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.

人間有夢

<我的夢>﹐ 中國殘疾人藝術團一場震撼人心的演出。由邰麗華及一群聾人呈現的<千手觀音>先聲奪人把有聲與無聲溶為一體。我則對<化蝶>更加偏好。梁祝的愛情故事﹐音樂的永恆﹐加上舞蹈員的心念﹐傳達了一個很重要的訊息。

姑且不論西湖上橋長情更長的小橋故事。其實<我的夢>所傳達的訊息很朴實簡單。人要活得有尊嚴﹐有志氣﹐肯奮鬥﹐自力更生。只要心中有愛有夢﹐人生自然輝煌。


輝煌的意義是自定的。成功的人生因人而異﹐你能走出一條屬于你的路﹐你就是成功嶺上的勇士。

無獨有偶﹐昨晚mobTV 的<等一个晴天>記載了一位在兒童院長大的少女成長的歷程。在兒童院與獨立面對生活之間﹐她選擇了後者﹐半工半讀的環境下完成中學教育﹐邁入理工學院﹐開始另一段旅程。她的成就十分輝煌。

信心是成功的根本保證﹐是一個人最可靠的精神支柱。唐朝僧璨大師在<信心銘>中寫道﹕

信心不二﹐不二信心﹔言語道斷﹐非去來今。

儘管訊息朴實簡單不過﹐但在經濟掛帥的大環境中很容易被人忽略。就情緒理念而言﹐<我的夢>中那群殘而不廢﹐追逐夢想的藝術家﹐<等一个晴天>中頑強面對生活﹐不言離棄的少女所展現的精神面貌﹐肯定比許多電視籌款活動中哭喪著臉博同情的病瘓者強多。或許NKF之類的組織可以引以為鑑﹐為慈善與人性尊嚴重新定位。

人爭一口氣﹐佛爭一炷香。人一生下來就不平等。你可以選擇怨天尤人﹐仿彿全世界都欠你一個人情﹔也可以選擇樂觀開懷直接面對人生。定位不同﹐道路就不一樣。


願你是個勝利者。祝你成功。

怎一個情字了得

教育制度將再度改革﹐每個學子都能夠發揮他們最大的潛能﹐沒有人會被遺棄。這是總理在教師節傳達的訊息。姑且不論這是否只是政治的一部分﹐和許多過去的訊息一樣﹐雷聲大﹐雨點小﹔我覺得是誠意之舉。

我們的教育制度走了許多彎路。我受教育的那個年代﹐學校的學術排名並不明顯。舉個例子﹐當年萊佛士女校就設在維多利亞街﹐附近的孩子們就在那兒度過他們的童年。曾幾何時萊佛士女校被打造成名校﹐又是高才班﹐無形中製造了社會階級。分流呢﹖雖然政府費勁為分流制度辯護﹐怎麼也改變不了箇中的玄機。

在曲折迂迴的漫漫長路上造就了一些人﹐也犧牲了好些人。更多的普羅大眾是默默耕耘的一群﹐任命過一生。兜了三十年﹐我們繞回原點。教育的崇高目標是有教無類﹐發揮學生的潛能﹐培養學生的人格。

我們的年代沒有教師節﹐不過教師已是生活的一部分。八十年代末﹐我寫了一篇散文<昔日福南昔日情>﹐記載一段曾經刻骨銘心的心路歷程。把其中幾段摘錄下來﹐從新分享,借此感激一群誠心奉獻給下一代的老師們﹕

.....
小三的時候才知道福南街之所以出名還在于其臭名昭彰。那時班上兩個同學打架﹐被老師在課堂上公開審訊。

“你住那裡的﹖”老師手持兩把木尺﹐鐵青著臉。

“潮州街。”

“你又住那裡﹖”老師凶巴巴地轉問另一名同學。

“福南街。”

“一個潮州街﹐一個福南街﹐都是阿飛流氓出入的地方﹐難怪你們打架打到學校里來﹗阿飛流氓我見多教多了﹐今天一定要教訓你們兩個不可。”結果兩人手心緊靠桌面﹐手背朝天﹐老師橫著木尺像剁豬肉一樣。未幾﹐兩只手都流著鮮血﹐木尺斷了兩根。

“休息的時候買過兩把木尺還給同學﹐知道嗎﹖”老師怒氣未消。

強忍著眼淚與痛楚﹐兩人緊咬牙根﹐點了點頭。這一來點心肯定沒著落了。
。。。。。
。。。。。

馮老師就是在人心惶惶﹐士氣低落的情況下走馬上任的。那時她剛從南大畢業不久﹐還是教育學院文憑班學員。福南街出高人﹐怎不叫人另眼相看﹖

馮老師個子矮小﹐貌不驚人﹐憑著一股愛心與尊嚴﹐把潮州街烏橋頭等一班難兄難弟治得服服貼貼﹐乖乖上她的課﹐准時呈交作業﹐測驗前總安安分分的花上至少八成功夫去溫課﹐從不跟她故作刁難。是她為我開拓新的生活領域﹐教我從另一個角度俯視人間﹐激勵我以開闊無畏的心情去面對生活。

