The Leap Years (After note)

Taiwan's presidential election 2008 had brought to a closure. Ma Ying-Jieu won by 16% majority vote (58% versus 42% for Frank Hsieh).

Ah Long should be one of the happiest persons on earth. He wanted the sky to change colour from Green to Blue. Now the sky has turned blue as he wished. 58% blue. This is another moment of democracy. The thrust of democracy.

水能载舟亦能覆舟.

The two presidential candidates had adopted gentleman approach after the result was released. They not only showed greatest respect to the wishes of Taiwanese, they also showed greatest mutual respect towards their opponent. To me this is already a great leap of democracy of Taiwan as compared to the previous elections.

Ma Ying-Jieu didn't write off DPP. In deed he gave credit to DPP who has contributed to the democracy movement of Taiwan, '这次的选举，大家当然有许多批评，甚至有许多的火花，但是我们从来不敢忽视民进党在过去的几十年当中对台湾民主、台湾进步的贡献......不论输赢如何，我们同感骄傲.民主自由是台湾最珍贵的资产，我们生活在其中平常也许感觉不到，但一旦到关键时刻，民主自由所展现的力量是沛然莫之能御.这是台湾最大的资产，也是台湾最迷人的资产.' Ma Yin-Jieu phrased his opponent for his frank and gentleman politician style.

Frank Hsieh admitted defeat, '台湾选民已经用选票作出决定，我接受败选的事实.我在这里要恭喜马英九先生和萧万长先生...民主包括结果，也包括过程，过程难免有争议，但是我们接受，不愿再有抗争，让我们的社会非常迅速地能够修补因为选举所留下来的裂痕，让我们的人民能够很快地生活在爱与信任的环境里面.'

Walked to the end of his political journey, Frank Hsieh showed the strongest part of his character,'这是我个人的挫折，不是台湾主体性的倒退，是民主的结果，不是民主的失败.台湾的发展从来就不是顺风而行，风愈大我们愈要走，我们要永远跟人民站在一起，衷心地为台湾祝福，我们相信人民，也相信台湾.' He had ended his political career graciously.


[台北实景 a scene in Taibei：是‘大中至正’还是‘自由广场’？]

A friend (Yeo) put his personal thought through SMS, '台湾人民终于不再以意识形态投票，为台湾的胜利，台湾的民主欢呼.'

I said he sounded like half of a Taiwanese, he said, '为他们闷了八年了，更为了我们少了那一点点的民主而遗憾.'

Don't worry. The leap year is just a moment of sensation, a moment of excitement. Day after tomorrow life will be back to normal.

The Leap Years

Watched THE LEAP YEARS played by Wong Liling, Joan Chen, QiYuWu and Ananda Mathew Everingham. It is a Singapore's love story based on a novel by Catherine Lim. The story talks about a young Singaporean girl having chance upon her special someone on 29th February. She decides to base her intuition on an Irish leap year tradition that no man will refuse any request of a lady and invites him out for a date. Together, they embark on a romantic journey that spans over 12 years, meeting only thrice in 12 years, on the leap year.




THE LEAP YEARS was one of the best local films I have seen so far. The film is not up to the standard of a Hollywood nor a Hong Kong movie. But the story is engaging based on modern sensibilities. The English is natural and real which has moved away from Jack Neo's singlish dialect comedy. THE LEAP YEARS would probably capture some of the fascinating sensibilities and the essence of life in contemporary Singapore.

It happens that the Taiwan president's election also falls into the leap years. Today is the fourth direct election for the President of Taiwan. Either Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh or Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou will end the Ah Bian's era.



Still remember quite well how Ah Long's rather comical way of laughing over himself for how naive he was in those younger days. He was a supporter of the Green Pan. The day that he received his pay envelop, he rushed to listen to the DPP speech and accidentally dropped his full month salary into the collection box. Apart from staring at the envelop being covered by more and more cash, he couldn't do any thing extra. He went home to ask for pocket money from his mother. They scolded him for gambling. No one believed him that he had accidentally "donated" his monthly income to the Green Pan.



Who is Ah Long? He is not the Loan Shark. He is the tour guide that helped me to explore Taiwan based on modern fascinating sensibilities. He even pointed to a shop at XiMengTing(西门町), saying that was where the great pretty LinQingXia(林青霞) was discovered and started her big screen career. True of false? probably only Lin would know better. Nevertheless with Ah Long, my recent tour of Taiwan was a memorable one.

