Sunday, August 09, 2009
been thinking about my life lately.more on this in a later post.
here, i quote some meaningful phrases which I have been thinking about and which resonate with me
http://moduleblog.nus.edu.sg/blogs/cs3212/archive/2006/09/05/383.aspx
Acknowledging this, however, will not prevent me from trying to wake them up. How can it be that an obviously smart student has no other objectives than getting an A+ in his/her modules this semester? Is this going to continue this way in his/her life? After getting a job, will this goal turn into the goal of getting a big bonus at the end of the year? Is that what life is about? If the answer is "yes", then at least he/she should be conscious about this path and approach to life. That then could be part of what I mean by reflection.
As long as a person has outward measurement of success as the prime objective, it is completely hopeless to expect any kind of excellence or originality. I was discussing this with a friend over lunch today: The tragic part is that some of the smartest students, those who may seem to have the highest potential of achieving excellence or originality, are at the same time those who are the most focussed on outward measurement. Is it possible to light the fire within?
http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/
Students in Singapore spend a lot of time knowing. They know that after six years of primary school comes four years of secondary school, followed by two years of junior college. They know the national examinations that act as wayposts along that path. They know that university is something of a jumbled mess but still, it’s a predictable three- or four-year programme, at the end of which they get a shiny sheet of paper certifying their successful completion of that stage of life.
After that, they don’t know. Will they get a job? Will it be a good job? What is a ‘good’ job? Will they earn enough money for the rest of their lives, to marry and own a flat, a house or a car? Will there be enough for everything?
http://www.colinandyenyen.com/wordpress/paved-with-good-intentions/
But now I refuse to postpone my dreams any further, and shelve them under some misguided notion of pragmatism. How often was I told as a child by my elders, “wait till you grow up,” “wait till after exams”, “wait till after you graduate”. I do not desire to wait until I retire. I might not make it that far. I refuse to be a walking mid-life crisis in the making.
But living one’s dreams is difficult because it is a lone undertaking. There is no such thing as shared dreams; they are personal creatures. And while my peers are making partner and buying cars, I live in rented student accommodation and scatter my work to the ocean of publications, hoping for a bite. Thus far, I have only been published a couple of times, far from being enough to pay the rent. Yet I do not feel despair. Trite as it may sound, I recognize that life is about the journey, and not the destination.
Labels: Life
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