Look2U

I thought no one would have looked at the AWARE saga from the lens that I chose to utilise but I was glad that MP Lim Biow Chuan mentioned in The Straits Times today that there was an

“apparent lack of civility and gracious behaviour during the recent Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) saga is a clear indication that Singapore is still lagging behind in graciousness“.

Words cannot express how much delight I felt when I read that articles. But then again, I recalled that when they mentioned that AWARE was having an EGM, I did correctly predict how the attendees would react during the meeting.

The question is, “Are Singaporeans only capable of that much?”

And of course, fueled by what a “hero” that I know has written about graciousness, I can’t help, even though I don’t personally wish to, but to confess that Singaporeans are only capable of being STOMPERS, complainers, roles that are passive or at most, active but nonconstructive in nature. Come on, instead of figuring out whether to give up your seat on the train to an elderly, just get up and offer the old man or woman the seat. If someone seating on the “reserved seats” refuses to budge, then you be the one to offer the seat. Yes YOU! How much different would you be from the person who refuses to budge even though you take a picture using your mobile phone and uploading it onto STOMP? Yes yes, you are acting “nobel” but from a fundamentalist point of view, there isn’t any difference.

Perhaps we should place more emphasis on building and moulding character across our education system and not just emphasise on it only in Primary education. Also, it might also be a good time to think about how we can nuture our young to become ACTIVE citizens instead of being passive. And my definition of ACTIVE means confronting an issue in a civilised, gracious and matured manner, just like how Jesus dealt with the Pharasees when they asked him whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath day. Heh, another reason (or excuse) to promote the use of drama = D

I like it yet I find it unsettling. N144 with N211, my former cell group, having cell group meetings together. On one hand we have a larger crowd, a challenge posed to the leaders of the 5 Ws and I have to confess that it pushes us out of our comfort zone and to learn how to draw the anointing from the LORD. But the flipside, perhaps only something that I find discomforting, is that the N211 that I have once-known, is no longer the same as the N211 that I know 3 years ago.

I would have been happier if the people there have grown stronger but it seems like everyone there is stagnating or to put it more positively, reached their current threshold. I have no wish or intention to see them living the rest of their lives in this manner so I will try my very best to impact them in one way or another because somewhere in me still runs the “blood” of N211…

Hopefully this short period of time that we are together would help both cell groups in one way or another and meantime, I shall enjoy the fellowship that we will be having together = D

There has been a massive flood of viewpoints with regards to religion and secularism due to the AWARE saga. Many people have commented that Josie Lau and her team had their own agenda of promoting Christian values by attempting to usurp a secular organisation.

Let me just sidetrack a litte. I have never intended to blog about this but because of a discussion I had with H^2 today about religion and the secular world, I just felt like I needed to pen down my thoughts. Anyway, my view is that you cannot (never) dichotomise religion from the secular world.

Okay, here goes. Regardless of whether you have a religion or not, let’s just say that you live by a set of principles and values. Yeah, everyone knows what’s right and what’s wrong but there are liminal spaces that appeal and at the same time, put off others. Yes, the red button. For example, I never tolerate the people dragging chairs because the noise produced just triggers a strong adverse reaction in me. However, someone else might be alright with it. That’s perfectly alright! We are all entitled to our views. I can try to convince the other person why he shouldn’t tolerate the dragging of chairs and at the same time, he can do likewise. I accept the difference and I celebrate it because in one way or another, it will have some effect on how I deal with the issue of dragging of chairs in the future. For example, Yvonne was telling me how it was alright for me to scold the kids but it was very unlikely me to throw my temper. Bearing that in mind, I decided to “tone” down a little.

Maybe the example of the chairs was pretty difficult for you to link back to the topic. Let’s attempt to make it more relevant! I attend church and I admit that whatever that I do, I base all my actions on the Bible. Of course, I do not go about preaching zealously but the fact is, I cannot separate the impact that religion has on my lifestyle that appears to be secular in nature. My dad’s a Buddhist and he lives his life on another set of principles and values. I accept that but that doesn’t mean that I have to subscribe to it nor do I go about protesting it (well he does protest against mine but that’s beside the point). My mum’s basically an athetist and she goes about living life the way she think it is supposed to life. Now, her lifestyle doesn’t comform to any particular religion but isn’t her lifestyle influenced by a set of values and principles that she live by? In other words, conforming to the term “religion”, which I am going to use so loosely over here. Now, I celebrate this diversity that I have within my family and my extended family but that doesn’t mean that I have to accept their lifestyle but neither should I vehemently tell them to renounce their own lifestyles. Like what Pastor Kong said, “What benefit would you get?”