沙岩下的故事

野柳的沙岩长期受到台风巨浪的侵蚀，形成蘑菇状。沙岩的生命并不长久，菇茎会逐日缩小，菇头会倒下去。油尽灯枯，这是自然的规律。




想起一个自然的规律下引申的故事，发生在芸芸众生中的故事。





年底发了花红，姐妹二人开开心心地买了大包小包的，双手一点空档也没有，尽兴而归。回到家楼下才猛然记起，糟了，今晚电梯维修，怎么上八十楼去啊？

姐妹俩你望着我，我望着你，最后决定一步一步地走上去。

好不容易走上二十层，两人气呼呼的，几乎软成一团，坐在那儿，互相埋怨。埋怨到头来，还是得想个办法啊！

哈！真糊涂！这公寓大家都挺熟络，治安良好，没人会把这把这大包小包拿走的。把全身的包袱放下，明天早上电梯维修好了再下来拿不就行了吗？于是姐妹俩空着手，一口劲就爬上了五十楼。

在五十楼往外望，世界变得渺小。妹妹说。

不。 姐姐不苟同。眼内有尘三界窄，心头无事一床宽。大或小只取决于个人的心境，所处的位置，采取的角度和时空的距离而已。

妹妹想想也不无道理。横看成岭侧成峰，远近高低各不同。不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中。说的也正是如此。其实姐妹俩趣味相投，见解一致，是应该互相扶持，一起走完这条路的。刚才真不该吵了一架。




两人在互相扶持互相勉励下，终于完成最后一程，可以进屋子里好好休息了。两人高兴地给了一个five。

紧接着两人的脸色都变了。钥匙放在包包里，留在二十楼！

如果楼梯代表人的一生，二十代表青年，包包代表梦想，五十代表人生历炼，那么八十就是该好好休息怡情的时候了。可是在二十岁的时候嫌那包裹太沉重，把梦想都放弃了，到老的时候回首前尘，还能无所憾吗？

你和我是不是芸芸众生中的一份子？

佛光山之暇想

在台湾认识阿龙，是一名专业导游。他说曾经为相依为命的母亲祈福，结果奇迹出现，从此结下佛缘。高雄佛光山，星云大师和他阿龙是一体。他半玩笑半认真地说。

姑不论阿龙与佛光山的因缘。人生因某种际遇而奠定往后的一生是许多人都拥有过的经历。星云大师十二岁中日战争逃难与母亲走失，跟了一个和尚。和尚说你跟着我可很苦的，没有猪肉吃，没有人间的娱乐，要吃苦，要诵经。和尚就是避风港，你去到那里我跟到那里。星云大师从此结下佛缘。如今佛光山与星云大师已成一体。



佛光山创办于1967年,它‘给人信心、给人欢喜、给人希望、给人方便’，以文化弘扬佛法、以教育培养人才、以慈善福利社会、以共修净化人心。其中净化人心是大学问。

跟一般所谓的平民相处，他们的喜怒哀乐很简单，能学会一套太极拳已经能开心好久好久。我跟他们在一起也很开心，不用处于心机的备战状态。人生有涯，你能拥有多少？淡薄为大，所以生命可以更宽广。



也接触另一群人，多是有识之士。他们总是不如意事常八九，快乐是很短暂的。为什么？有这么一个乾隆下江南的故事。乾隆问金山寺的和尚每天有多少条船来回长江，法磐回答说两条。乾隆不解，长江水道繁忙，船只往返不计其数，怎么只有两条？于是继续追问其因。法磐回答：

“长江只有两条船，一条为名，一条为利。世上熙熙，皆为利来，世上攘攘，皆为利往。”我们身在名利当中，当局者迷而不知觉，又怎能快乐起来呢？

眼内有尘三界窄，心头无事一床宽，说的无非是“看破”二字。能看破名利，人心自能净化，生命自能宽广，快乐自能持久。明白为何和尚的芒鞋没有鞋头了吧？人只有低下头才能看得穿世俗，才能看破。其中最首要，也最困难的是以谦卑的心态来看破自己。

猪年既过，鼠年在既，愿你拥抱快乐。

伍角与船板交织的时空

伍角船板。梦是唯一的真实。谢丽香。平凡的名字。

在台湾转了一圈，在台北内湖区钻进这一间叫做“伍角船板”的饭店。伍角船板不只设在台北，台南与台中都有伍角船板的踪迹。

伍角船板的建筑奇特，由漂流木、大树和陶瓷品造成，设计建筑艺术就像酝酿上等醇酒，叫人惊叹。饭店腾出一大片空间作为艺术的展现，吃饭的地方反而变成陪衬品。在经济效益上似乎化不来，但是伍角船板与谢丽香却成为台湾的奇迹。

谢丽香的父母也不像传统的父母。他们没有对女儿施压，非得学业成绩良好不可。他们鼓励女儿去逐梦，追求自己的兴趣。谢丽香不用花太多时间读书，可以天天做白日梦。



谢丽香做过各行各业，每宗生意都失败。最后她意识到自己真正的梦想是用儿时玩积木的方式，盖出自己的房子。她发现要实现这样的愿景所费不菲，才出现另一个奇想，把建筑成品转变为餐厅，为其他建筑计划筹集资金。

台北内湖区的伍角船板花了最多的精力，是最好的伍角船板，也是最后一间。

从堆积木到盖房子，从做白日梦到焦点人物，一砖又一砖，一步一脚印，谢丽香化美梦为神奇。



为什么叫做伍角船板？又一次她生意失败，在沙滩上徘徊。沙滩上搁浅着一块船板，船板上嵌着一枚台湾早期的伍角硬币。伍角与船板相扶并存，它们一起度过艰苦的岁月，可谁也没遗弃谁。这一幕给她新的希望。如果有一天能够东山再起，就以伍角船板为名,赋予新生。

伍角船板其实是许多台湾企业家的缩影。他们织梦，他们寻梦，他们圆梦。生活是一面镜子，你对它笑它才会对你笑。

我家在那里

当年没拍多少照片，这张照片是在网上找到的。




发现这张照片是意外，是惊喜。两个月前我为启志学校一群老人制作一份特辑，启志学校位于大成巷，五十年前关闭，半世纪后的今天竟能奇迹般地找到整四十人，还搞了个喜相逢。

我本着成人之美的心态，成为义务摄影师兼专辑制作人。在网上没搜索到启志学校的资料，却意外发现这张照片。

照片是七十年代初期的新加坡河沿岸。远处是依丽沙白道外的大海。对大海、对新加坡河，我始终深情款款。它们把我的祖母和父亲带到新加坡，在新加坡河边安家。新加坡河富有生命力，船工驳力加上河边的货舱米粮，生活像淌淌河水，川流不息。

我的家在禧街，在新加坡河与谐街之间。禧街俗称小坡二马路，谐街的繁华就如今日的乌节路。小时候用过晚饭，祖母和我站在桥上，看着来往的舯舡，编织着我们的梦。祖母想回中国老乡走一回。离乡二十载，不晓得家乡变成什么样。

没多久祖母去世了，人人都说她是个大好人，虽然我们是穷光蛋，可是奔丧送殡的人潮络绎不绝。好人有好报，也许她已经乘上轻舟，度过千里路万重山，回到她的家乡。

1993 和 2004年我去了她的家乡两回，寻根的道路崎岖而伤感，想像着祖母和父亲说过的故事，情绪激动时还不禁流下热泪。光阴似箭，连我都已经两鬓发白。这是另一段故事，以后再谈。

生活是一连串的搏斗，像涓涓河水，周而复始。我也不晓得乘船的滋味，更遑论搭飞机，一切就像天方夜谭，没有希望也没有失望。怎么也没想到后来的日子飞机乘多了，工作也离不开船舰海洋。

1980年，十九岁。业主说租金太便宜，必须把月租大幅度上调。我们搬家了，搬进新世界附近的二房式组屋，接触另一群在生活中挣扎的社会下层。没多久，新加坡河清河运动开锣。改造后的新加坡河河水依旧流淌，是个欢乐的地方。过去走进历史，包括我的老家在内。

在没有希望也没有失望的日子里我们一样熬了过来。我们也见证了一段新加坡河的发展史。

浮生旧梦

我又回到我的寻梦园。

云南园，童年的梦想，心目中的天堂。

南洋大学创校史是新加坡历史的奇迹。在华人社会齐心协力下于1956年成立，万众一心，义无反顾。南洋大学被关闭，后来凤凰再生，期间的经历是另一段故事。今天不谈这故事。


南洋大学初建








如今事过境迁，云南园的生活已是二十年前的旧事。反省静思， 虽然是梦想，虽然是天堂, 可从来没想过会在云南园度过人生中很重要的三年。一来为了生活的困境，每一个日子都是为了生存而搏斗；二来当生活稳定之后已是适婚年龄，是开展另一段人生路程的时候了。

所以啦，圆梦需要勇气，无怨无悔。下一程难以预料，不跨出第一步，永远无法圆梦。那段圆梦的日子很困苦，得兼顾学业与生计。没钱没学费、学业表现差，都是圆梦的绊脚石。院长梁教授说如果他早知道就不会让我读下去。我说吃得苦中苦，方为人中人，圆梦的日子是磨炼， 磨炼是教育的精华。毕业后曾在牛车水巴刹遇见他，难得他还记得我，跟我亲切地打招呼。再见他是他的葬礼，亲切的他已为古人。


圆梦-青山依旧在，几度夕阳红



我的启蒙学校--原来匠心同出一格，冥冥中早已注定






清晨的南大湖，无风无涟漪。有中年人慢跑而过，有年轻人在逐梦。物换星移，这些脸孔都不再熟悉，不变的是当我向他们点头微笑时他们都报以亲切的笑容。

人与人之间没有利益冲突的时候，大家的相处是互敬互重的。这清晨的南大湖，这清晨的一霎是短暂的。平静的时光一闪而过，没一下子我又投身于生活的拼搏中。


南大湖 - 风吹皱一湖春水

Are you a digit?

