Who would you want to be friends with in the novel?Explain.
I would want to be friends with Boo. Being locked in his own home for 15 years and regarded as a phantom monster by the mass of Maycomb, Boo Would still be my choice of a friend. Simply because I know he harbours no evil intentions nor ulterior motives. He leaves chewing gum and many gifts in the tree for the children and still wants to communicate with them in spite of being made fun of by the children. He even saves them from Bob Ewell, and as Ming Hao had pointed out, Miss Maudie, the voice of reason,, viewed Boo as a polite boy.
Boo has a clean heart. As he has not been exposed to the evils of the world, he stays clean. Many people in society often don't show their true colours to you, on the surface, they may be the best of friends to you, but behind your back,deep down, they could be your worst enemies. People work against each other for their own selfish gains and the word friendship no longer exists to many.
But being blocked out from the world since he was just a boy, Boo does not know even about the evils of society. As we all commonly know, children are innocent creatures who mean no harm, much less a well mannered boy who only knew about being as good as he could.
Introverted he may be, weird to some extent he may be,he is not pretentious and what more can you fault him for? In fact, a friend who does not harbour any thought of harming you, or a friend who has only one true face is a friend indeed. Boo Radley would hence be my friend of choice.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Boozy Chimp sent to Rehab-Vices Ruin
Ok, here's something weird. A Russian Chimpanzee has bee sent to rehabilitation to curb his smoking and drinking addiction.(I only heard of a tiger going to rehab,if you know what i mean) According to his zookeeper, he picked up his vices in the zoo, and that it was ruining him as his health took a toll and he harrassed visitors to quell his desires.
Funny right? A drunk monkey who's a smoker.But that isn't the key point. It shows one thing, vices ruin your life, whoever, or whatever you are. One perfect example of course, is golfer Tiger Woods. A few months ago, he was a role model to the world, but a few months later, because of his vice(in the form of his sex addiction), he has been "promoted"
to becoming the black sheep of sports. Now his marriage is in danger, his reputation in tatters, and his life turned upside-down.
He's been severely hit , with endorsements he took so long to get slipping away from him and loss of trust in him by many people in the world,he has hurt those that were close to him and almost definitely, he is ruined
.
Those who watch soccer closely would probably know about the recently fired captain of England's football team, John Terry, like Woods, his vice put his marriage and career in jeopardy. His marriage may have been saved, but he was stripped of his captaincy, and was told that he would never get it back again.
Worse still, the woman whom he had an affair with, was the former partner of his best friend, due to his vices, he has lost his best friend and affected his career, he has also shattered the unity of the England Team. He too, has been ruined, from my point of view.
Look at that, because of his infidelity, they have turned from best friends to enemies(his friend refused to shake his hand.)
Also, Gambling has been a vice that has ruined many. There have been many reports of problem gambling breaking up families. People who are addicted often chalk up large debts and burden their families.
Sadly, in spite of so many example of people being ruined and ruining other people with their "evil" vices, people still adopt vices and end up harming themselves.
On a final note, I hope that the chimapanzee would curb his vices and go back to being a good little chimp.
Please comment. :)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Parent-children Relationship.
Recently, I watched this television show on channel 8: "Your Hand In Mine". Frankly, this show is a bore. However, this particular episiode was a bit different.
The scene was first of a mother talking to her daughter's teacher. The mother was telling the teacher that she does not want a boy in a class(his name is H20), to mix around with her daughter, and that she wants the boy to be stopped by the teacher if he tries to go near her. The teacher says that that is not the way,but the mother insists. She then says that parents are always right.
The second scene shows the mother confronting the boy, and telling him straight in the face not to make friends with her daughter, her daughter witnesses these, and is furious at her mother's domineering ways.
The mother wants to control the daugter's life as she fears that she would have bad company, so she goes to the extent of limiting the friends the daughter mixes with.
This doesnt go well with the daughter, who feels that she is old enough to run her own life, and does not want to be like a robot.
Often, many of us feel the same way, parents and children (teenagers especially), have different perspectives, parents view that they are always right due to the "sheer weight" of experience which helps them to make the right descision, as compared to teenagers, whom they feel are too young, inexperienced and rash to make their own choices.
Teenagers on the other hand, feel that they have matured enough to be able to make their own teenagers, and feel it rude of parents to try and intefere with their lives, they too think that they are always right.
This hence causes conflicts between both parties.
With the supposed rising of teenage misbehaviour, like underage sex, smoking, playing truant, the natural instinct of a parent trying to keep his/her child on the right track kicks into action, causing them to take "preventive measures", and restricting them in everything they do. Parents nowadays are of the common view that a child shouldnt be given much freedom to do much they want to do, as when they are young, they tend to do wrong things. Yes, parents do have some fault in trying to dominate their children's life, however, all this is done because the parent loves his child.
