Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Passion and Dedication

I was watching a Chinese documentary the other day when it hit me exactly how lacking in passion and dedication we all are. It was a documentary on snakes and there's this Chinese researcher who lost a finger coz of the snake he's studying. My initial reaction was how stupid can this guy get? Losing a finger over a snake?

Here's the story, this guy is an expert on this rare Chinese snake, it's as big as a python and as poisonous as a cobra, pretty scary eh, normally big snakes are not that poisonous but this snake is deadly. So one day this guy found a juvenile specimen and it's a rare find coz it's the first of its kind, being all excited and desiring to film the release process down, he let the snake slither from his hands instead of throwing it back to the bushes.

No prize for guessing, once the snake was free from his grasp, it turned around and bit him. The guy was shocked but as fresh bite marks are important research materials (dun ask me why..), he took time to take some photos of the bite before going on to clean the wound and try to purge the poison. Turns out he underestimated the snake's poison and he started feeling the effects of the poison not long after.

Instead of being rushed to the hospital, he insisted that he was brought home. Why? Coz he rather be treated with his own drugs then die in a hospital. In the end he was saved but lost a finger.

My initial reaction was how stupid can this guy be?? Risking it all for a snake?? Is it worth it? Then I realized how truly passionate he is. He's a researcher and his life studies is on this snake, so if he really dies, I think he will die smiling. This is true passion and dedication to one's work.

The reason he did not want to be sent to the hospital was that he want to be treated with the drug he had developed, he mentioned that if he dies coz his drugs did not work, then he deserves to be dead. Once again, he's showing the passion that an ancient doctor shows, all ancient doctors test their drugs on themselves before giving them to the patients. Now, do any of the researchers do that these days? No.

Many of us lacks true passion and dedication, I suppose I'm missing even a fake passion, I just can't seem to find something that I can be truly passionate about. I admire people who are truly dedicated to what they do and strive for what they believe in.

Now that brings me to the recent pay increase of civil servants.. It's true that public service pays should be compatible to the private sector but it takes more than pay to attract people to public service, the passion needs to be there. The pay raise would just create an artificial sense of passion which would fade off eventually. But I guess that's what we are good at, giving temporary fixes to make things look good without resolving the root of the problem.

Honestly I'm very disappointed with everything that is happening right now, all the lame excuses keep coming up, that without the high pay, our ministers would be corrupted and such. What bullshit, if our ministers are prone to corruption, then they should not be our ministers in the first place, that's such a glaring character flaw and they can still remain in parliament?!

I used to admire our dear old Lee, he's a man with passion and mission, unfortunately in the old years, power corrupted his mind and he is no longer the person I admire. A true leader is someone who knows when to step down and hand on the power, a true leader does what is good for his people and not himself. Let's ask ourselves, is what he's doing now good for the people? Yes of course, we've been brainwashed since young to just look at the surface and not question what's truly inside, we've been brainwashed that as long as the money keeps rolling in, everything is fine. Now you see why we can never be a vibrant city, we're just puppets and no more than that.

I've just came back from Taiwan and it's a messy place. Politics are crazy and the politicians are nuts, but anyone who traveled there can tell you that it's a vibrant place, much unlike the prim and proper Singapore. When the Taiwanese ask me what's there to do in sg, I can't answer them, sg is nowhere near Taiwan in terms of their vibrant night markets and such, all we have are office blocks after office blocks.

Taiwanese people are rude, they push through you like you're not there, but once you stay there long enough, you will realize that people there have passion and they stand for what they believe in, whether it's right or wrong, at least they believe in something. Us? We're nothing but puppets being manipulated around, and the worst part is, we know about it and we don't do anything about it.

When can Singapore truly become our home and not PAP land? I wish the answer would come to us soon. If there's anyone of any importance reading this post, please remember that it's the people who made you who you are today, try to recall the time when you are young and full of ideals, that's the kinda person that we need, we don't need someone who just repeats what old Lee says. Wake up and see the world, we are nothing but a dot, don't make yourself out to be all important, who are you without us?

No comments: