A small gesture

It never occurred to me how much it meant.

There was once, when in the middle of an official function, my colleague (who was part of the working party with me) started to feel faint. I offered to drive him to the hospital, where he went to see a doctor in A&E. Once he got to A&E and had a queue number, I left, even before his family arrived.

It was only recently, when I happened to meet him again, that he mentioned how much it meant to him. Apparently, he didn't know that he had high blood pressure until that day. In fact, things could have been a lot worse if he did not go to the hospital that day. Ever since that day, he has become more conscious about his health. He thanked me for saving his life.

All I did was send him to the hospital. A very small gesture on my part for a colleague. Yet it meant so much more to him.

Focus on winning

Singaporeans have a bad habit. We are afraid of losing.

And thus we have already lost. Because when we are afraid of losing, we spend all our effort trying not to lose, when instead we should be using our efforts to try and win. When we should be focusing our efforts on how to win, we end up thinking about how not to lose.

How can you win if you never think about how you want to go about winning? If we don't even have an idea of how to win, we have already conceded defeat.

Taking risks

What is the difference between a general and a gambler?

A general takes calculated risks.

A gambler takes risks.

A general doesn't leave it to chance to succeed.

A gambler can only rely on chance to succeed.

Happy Birthday!

Added another candle to the cake today.

It's the thought that counts

We don't need to do big things to gain attention. We don't need to give big gifts to show our appreciation.

Really, it is the thought that counts.

The fact that the person is important enough for us to spend time and effort to get him a gift is enough to show him that we care and appreciate him. There is no need to get something expensive or huge. Something practical is better than something impressive. After all, you will be remembered every time someone uses your gift, rather than let him place it somewhere as a decoration that gets forgotten with time.

Do we have a future?

Fellow Singaporeans, do we have a future?

In the developing days of Singapore, having a group of elites pulling Singapore along a planned track helped us greatly. Within a few short years, we developed leaps and bounds. Within decades, we have grown from a small little dot that no one would really notice, to a growing nation that seemed to shine amongst her neighbours.

But that was years ago.

How about now?

Do we still need that small group of elites, with their small, narrow, yet focused viewpoints, to pull us along? Or must our leaders start to broaden their views, to accept that we have passed the stage whereby a small group can pull us to an objective, towards a leadership group that brings out the best in each of us, so that we can all contribute in our own ways towards building not a more developed nation, but a better home for each of us?

Conforming to a certain ideal, a certain mindset for progress, has gotten us this far. But will it continue to bring us ahead? Or has that mindset reached a plateau, one which requires us to change our mindset in order to move on to the next stage? Do we still recognise the value of the individual based on how much he or she can contribute to the common goal? Or is it time to start valuing each individual based on what he or she can bring to the table?

Is our common goal progress? If so, how is progress measured?

Or is our common goal compassion? That each of us make Singapore a better place not for ourselves, but for all those sharing Singapore?

Do we continue to live with a mindset that brought us success 20 years ago? Or is it time to adopt a mindset that will bring us success in 20 years time?

When will we learn that we can have pride in our achievements, yet not become proud and let that hinder our judgment? For when we become overly proud, we start to think too much of ourselves, and in the end become unreceptive to external views and ideas that can actually help us improve.

When will we learn to accept that we still have a lot to learn?

Stopped Refrigerator

Life is full of experiences.

I was overseas for the past two weeks, and returned home to find a weird smell in the house. I didn't know what that smell was, until I went to get myself a drink from the fridge.

It stank.

Somehow, the fridge stopped working while I was away. And since the day it stopped, temperature has been rising... all the food in there has gone bad, the vegetables, the meat, the fish, the butter, the cheese, all of it has gone bad, leaving the whole fridge smelling of decay.

I spent the whole day cleaning the fridge, then using Dettol to sterilise it. Bought some air fresheners too, just to try and make it smell better.

The lesson learnt? From the repairman, there is nothing wrong with the fridge itself. Apparently, an electrical surge or a power failure might have caused the compressor to shut off to protect itself. When the power got back, the compressor did not cut in. Got a tip from him too, that in the future, when such things happen, all I need to do is to turn of the fridge for half an hour, then turn it back on again with the coolest settings for a few hours. That should get the compressor to kick in.

Now I am storing up charcoal in my fridge, to see if it can get rid of the smell...