Teenagers, on the other hand, do not intepret it this way. They feel that parents are restricting them and trying to stop them in everything they do, and making them do "good stuff" simply because parents want to use them to brag about in front of friends and relatives. They feel angered when parents insist on something and seemingly do not care about their own needs. As adolescents, we would want to venture out and experience things, the last thing we want is to be resticted by people, and that is often precisely what teenagers to feel irritation, and occasionally, dislike for their parents.
Frankly, there is no specific or detailed reason to solving this ever-present problem between the teenager and his/her parent. The solution is simply to think from the other party's point of view. To have an agreement, one must have a compromise, which would be impossible if both teens and parents stubornly stick to their own mindset on what they think is right. If parents restrict children too much, they will come to resist the dictatorship imposed on them and fight back, like a rubber band stretched too much will snap. However, if parents let children have to much freedom, things will go out of control, as children after all, do not have adequate experience to make the correct judgement.
Hence, I feel that,parents should have "freedom with guidance", meaning that both sides meet halfway, that teenagers are able to decide what's good for them, but if they are unsure, they would have to consult their parents. Good communication is essential for agreements to be made. Such conflicts are caused due to a lack of communication where both parents and children firmly believe in their own stand and do not understand why they think so differently, the parent children relationship is worsened due to misintepretation of each others intention.
Overall, Communication and putting yourself in the shoes of others is the way to solving the widening gulf in relationships between the child and the parent.
The scene was first of a mother talking to her daughter's teacher. The mother was telling the teacher that she does not want a boy in a class(his name is H20), to mix around with her daughter, and that she wants the boy to be stopped by the teacher if he tries to go near her. The teacher says that that is not the way,but the mother insists. She then says that parents are always right.
The second scene shows the mother confronting the boy, and telling him straight in the face not to make friends with her daughter, her daughter witnesses these, and is furious at her mother's domineering ways.
The mother wants to control the daugter's life as she fears that she would have bad company, so she goes to the extent of limiting the friends the daughter mixes with.
This doesnt go well with the daughter, who feels that she is old enough to run her own life, and does not want to be like a robot.
Often, many of us feel the same way, parents and children (teenagers especially), have different perspectives, parents view that they are always right due to the "sheer weight" of experience which helps them to make the right descision, as compared to teenagers, whom they feel are too young, inexperienced and rash to make their own choices.
Teenagers on the other hand, feel that they have matured enough to be able to make their own teenagers, and feel it rude of parents to try and intefere with their lives, they too think that they are always right.
This hence causes conflicts between both parties.
With the supposed rising of teenage misbehaviour, like underage sex, smoking, playing truant, the natural instinct of a parent trying to keep his/her child on the right track kicks into action, causing them to take "preventive measures", and restricting them in everything they do. Parents nowadays are of the common view that a child shouldnt be given much freedom to do much they want to do, as when they are young, they tend to do wrong things. Yes, parents do have some fault in trying to dominate their children's life, however, all this is done because the parent loves his child.
Teenagers, on the other hand, do not intepret it this way. They feel that parents are restricting them and trying to stop them in everything they do, and making them do "good stuff" simply because parents want to use them to brag about in front of friends and relatives. They feel angered when parents insist on something and seemingly do not care about their own needs. As adolescents, we would want to venture out and experience things, the last thing we want is to be resticted by people, and that is often precisely what teenagers to feel irritation, and occasionally, dislike for their parents.
Frankly, there is no specific or detailed reason to solving this ever-present problem between the teenager and his/her parent. The solution is simply to think from the other party's point of view. To have an agreement, one must have a compromise, which would be impossible if both teens and parents stubornly stick to their own mindset on what they think is right. If parents restrict children too much, they will come to resist the dictatorship imposed on them and fight back, like a rubber band stretched too much will snap. However, if parents let children have to much freedom, things will go out of control, as children after all, do not have adequate experience to make the correct judgement.
Hence, I feel that,parents should have "freedom with guidance", meaning that both sides meet halfway, that teenagers are able to decide what's good for them, but if they are unsure, they would have to consult their parents. Good communication is essential for agreements to be made. Such conflicts are caused due to a lack of communication where both parents and children firmly believe in their own stand and do not understand why they think so differently, the parent children relationship is worsened due to misintepretation of each others intention.
Overall, Communication and putting yourself in the shoes of others is the way to solving the widening gulf in relationships between the child and the parent.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Romanian Diplomat Incident.
Im sure most of you, if not all, know about the "Romanian Diplomat Incident", which occured recently, where a Romanian Diplomat, Sliviu Ionescu, ran down 3 people, severly injuring 2 of them, and killing the other. He reported later that it had been stolen, however, police have found evidence to prove that he was the last driver of the car.
I feel that this is very disgraceful behaviour. Diplomats are representatives of the country that they come from. They are supposed to have good moral principles(everybody is supposed to), as people often view a country through its diplomat. However in this case, the diplomat knocked down and caused permanent damage to 3 parties, worse still, he displayed cowardice by reporting to the police that the car was stolen, and wanted to shirk responsibility.
When I type "Romania" on the google search engine, what comes out is no longer "Romanian culture" etc, instead, what is shown on the search engine is "Romanian Diplomat Incident", "Diplomat Hit And Run" etc. He has tarnished the good name of his country, and Romania is no longer known for its good points, but instead, Romania has become infamous for a diplomat who was supposed to be well-educated and refined but turned out to have a rotten character who killed someone and even attempted to shirk responsibility for it.
Hence, i feel that moral principles and a conscience is of outmost importance as this guides you to do the right thing and not stray away, however, i feel that the Romanian Diplomat sorely lacks this 2, as he does not care about what happens to the people he knocked down , but instead, he only cares that he is not in trouble, showing his selfishness and exposing his lack of principles and a conscience.(he knocked down two people while trying to escape trouble after he was demanded by passerbys to get out of the car to help the injured.)
Thank You.
I feel that this is very disgraceful behaviour. Diplomats are representatives of the country that they come from. They are supposed to have good moral principles(everybody is supposed to), as people often view a country through its diplomat. However in this case, the diplomat knocked down and caused permanent damage to 3 parties, worse still, he displayed cowardice by reporting to the police that the car was stolen, and wanted to shirk responsibility.
When I type "Romania" on the google search engine, what comes out is no longer "Romanian culture" etc, instead, what is shown on the search engine is "Romanian Diplomat Incident", "Diplomat Hit And Run" etc. He has tarnished the good name of his country, and Romania is no longer known for its good points, but instead, Romania has become infamous for a diplomat who was supposed to be well-educated and refined but turned out to have a rotten character who killed someone and even attempted to shirk responsibility for it.
Hence, i feel that moral principles and a conscience is of outmost importance as this guides you to do the right thing and not stray away, however, i feel that the Romanian Diplomat sorely lacks this 2, as he does not care about what happens to the people he knocked down , but instead, he only cares that he is not in trouble, showing his selfishness and exposing his lack of principles and a conscience.(he knocked down two people while trying to escape trouble after he was demanded by passerbys to get out of the car to help the injured.)
Thank You.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Do we really feel anything for CNY?
As we usher in the year of the tiger, i begin to ponder about whether Chinese New Year really means anything to teenagers like us. I feel that our current mindset is that of "CNY is a complete waste of time" or "lets just get through it". Many of us would rather stay at home and do things that we deem as useful and not time wasting. Teenagers simply hate the hassle of Chinese New Year and proclaim it as "LAME". we complain about many things:" why does it have to be so traditional?" "Why do we have to visit our relatives and trudge from one house to the other?". This is a matter of mindset.
Most of us actually think of Chinese New Year as simply a festival where we get to skip school, but in fact, i feel that Chinese New Year is a time where we honour the achievements and hardships of our ancestors, it's a time of families reuniting together and strengthening bonds and friendships, the reason why teenagers dont want to go and celebrate Chinese New Year is because they feel that they gain nothing from this "outdated and stupid festival", but in fact, what they gain from this seemingly stupid and outdated festival is way more than they can gain from skipping school, staying at home, playing computer games. As long as teenagers change their mindset about what they feel Chinese New Year means and brings to them, Chinese New Year will not be so dull and time and energy sapping anymore. Instead, Chinese New Year will be fun and fufilling.
What does Chinese New Year mean to you?(food for thought)
finally, i would like to wish everybody a happy new year, and may you succeed in all your endeavours.
Most of us actually think of Chinese New Year as simply a festival where we get to skip school, but in fact, i feel that Chinese New Year is a time where we honour the achievements and hardships of our ancestors, it's a time of families reuniting together and strengthening bonds and friendships, the reason why teenagers dont want to go and celebrate Chinese New Year is because they feel that they gain nothing from this "outdated and stupid festival", but in fact, what they gain from this seemingly stupid and outdated festival is way more than they can gain from skipping school, staying at home, playing computer games. As long as teenagers change their mindset about what they feel Chinese New Year means and brings to them, Chinese New Year will not be so dull and time and energy sapping anymore. Instead, Chinese New Year will be fun and fufilling.
What does Chinese New Year mean to you?(food for thought)
finally, i would like to wish everybody a happy new year, and may you succeed in all your endeavours.
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