Adeline Ng Ai Choo:Reflections

Recently, I read a story about a girl, Adeline Ng Ai Choo from the book Little Ironies: Stories Of Singapore by Catherine Lim.

Adeline Ng Ai Choo had always been striving for the best so as not to disapoint her parents who had high expectations of her. She did not want to embarass her father whose colleagues' children were very clever. She also did not want to disapoint her mother, who had been constantly encouraging her. However, during her examination, she failed by one mark. Out of desperation, she went to the teacher to plead for an extra mark to obtain the passing mark. However, the teacher curtly declined. Unfortunately, Adeline took it so badly that she committed suicide.

The story continued with a debate on this matter. Some people said that in future we should either just fail or pass the pupil clearly. However, the teacher who refused to give Adeline the extra mark, said that by not doing so, it would spur her to work harder. I think that what she had said is partly true but I think as a teacher, she should also consider her students' condition first. If the student tends to be upset about poor scores, then she should encourage her before revealing her score. In short, the teacher has an awesome responsibility. That is why I believe it is never easy being one.

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Ironic

A few weeks ago, my class discussed the word "irony" with reference to the book written by Catherine Lim, "Little Ironies - Stories of Singapore" and to let us better understand the word, my teacher, Ms Gordan let us listen to this meaningful and beautiful song. In the song, it gives us a few examples on ironical things that can happen in our lives.

Music Video:
press on play button
IRONIC (by Alanis Morissette)

Music Video Code provided by Video Code Zone

Ironic - Lyrics:

An old man turned ninety-eight.

He won the lottery and died the next day.

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay.

It's a death row pardon two minutes too late.

And isn't it ironic... don't you think?

It's like rain on your wedding day.

It's a free ride when you've already paid.

It's the good advice that you just didn't take.

Who would've thought... it figures.

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly.He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye.He waited his whole damn life to take that flight. And as the plane crashed down he thought,"Well isn't this nice...?".

And isn't it ironic...don't you think?

It's like rain on your wedding day.

It is a free ride when you've already paid.

It's the good advice that you just didn't take.

Who would've thought... it figures.

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you.When you think everything's okay and everything's going right. And life has a funny way of helping you out when, you think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up, in your face.

A traffic jam when you're already late.

A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break.

It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.

It's meeting the man of my dreams.

And then meeting his beautiful wife.

And isn't it ironic...don't you think?A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...It's like rain on your wedding day.

It's a free ride when you've already paid.

It's the good advice that you just didn't take.

Who would've thought... it figures. Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out. Helping you out.

integrity

Integrity.Integrity.Integrity. Have you ever wondered what integrity means? Well from the reliable dictionaries, I found that definition of integrity actually means adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. However, most people lack this important value. One group in particular.......
This video might not be working
Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqXO9cj8uE
This video shows Ben Johnson breaking a world record (at that time) and eventually also winning the much coveted Olympics gold medal! However, Ben Johnson became a hero to zero. A few days later he was labeled as a doper (an athlete who take steroids to enhance his performance). He was cricticised again and again. The criticism continued for very long, right until today!

As I reflected on what he has done, a question came to mind, 'Is it worth it?' Should Ben Johnson have taken those steroids just for that short-lived fame and "good" feeling? Or should he just be honest, not take those steroids, so as not to suffer all the criticism raining down on him and live a much peaceful life?

Really, is this worth it?

Recently, I also read an article on integrity. It talks about people hacking on the Internet and participating in online petitions multiple times, thus making online petitions losing their credibility! They can easily use fake names to create different email addresses. As a result, people who create online petitions have stepped up security by asking more questions to thwart hackers. Notwithstanding this, hackers are still able to hack. Again, the question popped into my mind-Is it worth it?

There is a chance that they could be caught. The hackers who probably have the calibre to become a promising engineer will then waste their potential. Why would someone actually want to throw their potential down the drain?

Seriously, I feel that if you have integrity, you might lose something but you will gain something more! For example, a person from a bully gang decided to quit from the gang after having led years of his life void of integrity and conscience. He made this decision inspite of the fact that he knew he would probably be beaten up by his former "friends"and lose both his pride and confidence. He was sensible in that he knew he would make better friends who are of better influence to him, at least then, he would not live the rest of his life in reget!

A similiar case happened recently too...
During the Japan Open...
In game 5 of the semi-final match between Wang Liqun and Wang Hao, Liqun faulted on his serve when the ball made contact with his jersy. However,the umpire didn't realise! To everybody's surprise, Wang Liqun eventually walked over to the umpire's scoreboard and flipped the point card, giving Wang Hao a 12-11 lead and the latter eventually won the match, 4-2.

Even though he was eliminated from the competition, and losing a chance to win the competition, he received an overwhelming round of applause from the crowd. This is true sportmanship and integrity indeed!

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF7yPuQ5p1I

"Shoot First, First Feel Bad Later"

Recently, I read an article on the newspaper"Shoot First, Feel Bad Later"and then my class discussed this article together.

This article is a very interesting one indeed! It talks about videogames and their detrimental effects. It also talks about some of the good measures that big-name game developers have taken so as to introduce realistic human behavior and emotions into their games.

One of the big-name game developers, Ubisoft,better known for their shoot-em'-up games, has launched a new game from the Far Cry series, Far Cry 2. In the game, even though the sniper rifle is still the most fun part of the game, the moral questions of right and wrong are there. However, they are not exactly central. I believe this is just the start of something new and I am sure more videogames will slowly but surely follow suit and moral questions of right and wrong will also be injected into more video games.

I really think that inserting moral values into video games is a good idea. According to the number of copies (1 million) sold worldwide within a month of release, we can see that video games appeal to many in the world. In that case, introducing moral values to the world through video games would be chicken feet!

James O'Reiley of Ubisoft said, "You can't just run around blowing things up the whole time!"(He was refering to other type of games that has no moral values) I agree with what he said too. According to Ms Gordan, during the discusion, she informed us that recent tests conducted by scientists have shown that playing these kind of games will also kill some of our brain cells! Most of my friends had been shocked by that piece of information (me included), so when I got home, I decided to do some research on that and I finally found my answer in this website:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_TV_kill_brain_cells

This article although short, talks alot about video games.
I have also come to a realisation that playing computer games is harmful to health. I have since vowed to myself that I will only play my videogames occasionally and I will also buy more games that has moral values.
I hope all of you enjoy this story!

Link of story:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/features/16071-shoot-first-feel-bad-later

Blog Prompt 1: Fishy Business

News Clip #1: Fishy Business

Blog Prompt:

Q: You are a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals and want to raise awareness of the cruelty of whaling in Japan. Prepare a speech to be made at a public forum on the cruelty of the fishing industry to whales in Japan.

Dear Members of the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,

We all are a small group of kind-hearted people. Besides, we are special people on Earth. We are on Earth for a noble mission, a mission that will save lives.

In Japan, many whales are killed year after year, now whales are about to be extinct. We have to intervene. We must put a stop to this. We must continue campaigning. If whales are extinct, the consequences are dire, the whole food chain would be destroyed. Not only will whales be affected, other marine animals will be destroyed. I believe that by saving the whales, we are also saving the Earth.

In order to achieve this, the governments of the various countries of the world can come together as a united body to boycott any further killing of whales. The other countries can perhaps reject buying fish and related goods from Japan. The government of Japan can also perhaps impose heavy fines on people who continue to engage in whaling activities.

I hope this speech would have raised your awareness of the mass killings of whales in Japan. I believe together we can make a difference.

Thank you

My First Blog!

Times have changed indeed! Just a few months ago, I was busily writing in a journal book, my thoughts and reflections of the day. Now, I am typing my thoughts on the internet! Besides, I can also share my thoughts with others not just in my country, Singapore, but to the whole wide world. I can never imagine myself making friends with Frenchmen, Englishmen and others from the other side of the globe or with people from countries just beside Singapore, which includes Malaysia, Indonesia and China. Without say, I can also make friends with others residing in my homeland, Singapore!

This a start of something new, and I hope it would be a fruitful one for me!