We are facing with tough staff turnover in the recent months. The blooming of the marine industry is non-parallel in history. A sunset industry becomes sun rise. The order books filled up to five years down the road to 2012.

Many of them who have resigned are riding on the economy crest, transiting themselves into the industry as the valuable resources. Anton, one of them who had resigned and left us, shared his personal thought. He reinstated that he wanted to continue to serve us. But the organization did not practice what a modern human resource management should practice. Let me termed it as D&P.

What is D&P? Digit and People. Antonie felt that the organization has been treating people like digit. The fanciful career development, personal grooming, job matching and etc have relegated to hole plugging. Damage control plug. Human is used to plug hole.

I can feel that what he wanted is respect. He wanted a pair, in fact more pairs, of listening ears and a show of compassion in the organization. It is not about modern HR theories and practices. It is about the fundamental cultural values that we as human would like to believe in and would like to subscribe to.

As humankind we should embrace in 3R: Respect the others, Respect yourselves and be Responsible with what you do. If you subscribe to the belief of every individual is a human, you would naturally treat them as people. Or else they are like computer today, 1 or 0, purely digit. In so doing, you do not have to respect them, do not have to respect yourselves, and do not have to take responsibility with what you do. No human touch.

Apparently there are some cultural changes happening in the organization, in fact everywhere. Otherwise we do not have to try so hard to reinstall some of the basic beliefs back to individuals.

The world is connected with broadband nowadays. The digital world makes it more difficult to influence individuals when they subscribe to the belief of riding on economic crest to generate wealth and more wealth.

Human history is a spiral. We are living in the cycle of wealth generation. We loss something that is valuable through the process. It may take us another generation to bring back the values.

881的魅力

881掀起歌台的热潮，也吸引了老中青三代人涌入戏院，佳评如潮，原因何在？

881挺有台湾乡土电影的感觉。电影环绕着七月舞台，非常本土化。电影的主线在于平凡。木瓜姐妹都是平凡人，她们怀着平凡人的梦想，不过她们比一般人更敢于逐梦，结果她们圆梦。

电影要令人感动，就必需制造一些遗憾。小木瓜之死，大木瓜一人撑下舞台，所以感人。

跟梁志强导演过去的电影相比，我较欣赏881。881有一个完整的故事，有一个完整的情节，笑料出于自然，感伤出于情理之中。这一切都与梁志强导演的风格截然不同。

881没有大排演员，没有个人化的明星魅力，台前幕后众志成城，众人都是明星。

还有，原来福建歌是这么动听的。

881，诚意之作。

It is like a river flow

We are all busy people. So, have you seen a river flow? Do you have a chance to see a river flows?

We don’t have to always drive on the fast lane. If you subscribe to the universal law of physics of conservation of energy, Total energy in life = constant. The faster you go, the more energy you consume, the less energy remains in you.



Speed makes your heart pumps harder, your organs work harder. These are abnormal stresses. Drawing analogy to Fatigue theory, under repeated cycles, the stress tolerant levels of the organs are dropping with every stress cycle. This leads to premature failure.

We don’t have to always drive on the fast lane all the time. Switch to slower lanes at time, take alternative roads. The break from routine would help you to see the other side of the world and may give you pleasant surprises.

Back to where we begin. Have you seen a river flows? Have you touched the river flow? I did that. I made two observations:

Observation 1: water flows the fastest at mid-stream, but stagnant at river banks. This is not a new discovery. 2500 years ago Buddha already said that. When I learned about pipe flow theory, it reinforced the natural phenomenon with explanation. It is all about shear stresses.

Having saying all these, it boils down to choices. Would you want to adopt a more dynamic approach in life like the mid-stream of a river flow or would you prefer a stagnant sidelined style like water at the river banks?

Observation 2: you touched the water a moment ago. You touch the water now. You are touching the river flow but the waters that you are touching now and you were touching a moment ago are no longer the same.

Water comes; Water goes. People come; people go.
Tomorrow; yesterday. Next year; yesteryear. Life; death.
We read history and we become part of the history.

Our existence on earth is a pure coincident. By nature or by fate. How to make ourselves everlasting?

In my teenage day, I came across the first English song in my life, very touching. It was a TV advertisement for Kodak film:

Good morning yesterday
You wake up
And time had skipped away
And suddenly it’s hard to find
The memories you left behind
Do you remember?
Do you remember?