“住在福南街這類龍蛇混雜的地方都是下層人民﹐如果他們有錢﹐早就搬到加東一帶住洋樓別墅了。生活對下層人民而言就是以勞力換口飯﹐為一家人填肚子。罵粗口﹐出風頭已經成為生活的一部分﹐他們的本性還是善良的。我們學校願意招收這類頑皮學生就表示出有教無類的崇高教育宗旨。雖然山雞變不了鳳凰﹐他們只能拉低學校的會考成勣﹐但是那並不重要﹐重要的是學校給予他們學習做人的機會﹐發揮他們善良理智的一面﹐將來即使不能出人頭地﹐也能堂堂正正﹐腳踏實地﹐貢獻出一份力量。貧窮不是罪過﹐只要人窮志不窮﹐有毅力﹐肯努力﹐懂得珍惜機會﹐把握機會﹐成功永遠屬于你。。。。。”

。。。。。
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重回福南街好多次﹐腳下踩的是福南街的土地﹐身處的是福南中心。時光是最公正﹐也是最無情的。早年的福南街兄弟成家的成家﹐立業的立業﹐老的老﹐死的死﹐大家分散到新加坡各個角落﹐現代化的商業中心驅走昔日的凌亂污穢。當年站在這片土地上﹐除了懂得默默生活﹐懂得叛逆﹐懂得“江湖義氣”之外﹐誰曾夢想過整潔寬敞的家園﹖誰曾想到當年的叛逆青少年如今都安分守己地過活﹐今日卻多了一群游離少年重複著一段不應該重複的歷史﹖

我永遠不會忘記“只要人窮志不窮﹐有毅力﹐肯努力﹐懂得珍惜機會﹐把握機會﹐成功永遠屬于你。”也許成功的實質已經跟當年逕然不同。今日的成功是待遇﹐房屋﹐汽車及社會地位。

也很懷念曾經擁有過的“萬里無云萬里天”般﹐大家心胸坦蕩﹐肝膽相照﹐無須掩飾感情的生活。。。。。

How much does ten cent worth?

The debate in importing foreign talents has turned on. We have a deficit in the population and there is a need to augment it by actively encouraging a policy of selective immigration , otherwise in the future we will face a demographic nightmare in the shape and form of the law of minimum.

The debate in cost of living is on-going. Cost of living is a tremendous subject to grapple with, especially when there isn't an obvious social safety net to help to battle the loss of income.

The fear of majority of the foreign talents who have no root nor heart to stay on to help the local, but only grab the goodies and go is something real. The 1999 Asia financial crisis was the major setback of the Singapore economy in the recent years. Foreign talents packed up and left. The local weathered the storm.

We sank in multi-million dollars to fund John Hopskin. We have yet to measure the true return. We sank in huge sum of money to perform fire work every national day and other occasions. How could this money be channeled to help people to weather the rising living cost?

Is 10 cent fare rise considered a lot?

In the 1970s when I was a poor student, I felt the impact of every 10 cent rose in bus fare and every 5 cent rose in coffee on my daily life, let's alone the 50 cent rose of hawker food and 50 dollar rose in tuition fee. How to minimize the impact? Alighted two bus stop earlier to save that 10 cents, drank less ate less to save that 50 cents. Having said that, tuition fee could not be avoided. Study was the way to get rid of poverty.

In the 1980s when I returned to school as a mature student funding my own study to realise a childhood dream, I still felt the impact of 200 dollar rose in tuition fee. I drew from reserve, which was the CPF saving to finish the university education.

Am I complaining? From a macro-level, controlled cost rise is beneficial to the society. The upper rung would benefit most from it. The rich would become richer. This is the fact of life. From a micro-level, you have to take care of those who are directly facing the impact. To them, every 10 cent counts. This is the opposite fact of life.

How about the middle income group who is sanwiched in between? The policy that makes the rich richer does not apply to them. The policy of subsidizing the town council charges and utility bills does not apply to them either. They better to be on their own.

To survive on your own. I thought that is the right sentiment. Does anyone owe you a living? Probably not. 自力更生, self-reliance, that was what my dad told me when I was young. I am passing the same message to my children. Equip yourself with the right skill, knowledge and passion, there you go. Passion, Passion, Passion. With passion, you will see light at the end of the tunnel. That definitely worth more than 10 cents.

