happen in GP.

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