By the way, do you remember when did you last use the Kodak film?

Wind, forest, fire and mountains

Sun Zi’s essays on the art of war were the concentrated essence of wisdom on conducting warfare. Since the value of the Art of War extends beyond the study of battles, people regard it as an important part of Chinese culture. Many believed that a major achievement of The Art of War was in the scientific attitude adopted by Sun Zi.

War is a matter of life and death, the road either to survival or to ruin. Sun Tzu, generally known as Sun Zi, was a great war strategist in China's history. Sun Zi lived in a time (722-481 B.C.) during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which is referred to as the Spring-Autumn Period.

Sun Zi said, "Victory should be won before battle starts." He thought that the best policy was to first attack the enemy's strategy rather than defeat the enemy's troops. Sun Zi also believed that generals should not care much about acquiring fame when they made advances and that they should not avoid incurring penalty when they retreated provided that their actions benefit the state. This applied even if they did not become famous for their bravery or for their resourcefulness.




The art of war is based on deception. Move when it is advantageous and create changes in the situation by dispersal and concentration of forces. When campaigning, be swift as the wind; in leisurely marching, majestic as the forest; in raiding and plundering, be fierce as fire; in standing, firm as the mountains. This philosophy has now been applied to business strategy and as part of the modern MBA learning:

As swift as the wind 疾如风
As majestic as the forest 徐如林
As fierce as the fire 侵略如火
As firm as the mountains 不动如山



This warfare strategy also influenced Japan greatly in the past. This is not surprising as historians believe that Japanese was the early immigration of Chinese dated back to the Chin Dynasty. Recently I visited Iyashi no Sato Nenba 西湖溫柔之鄉根場, a village at Lake Saigo of Mount Fuji. The village was wiped out by Typhoon in 1963 and was rebuilt in the recent years to memorise those who lost their lives in this natural disaster. 风林火山 can be seen everywhere. In fact on my way to Kyoto and Osaka, the two former capitals of Japan, 风林火山 has been the guiding principle of these two great historic cities.



Some pictures taken from Iyashi no Sato Nenba西湖溫柔之鄉根場 are posted for sharing. The houses are called 合掌造, a unique architecture of Japan.

百家说

2500 年前春秋战国时代诸候争霸，造就一群伟大的思想家，影响力持续至今。MBA 甚至把百家学说应用到商场，超越国界。在 E-时代，或许大家通过网络已无国籍之分。

上世纪70年代是个希望的年代也是个失落的年代。1980年李怡为他一手创办的“七十年代”作总结就以失落为结局。当年许多文团都因失落变得人才凋零，树倒猢狲散，为人类发展史划上句点。许多人选择忘记过去，平平静静地过活。

有些文团却如再生的凤凰，经过一番磨炼之后全新姿态重新出击，继续为社会服务，失落只是希望的开始。实践剧场是一个例子。

其实认清历史的规律后，思潮的变化，人性再循环等等都是周而复始，时而阴阳相调，时而阴阳相辅，有最好的时代也有最坏的时代，盛唐不会永远存在。以包容的心态去面对种种变幻反而能领略个中奥妙。

就如“无奸不商”吧，Bill Gate却成立了地球救济基金，还亲自打理。沈望傅对慈善向来不落人后，取之社会，用之社会。资本家也有赫赫君子。君子爱财，取之有道，春秋战国时代已有此言。

风来疏竹，风过而竹不留声。雁照寒潭，雁去而潭不留影。故君子事来而心始现，事去而心随空。

Childhood Words 童话

Come across this lyrics that is well translated by Miss Jeanie Lee of East Spring Primary School. Very touchy.

Forgotten how long,
I've not heard from you.
Telling me all
Your favourite stories.

I thought it over.
I started worrying.
Was it again me,
Who did the wrong thing?

You cried and told me that,
Fairy tales always lie.
I could not be
That prince of yours.

Maybe you're not aware.
From when you said you loved me,
My starry skies were lit up so bright.

I want to be
That fairy tale
Angel that you love.
Spread both my arms,
Change to wings
Guard over you.

You must believe,
Yes, believe that we will be that fairy tale.
Happiness will be the end of story.

幸福和快乐是结局.

I think therefore I am

e

Cogito, ergo sum. I think therefore I am. 我思故我在.

Recently I learned about Arbinger Theory. It expounded the philosophical thinking of follow the sense and self-betrayer. It is about following the sense to stay out of the box to make other's day. Who can break the box? It is ME. I am the subject. When we treat other as a subject rather than as an object, the relationship can be improved. We can get out of the box to make each other’s day.