你快樂嗎

你快樂嗎﹖

人生不如意之事常八九﹐又要面對許許多多的是非無奈﹐有多少人能快樂起來﹖

為甚麼這麼多人比我富有﹖為甚麼這麼多人比我高高在上﹖為甚麼這麼多人比我跑得更快更遠﹖為甚麼草總是對岸的比較蔭綠﹖為甚麼春天老是遲遲不肯到來﹖

你是否嘗試從另外一個角度來對待生命﹐直面人生﹖簡單一點地說﹐當你坐擁一片藍天的時候﹐你快樂嗎﹖你真的會快樂嗎﹖

你能擺脫人生無常﹐日月星辰與宇宙體系的束縛嗎﹖如果不能﹐你的快樂只是假象虛幻。你並不快樂。所以你覺得人生不如意之事常八九﹐充滿無奈。

在慈善醫院﹐窮鄉僻壤﹐有默默耕耘的一群。他們並不富裕﹐不過他們把追求名利富貴的精力挪出來﹐把愛心奉獻給世界。他們是現代的南丁戈爾。快樂在于有能力付出﹐快樂原自內心。

那天機緣巧合碰見一位曾經有工作來往﹐但並不熟絡的朋友。他說他的阿姨已經過世了﹐她打不過癌細胞。去世前那段日子過得很平靜﹐心情悠祥﹐還問起我。

可是我怎麼都記不起她的樣子。

他說那天在裕廊我繞道載了他一程去接他的阿姨﹐過後由于時間迫切﹐怕等不到德士﹐我又繞道把他們載到中央醫院。

似乎有這一回事﹐可是印象很模糊﹐我只好抱歉一笑。人年紀逐漸大了﹐對曾經發生過的身邊事已不太在意﹐對‘人來人往’的事也看得比較淡薄。

他說想起來已經是十年前的往事了。十年風雨幾番新﹐那時他的阿姨就因為這件事萌起求生的勇氣。十年抗戰的過程﹐使他在阿姨的生命中得到啟發﹐今天他是一個義工﹐把快樂帶給不幸的一群。

他說我認為所做的是小事一宗﹐可是影響深遠﹐改變了他的阿姨和他﹐也改變了他所接觸的許多人。

很感謝他分享這一段心路歷程。能夠付出本身就是一種快樂。能夠聆聽對方由衷的故事也是一種快樂。

快樂由自心中。只有超越時空﹐超越利益﹐快樂才會快樂。願你也是快樂世界的一份子。

Conditional or unconditional?

Innovation is a buzzword in today’s business. To create an innovation culture in an organisation, people are urged “to think out of the box”.

What is out of the box? It may be explained as thinking and doing things that are “unconditional”.

What do I mean by “unconditional”?

Let’s use an example. You are driving on a road. An old lady is standing by the roadside wanting to cross. In a normal day, you would possibly slow down, stop and wait for the woman to cross before you pick up your journey again. You do it graciously. You are not expecting her to heart you and say a big thank. You are not expecting her to announce to the whole world how great you are. You are not expecting to gain something tangible.

So why do you stop and give way to the old lady? You just follow your heart. It is UNCONDITIONAL.

Again you are driving on a road. An old lady is standing by the roadside wanting to cross. This time you are in a rush. Although your heart tells you to stop, but you continue to press the accelerator and carry on with the journey.

At a moment of reflection, you think back the incident of why you do not follow your heart. Before kicking yourself, you find good reasons. Because you are rushing to the airport to pick up an important person. Because you do not know her intension, to cross the road or just waiting for a cab. Because you have the right of the road, hence she just has to wait for the right time.

So why you do not stop and give way to the old lady? Because there are thousand and one reasons. It is conditional.

Once it is conditional, we are being framed by the boundaries, the boundaries of a box. Many things we do, many approaches that we have taken are conditional based. Before we start doing it, we think of the payback, the return on investment. What do we stand to gain, win-lose or win-win?

In simple words, we are driven by business sense.

Many innovations do not originated from business thinking. Instead they start off with PASSION. Passion leads on to business and fortune. Great innovators do not use the end fortune as the driving force. But business starts with expected outcomes. In an organisation, there is this paradox.

Are you an innovator? Do you think, sense and act conditional; or unconditional? Let’s follow your heart.

Back to London

Went back to London last Sunday. Although the trip was rather short, touched ground on Sunday evening, left London on Wednesday noon, not even 72 hours. But missions accomplished.

Met Kuai Peng and family at Cheam village, outskirts of South London. They were excited with the 'Bak-Gua' that I brought to them.'Bak-Gua'is a kind of roasted pork, tasty and juicy, well like by non-Muslim in Southeast Asia.

They asked me to move to London, a place that filled with more fun and casual learning for children. Children would receive more rounded education in UK at a more affordable pace, although the cost of living would be 3 times more than that of Singapore.