I’m addressing this issue because Chee Meng was telling me about how angry he was with zealous Christians trying to overrun a secular organisation. As always, I’m perplexed with what he says. Now, let’s get things right here. Yes, they might have been too obvious with their intent and the statement on homosexuality posted by their church have definitely worked against them but which EXCO doesn’t have any agenda? Would you say that Ms. Constance Singnam doesn’t have her own? Aren’t they influenced by “religion” or perhaps they weren’t obvious to all of us? And just another sidetrack, isn’t the Pink Dot event also filled with another agenda, which was initiated by people who led lifestyles different from the “mainstream”?

We talk about celebrating diversity over here but it seems that religion is often given a cold shoulder, as if it doesn’t fall into the framework of the concept of diversity. Pastor Kong was right, there are seven pillars that form every society and religion is one of them. Try examining your own lifestyle and you’ll be surprised how “religion” is present in your life…

Giving tuition has never been one of the things I would be enthusiatic about. I try my best to shun away from anyone who offers tuition assignments to me either by saying that I don’t have the time or by asking for exorbidant rates. And mind you, I delivered the goods when I did it for free for Edwin and Luke and so I would do a better job if paid.

Perhaps it’s the expectations that parents put on you, thinking that you’ll be able to work a miracle within a short period of time or maybe it’s because I think that tuition is all about drill-and-practice, something that I don’t really like to do.

It all started when Isaac called me. He doesn’t usually call me but when he does, I know that it’s always because he has a favour to ask. And yes, he asked me if I could take on a Maths tuition assignment. This time, however, was different. You see, the student is actually a part of an outreach programme organised by one of the cell leaders in church and Isaac doesn’t really want to outsource tutors beyond the four walls of the church. Being me, I couldn’t find a good reason to refuse so I just quoted him a rate and prayed hard that the parents would look for someone else.

Lo and behold, the mother agreed to the price and reality just struck me. I forgot to ask Isaac about the student’s standard and background and by the time I asked Isaac, I suddenly realised that the kid was in Secondary 3 and studying in Raffles Institution. I must say that I’m totally clueless with regards to what goes on in the building. The only thing I know about RI is only from the interactions I have with Andrew and my cousin. Curriculum-wise, it’s zero. And it didn’t help that I always have a stereotypical impression of an RI boy and Andrew can vouch for that because he’s been through countless bashings = X

Okay, I repent and I love what Andrew says about stuff and I like him as a friend. Let’s get back to main story. This boy, let’s call him H^2, didn’t really give me a good impression when I first conversed with him over the phone but I was still determined to do what I was supposed to do. After all, you get paid so you have to deliver the good by hook or by crook.

Our first meeting wasn’t exactly what anyone would expect. He couldn’t recognise me because he had a stereotypical impression about Maths teachers. Yeah yeah, boring, bespectacled, etc. but I didn’t fall within his framework. I almost took that as a compliment but I realised that his tone was a bit off to be complementing me. So I just played his game by telling him that he didn’t fall into my framework of an RI student as well and when he questioned on how RI students should look like, I told him, “Exactly what you thought about Maths teachers!”

But anyway, we got along pretty well and I’m thankful to God that I’ve made a relatively good impression. Isaac commented that H^2 and his mum were rather satisfied with what they have gotten. H^2, nonetheless, was still pretty weak in Mathematics and so we had intensive Maths sessions together for the past week and certain weird things just occured. For example, we had a Cold War that made us communicate via pen and paper because I told him not to talk too much and he just refused to open his mouth until I just lowered my pride to admit defeat.

To cut the long story short, I’m thankful that we’re getting along better and I’m actually seeing my younger self in him. The things that I used to do are all reflected in his behaviour and frankly speaking, I think I’m dealing with myself. But I’m a person who likes to work with discomfort so I welcome this challenge and it’s been rewarding so far (besides the money of course). I’ve changed my skewed perception of RI boys and learnt how to deal with supposedly higher-ability students. The first thing I learnt was to be more responsible when I set challenging questions to my students because I never expected that H^2′s mum would be so worried that her son couldn’t complete my questions that she called me in less than 24 hours after our first session ended. Heh!

Maybe H^2 is indeed one of God’s ways for me to deal with some of my shortcomings. But of course, I would one day hope to see him and his family saved.

Andrew brought up a very good point. He said that teachers constantly test their students through class tests and examinations but we often scorn at our students when they attempt to test our knowledge.

Perhaps we could “invite” them to test us and in the process, earn their respect. I guess this is probably one of the ways that make learning and teaching a little more exciting!