The Arbinger Theory seems building on the foundation of Martin Buber’s (马丁布伯) “I-thou, I-it”. It would be interesting to trace back to René Descartes’ (笛卡尔）famous philosophical statement Cogito, ergo sum (Latin: “I think therefore I am”, a translation of Descartes' original French statement: "Je pense, donc je suis", which occurs in his Discourse on Method (1637)). It became a foundational element of Western philosophy.

Descartes placed a strong emphasis on I. I am the subject. Descartes considered the ultimate level of doubt based on his argument from the existence of a deceiving god – Descartes examined his beliefs to see if any had survived the doubt. In his belief in his own existence he found it: it is impossible to doubt that he exists. Even if there were a deceiving god (or an evil demon, the tool he used to stop himself sliding back into ungrounded beliefs), his belief in his own existence would be secure, for how could he be deceived unless he existed in order to be deceived?

"But I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does it now follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something [or thought anything at all] then I certainly existed. But there is a deceiver of supreme power and cunning who is deliberately and constantly deceiving me. In that case I too undoubtedly exist, if he is deceiving me; and let him deceive me as much as he can, he will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I think that I am something. So, after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that the proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind."

Descartes suggested that I can exist in isolation. 290 years later, Martin Buber’s I and Thou (Ich und Du, 1923) presented an alternative philosophy of personal dialogue, in that it describes how personal dialogue can define the nature of reality. Buber’s major theme is that human existence may be defined by the way in which we engage in dialogue with each other, with the world, and with God. I exist not in isolation.

According to Buber, human beings may adopt two attitudes toward the world: I-Thou or I-It. I-Thou is a relation of subject-to-subject, while I-It is a relation of subject-to-object. In the I-Thou relationship, human beings are aware of each other as having a unity of being. Human beings do not perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated qualities, but engage in a dialogue involving each other's whole being. In the I-It relationship, on the other hand, human beings perceive each other as consisting of specific, isolated qualities, and view themselves as part of a world which consists of things. I-Thou is a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity, while I-It is a relationship of separateness and detachment.

I-Thou relation is a direct interpersonal relation which is not mediated by any intervening system of ideas. No objects of thought intervene between I and Thou. Thus, I-Thou is not a means to some object or goal, but is an ultimate relation involving the whole being of each subject.

The evolution of the I-philosophy is fascinating. From Descartes-I, Buber-I thou I it, to Arbinger-self deception and out of the box. It seems that the human society is moving towards a more holistic whole and would eventually be more compassionate. There is a Chinese saying 沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春. We are progressing to a better tomorrow.

Big heart for CNY

This Lunar new year is extremely rushed. No real opportunity to prepare the heart and soul for the atmosphere.

Workload has geared up with thinning of resources and hardly settled down since the day after X’mas.

Because of the copy right law, I could hardly hear new year song as freely as before except at some selected shopping outlets who were willing to pay for the IP charges. Discounted that, new year shopping seemed to be of no different from normal shopping. The cutting edge of new year shopping has gone.

I used to rate CNY as my number one hit list since young. The atmosphere was tremendous although CNY also meant that I would “loss” my father for a couple of days. What had happened?

Few days before CNY, father would soak himself beside the gambling tables in China Town. No day no night like many serious gamblers. He would appear on the new year eve and disappeared again after the reunion dinner. He would bring back some exciting stories such as police storming, the great escape from water pipes and roof tops, the big fights between police and gamblers and so on. All of sudden, the gamblers became victims and those who managed to escape became heroes.

Few days after CNY, The angbao money collected by my sibling and I would disappear. We knew where had they gone but no one would dare to open our mouths after we were scolded once, “I had to give angbao to others. Now I took back from all of you, any thing wrong? After all, you have to eat and have to go to school. Where does the money come from?....”

We knew that the new year fortune that father anticipated had never arisen year after year. Otherwise he would not take our little sum of angbao money away. On the other hand we appreciated how difficult would father have to sustain our living with his little income and we couldn’t stop father from dreaming. As age getting older, father had changed. Now he completely waves goodbye to gambling.

This is only one side of the CNY story. Now the brighter side. We shared one shop floor with 4 families. Because we all shared one kitchen, one toilet and one common narrow corridor, the living space was marginalized. There was no privacy for us. Many conflicts built up among us. CNY offered us a leverage space and for us to step out of the box. With the best wishes to each other, friendship was repaired and rebuilt.

On the first day of new year, I would spend two hours with father to visit a few old ladies who lived in Tanjong Pagar and Pagoda Street. These old ladies were either working as maids (媽姐) or construction workers (三水女工). According to father, they had taken care of him when he first came to Singapore as a lonely teenager. He could not forget their kindness and would like to pay tribute to them every new year until they passed away. We stopped the visit since they all had “migrated” to another world in the 80s.

