Silence is golden

Patience is love

Answers to the most important questions:
1.) When is the most important time? Now.
2.) Who is the most important person? The person you're with.
3.) What is the most important thing to do? To care.

When in trouble, when stressed, when upset, when angry, I just whisper to myself:
"patience, patience, patience."

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Failure due to:
Insufficient care. Did not attempt to listen fully and understanding the entire situation before giving an opinion. Lack of knowledge of original article.

quote original article by Mr D. Wee:

"Future of Singapore
When I read the Straits Times article (dated 24 Sep) on PM Lee calling the young to be committed and make a difference to Singapore, I have so much thought about the issue.I am 35 years old, graduated from University and gainfully employed in a multinational company. But I cannot help but feel insecure over the future of Singapore. Lets face it, it’s not uncommon to hear, “when you are above 40, you are over the hill”. The government has been stressing on re-training, skills upgrading and re-adapt. The fact is, no matter how well qualified or adaptable one is, once you hit the magical 40, employers will say, “you are simply too old”.We have been focusing our resources and problem solving on low unskilled labour. But in reality, our managerial positions and skilled labour force are actually fast losing its competitiveness.

I travel around the region frequently for the past 10 years. It didn’t take me long to realise how far our neighbours have come over the past decade. They have quality skilled workers, and are less expensive. When I work with them, their analytical skills are equally good, if not better than us.It’s not new anymore. Taxi drivers are fast becoming “too early to retire, too old to work” segment of the society. I like to talk to taxi drivers whenever I am heading for the airport. There was this driver. Eloquent and well read. He was an export manager for 12 years with an MNC. Retrenched at 40 years old. He had been searching for a job since his retrenchment. Although he was willing to lower his pay expectations, employers were not willing to lower their prejudice. He was deem too old. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have another No. 1; having the most highly educated taxi drivers in the world.On PM Lee calling the young to be committed and make a difference. Look around us. How dedicated can we be to Singapore when we can visualise what’s in store for us after we turned 40? Then again, how committed are employers to us? But we can’t blame them. They have bottom lines & shareholders’ gain to answer to. Onus is really on the government to revamp the society. A society that is not a pressure cooker. A society that does not mirror so perfectly, what survival of the fittest is. But a society, where it’s people can be committed, do their best and not having to fear whether they will still wake up employed tomorrow. Sadly, Singapore does not offer such luxuries and security anymore.

On the issue of babies. The government encourage us to pro-create. The next generation is essential in sustaining our competitive edge. Then again, the current market condition is such that our future has become uncertain. There is no more joy in having babies anymore; they have become more of a liability. It’s really a chicken and egg issue.

Many of my peers, bright and well educated have packed up and left. It’s what MM Goh called “quitters”. It’s sad but true, Singapore no longer is a place where one can hope to work hard their lives and retire graciously. It’s really the push factor. A future is something we sweat it out, build and call our own.
Unfortunately, people like me, mid 30’s going on 40’s, staying put by choice or otherwise, we can’t help but feel what lies ahead is really a gamble.

To PM Lee and the Ministers, we are on a different platform. Until you truly understand our insecurity, the future of Singapore to me remains a question mark."

Self-Fault(s) spotted:

1. Assumption
2. Unable to communicate

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Where do I start talking? All in jumbles. Such a mess in my head.

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Perhaps the main reason why I rattled off in limited agreement in such a manner was in blind support of certain aspects of the girl's argument. Main fault being that I only read the arguments against the girl on the newspapers and the internet -- the numerous fireballs grilling her act of utter insensitivity and elitism. Alas, the main article, which should have been the real feature was left hidden, smothered by all the flames.

Of all the links sent to me, there was no link from there to the original article, in which I had to do a separate search for it.

I had become the proverbial idiot. Taking the words of the media for granted. Knowing little bits of something is truly lethal.

Of all the little bits of Derek's article quoted through the media, I had pieced together a different article, perhaps one that would have been spoken by a lazy and incorrigible homunculus created in my own imagination. But when I did read the article, the full one, did I see fully why the attack on it caused such an uproar.

Just as preying on innocent lives would cause a riot, the girl's attack on this man's humble and non-aggressive opinion had caused the sirens to go off.

I was talking to a friend's (Sam Lina) brother (Sam Lit Min) who has been working in Singapore for quite a while now. He's an engineer at Siemens, working on hearing aids for the aurically challenged folk in Singapore. He was talking about the tough times he's facing right now and about how his future seems uncertain. He's been moving around several HDBs for a while now, saying that rent has been going up. He does seem worried and I did feel very sad and wondered how things could be better for him. I suggested going out and setting up his own business with his experience and his contacts, however he was uncertain and expressed his worry for failure. But it was clear to me as well what failure meant. He's not young anymore and every failure costs. As time goes by opportunity goes away. It looked entirely bleak like the Sahara and for a good half a minute or so silence pervaded the homely little living room. We moved on to more cheery things after that. In my mind though, I was depressed. I didn't know how to help. I couldn't do much than to listen to his story and sympathise. I cared, but I felt that that wasn't enough and still he would have to face this torturous uncertainty day after day.

I reckon it's the same with many of the people in Singapore, I guess the number of people who praised Mr Wee about his article is testament to that. It's truly sad. It's an epidemic. I feel horrid because I can't help.

I feel horrid because I have been wrong.

I feel horrid because I became idiotic.

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I'm also feeling horrid because I'm hurt.

Silence is golden

Patience is love

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You can try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough

Optimistic, Radiohead.

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tfaduh.