Children are children. They need the space for learning, sharing and gaming in order to be nurtured with life-skill. They need their childhood. Learning process is associated with time. Let's return the childhood to them. Once the time is missed, it could never wind back. After all whether the children adopt a rapid pace or an affordable one, they would reach the same point after graduated from university. They would also reach the same point if they take on another road, i.e. not the academic path.

I tend to agree. We put our children through pressure cookers in Singapore. But how many top-notched businessmen, top-notched researchers, top-notched CEO, top-notched medical doctors, top-notched dancers, top-notched entrepreneurs, top-notched art performers and top-notched engineers we have produced? We cultivated workers, we thought them to be paper-chase, but we did not cultivate passion. We lack the depth.

On the night before returns, managed to meet up with Guo Xiong at Tavistock Square, West Central London. While waiting for him, I managed to spend some minutes back in UCL for a quick look. While I still recognised the building and without problem in getting around, people have changed.

1993 was the first time I stepped onto the land of London, first time stepped into UCL to fulfill a life-time dream. Eventually, I spent one year there with my wife. What a honey year!

That was the time I met Guo Xiong. He was my CFD lecturer. I was deeply impressed by his top-notched passion in the CFD subject. Eventually we developed friendship.

1994, my son was born in UCH. That was where we met Kuai Peng for more than a decade. I was deeply impressed by the professionalism of the hospital staff. A pre-matured kid weighed 619g, survived and discharged on actual due date! I was interviewed by BBC then. I gave full credit to the UCH staff.

Guo Xiong and I went back to the small Chinese restaurant near Russell Square. In 1999 when I attached to work in London for a year, we used to spend our time there. Crispy duck with a bottle of red wine, that's how an evening would pass. I have very little luxury like this back in Singapore.

Sincere people, open society, familiar places and fond memories. When they are integrated in a coherent manner, that brings in happiness deep from the heart. We all chase after happiness in life, don't we?

Or perhaps distance has its beauty. We are separated by physical space and do not impose threats between us. The physical distance actually serves as a bridge to cross us over. Hence we can treat others with dignity and respect. Sounds like 4th dimension?

A short trip to London. I was happy. Deep from the heart.

煮酒論英雄

早在2500年前老子已經看透世情﹐以他驚人的大智慧洞悉宇宙人生。他說﹕“天下莫柔弱于水，而攻堅強者莫之能胜，以其無以易之。 弱之胜強，柔之胜剛，天下莫不知，莫能行。”

不過當英雄豪杰在互爭兵家一蓆之地的時候﹐舌劍唇槍﹐烽火瀰漫﹐就此結下冤仇﹐有多少人具備容人的雅量﹐能夠不計前嫌﹐一笑解恩仇。現在又是島國煙林彈雨﹐全民大選的季節。一個星期後一切塵埃落定﹐便是細數英雄敗寇之時。然後呢﹖古今多少事﹐都付笑談中。這是人類社會發展史的一部分。

江海之所以能為百谷王者，以其善下之，故能為百谷王。我們期待的就是具有大智與包容的政治。７０年代我很羨慕弟妹們能有這麼體貼的幼兒園老師﹐對孩子照顧得無微不至。不過他們總是呆不久﹐我還親眼看著他們被不知名人士帶走﹐再也沒回來。有一回那位年輕的華文老師還跑上我家暫時“避難”。現在想起這段三十余年的往事﹐記憶尤新。

同樣是７０年代﹐不過不同場合﹐不同人物。在更近距離的接觸中我感受到年輕熱忱的脈搏。雖然我們來自不同的生活背景﹐對人對事未必意見相同﹐並不影響友情的滋長。在那個年代的華校生﹐很難在那個環境里不認識毛澤東與陳平﹐很難不認識方水雙與林清祥﹐很難忽略李光耀與方壯璧。在一個歷史與抱負錯縱的交叉點上﹐交織著各人的理想與對未來的憧憬與追求。

事隔多年當熱忱冷卻﹐俱往矣歷史風流人物之際﹐大家都添了白髮﹐能以平靜理智的角度來看待一段歷史。你會如何分析對待當年的是是非非﹖你以成敗論英雄或是以宏觀包容的心態來接受那股歷史洪流﹖你是不是其中一份子﹐選擇了平靜過日子而不願回首蒼桑﹖

引陳平的話為終結﹕

“I fought a liberaton war. To ask whether I would do it again is idle talk. I was a young man in an entirely different setting. But the realities and the lessons I learned from that time comprise a body of values 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. The barter of views still exhilarates me. You can tell me I was wrong. You can tell me I failed. But I can tell you how it was and how I tried."

- quoted from CHIN PENG, MY SIDE OF HISTORY, Media Masters, Singapore.