No one is perfect. Everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses, the righteous and the evil. Everyone needs time to reflect and to relearn in order to be more mature in life. From the past CNY, I witnessed the beauty side of lives and learned to accept the imperfection and appreciate the imperfection of beauty (缺陷美). Keep our hearts open and be prepared to forgive and forget, we are giving other people and ourselves opportunities to change for the better.

Happy new year.

Are you a winner

Every Christmas season, Turkeys suffered a major lost of lives to human. This trend had been continued year after year, century after century.

One fine day, a group of Turkeys decided to call a stop to such agony. They gathered all the Turkeys for a meeting in the jungle. The theme was to free their lives from now on.

Through the mass brainstorming, they realized that the key reason for not be able to escape fast enough from the human hunters was mobility. They had to improve their mobility and the only way was to fly. They shared their theories and observations on how other birds gained aerodynamic support through flipping their wings. They experienced flying enthusiastically during the session. At the end of it, many of them actually acquired the skill of flying although they still looked a little sluggish. They all agreed to go home to improve on their individual flying skill. They would come back again to share the best practices.

They left the meeting and WALKED home happily.

So you know what had happened.

Year after year, century after century, Turkeys are still walking. They are still the sumptuous meal on the Christmas tables.

Great vision. Great plan. No action.

How many of your friends in your circle belong to such category? They share with you about their dreams, their strategies and their action plans. Yet they did not turn out to be the winners. Because they did not act.

Eventually, they live with regrets, and more regrets. 飞鸿渐杳，算年华又过几清秋 - 梁羽生.

You are always in my mind 常伴我心

How did you send away 2006? How did you receive 2007?

Most people do not like to work in old folk home. They prefer to work with new developments which are glamorous and with potential of growth.

So, who would like to hold a grand finale to send 2006 into history? Most people would join in the festive mood of welcoming 2007. New year, new hope, new resolution. Tomorrow will be a better day.

I am a person who like to look back. I believe that the future is hinging on the past. No past, no future.

Looking back, thought of great granny and granny. Great granny is my mother’s mother’s mother. Sound complicated? Granny is my father’s mother. They belonged to the past generations. They did not attend school. Schooling was for the guys. But they were knowledgeable and philosophical.

I spent most of my childhood with granny. We rented a room in Funan Street (Funan IT mall today). Every night we would walk to our little heaven. I did not know how I fell into sleep. I only knew that the next morning, we were having peanut porridge for our breakfast at the roadside stall. Where could we find those stalls? Funan Street, of course.

She passed away. She went to the real heaven alone. I missed our little heaven since. She dreamt to return to China, returned to the village where she was born. She passed away with her dream peacefully. She didn’t realize her dream. But at least she had a dream.

I fulfilled granny's dream 25 years later which was more than 13 years ago. I was not her. I did not have her kind of sentiment towards her hometown. I tried to feel it when I walked around the village, stand in the small house. I'd tried.

Great granny had more personal stories to tell. 人无千日好，花无百日红。好花不常在，好景不常开。She advised us to prepare for the rainy days and to seize opportunities when the sun was still shining. Did she have good fortune? She was not wealthy. But many people attended her funeral. I heard stories about how her one dollar in those good old days had saved lives. Perhaps completed a life-long journey with no regret was her fortune.

She had a dream. She dreamt to meet up with her husband in the heaven which I had no idea how he looked like. The few days before she passed away, she told us she managed to meet up her husband. He told her that she was not yet ready and asked her to return back to the mortal world. She told us she would be ready to go. She carried her dream and joined another world. She passed away with her dream fulfilled.

2007 should be a good starting. Why talked about all these? Well, most people do not like to work in old folk home. They do not want to look back.

We should look back. We would be able to find our position by taking a fix. We would be able to start dreaming. We would chase after our dreams with no regret. Whether we could realize our dreams is immaterial. The key question is – do you have dream?

忘不了

忽然間有一股慾望﹐　到愛丁堡去。去愛丁堡干嘛﹖

那年僑居倫敦﹐乘火車沿著英格蘭東岸北上﹐抵達格拉斯哥﹐過後輾轉南下回愛丁堡﹐沿著西岸回倫敦。東岸臨海﹐西岸草原湖泊。人在江湖﹐為何不象西岸清高自怡﹐卻得掀起東岸的滔天大浪﹐恐天下不亂﹖有說是為了塑造歷史﹐為了促進人類社會發展。像陳平在回憶錄中所說﹐I can share with the young who may wish to look beyond their palmtops and understand how history is shaped. I would like to be involved in a forum. It is the exchange of ideas that ultimately moves the world.

今天不談大道理﹐只談愛丁堡。

多次冥想暇思﹐浮現三幕重複的景象。第一幕景在皇家山上眺望伊麗沙白道。海面出現至少三種不同的色彩﹐近岸是褐色的﹐接著是綠色﹐灰色﹐再遠處海天一色。那時在皇家山上編織著未來夢﹐期望大海把我帶到更遠的地方。

第二幕景就是走出愛丁堡火車站﹐感染到截然不同的蘇格蘭風情。古堡﹐花園﹐風笛﹐格裙。那時寒冬剛過﹐正值春天﹐透徹藍天﹐百花齊放。太太還年輕﹐第一次離家就已八千里﹐跟我在異地織夢﹐嗅到蘇格蘭氣息﹐興奮不已。

如今偶然掀起塵封的記憶﹐難免為當年動情。當年有好多第一次﹐幾乎每個第一次都是赤子之心﹐每一次都動了真情。因為青澀所以也是人生中最寶貴的真情。如今我們都成熟得多﹐學會更多衡量計較﹐心境自然不一樣。

第三幕景呢﹖以後再提。

回到那個問號﹕去愛丁堡干嘛﹖

不為甚麼﹐只為了曾經擁有的最青澀的真情。

家

我們是天空中的一片云
偶然化作小水滴
涓涓落在黃土地

我們相知
我們相遇
凝聚成不容分割的體系

家﹐ 我們攜手相連打造了家
注入歡樂與淚水
注入活潑與關懷
細水長流﹐淌淌不息

十年修得同船渡
百年修得共枕眠
緣聚是千年修得的福氣

緣能聚﹐緣能散
緣像天空中的一片云
偶然化作小水滴

小水滴
涓涓落在黃土地
延續云的使命
周而復始
生生不息

我們是天空中的一片云
我們是
小
水
滴

Education one-two-three

The curtain of PSLE2006 had closed. At least closed for a time being until the result is released. The after effects will start rolling again by then.

Social activities are piling up for the P6 students. Some sort like a reward to them who had spent time and effort to sit for the exam. I volunteered myself to accompany the students to Science Centre. I saw many relief, happy and innocent faces. They thanked me for taking time off, and thanked me again when they arrived school safely.

I ponder the subject that I always pondered around again and again: Why PSLE becomes a stress to the parents and students? Why do we subject these people to such pressure and to many of them, as if PSLE would determine their final destiny? Shouldn't we give the children happier childhood, make learning a fun time so that they could sustain the learning interest as a life-long hobby?

For PSLE, I always have these burning questions:

Q1-How would the PSLE results benefit the majority in long-term? Does it mean that a child who scores badly is also a slow learner, not academically incline, and life would evolve with negative dynamics?

Q2-A child has done consistently well but has done badly in PSLE. Won all the battles but lost the war. How would you value the child?

Q3-On the reverse, a child has done consistently bad but has outperformed the rest in PSLE. Lost all the battles but won the war. How would you measure the 'success' of this child?

Friends, this is not kidding. To me, education is a long lasting process. It goes ways beyond PSLE. Life is ways beyond PSLE. Success and failure are ways beyond PSLE.
If there aren't convincing answers to the above, I could only conclude that the yardstick is illogical,asymmetricalical. The impact on the pupils is long lasting. Branding begins in primary school days, and is repeating after PSLE. Special, Express, Normal Academic, Normal Technical... You may call it different flavour, different varieties. But in reality with the mass, this is branding.

Since 1970s, I have been strongly against the idea of streaming. Whether streaming begins in P3, P4 or Secondary one is immaterial. My key disagreement is the fear of equating streaming to branding. Streaming is fundamentally different from the Confucian ideology of '因才施教'. The Confucian ideology is looking at the positive side of people, maximizing and growing individual's strengths. Streaming leans towards the negative end. Because you are not bright, you have to join the second-class society. This is Confucianfucian ideology.

For 30 years, we sacrificed two generations to make the 'brighter lot' shines. We created elite class but the elites may not understand the pyramid triangle that makes them the elites. The elites may just live in their own world and lack of compassion with the mass. This is more elaborated in the recent real case published in the various newspapers. However, elite is not the subject of this article.

After 30 years, it is heartening to see someone has the courage to make a bold change by squashing away streaming – the pillar of our unique education system for one-third of a century.

While we've yet to see the actual changes, the bold courage is plausible. Return the fun time, the true education value and the self-pride to the children. Don't create a negative social impact on them. That's what I've been looking forward to for the last 30 years. It arrives 30 years late after one big spiral. It is always better to arrive than never.

This leads to reexamination of Q3- is PSLE necessary at all? Many advance nations have dropped PSLE. Instead of spending the entire school term preparing children for exam, more of other learning opportunities could be reaped. How about bringing them to natural reserve to learn about the balance of eco-system and to appreciate the beauty of nature? How about bringing them to Pulau Ubin for group topo and team building? Must learning life evolve within the schools?

Do not forget to make the world as the oasis.