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Tuesday 19 October 2010
"Life will be so much happier if we grow younger each year!" I have heard this several times from either the same person or others. I wonder where did they get this thought. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie about a man who was born old, and the reason for his unusual birth is unknown. People thought that he will die very soon, but they are eventually proven wrong. Benjamin, the old baby, not only didn't he die early, but instead, he grows younger and younger each year.
While watching the movie, I caught the line which Caroline, Benjamin's girlfriend, said to him, "we will all end up with diapers anyway," after she asked him how is it like to be growing younger, which he did not respond. This made me ponder, perhaps to be growing older and to be growing younger does not make a lot of difference after all. It is like looking at a rope from the end to the head, and from the head to the end. The ends are still the ends. The rope is still a rope. Life is still life. We experience, we learn, we make mistakes, and we live through these mistakes. Then, in the end, no matter we are growing younger or growing older, our abilities decay. In either end, the youngest or the oldest, we will end up forgetting things that we have remembered, and losing things or even people that we have loved.
In the movie, as he keeps growing younger, Benjamin eventually forgets his wife, and as well as the life that he used to have. What can be worse than forgetting the person who you have loved so much, and who has always been loving you? What can be worse than forgetting the entire life that you have had, including all the best moments to be thankful for, and the worse moments to laugh about? So will life really be better if we all grow younger each year? I'd say no, and neither will it if we all just stays growing older. But this is how it should be. How life should be. Nothing lasts, and that's the beautiy of life. This is how we learn to cherish, how to regret, how to make and prevent mistakes, and finally, how to let go.
Reference:
http://exiledonline.com/page/7/?s=movie [The Exiled. THE EXILED–MANKIND'S ONLY ALTERNATIVE. 2010. All Rights Reserved. © ]
http://exiledonline.com/page/7/?s=movie [The Exiled. THE EXILED–MANKIND'S ONLY ALTERNATIVE. 2010. All Rights Reserved. © ]
Monday 11 October 2010
Noise is so common today that most of us have already gotten used to it. However, from CNN, Julian Treasure, the author of Sound Business, did a presentation on TED -- a nonprofit organization devoted to "ideas worth spreading" which it makes available through talks posted on its website -- to inform people about the 10 things we don't know about sound.
I think Julian's presentation is quite interesting. According to Julian, we are all chords, which are collections of vibration, and so that a definition of health may be that chord is in complete harmony. He said that listening does not equal to hearing. Hearing is passive. However, listening requires understanding. Julian suggests that "listening positions are a useful set of perspectives that can help people to be more conscious and effective in communication." The example that he gave to explain this point is that men and women have different listening positions that effect the contexts of their conversations. Men adopt a reductive listening position, listening for something, often a point or solution. On the other hand, women adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the conversation, going with the flow. I think this observation is quite true no matter if it is really because that listening positions effect the context of a conversation. In fact, I think this statement might actually be another way around. Perhaps it is the context of the conversation that causes different listening positions. Let's take Julian's example, but apply my theory on it instead. The reason why women's listening positions are different from men, in my opinion, is because that the things that women usually talk about are different than what men do. Women's conversations are genuinely quite personal, whereas men might talk more about their business. Therefore, their listening positions shows that they are more open to each other.
Anyways, another thing that caught my attention in Julian's presentation is that "noise harms, and even kills." The statistics he brought up was shocking. The presentation mentions that "the WHO is also the source for the startling statistic about noise killing 200,000 people a year. Its findings (LARES report) estimate that 3 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease result from long-term exposure to noise. With 7 million deaths a year globally, that means 210,000 people are dying of noise every year." Shocking, isn't it? The noises that we often negligent could actually cause us hearing diseases or even death! I remember that my dad used to tell me not to wear earphones all the time because it is going to sverely hurt my hearing. I guess he is not just overacting.
I think Julian's presentation is quite interesting. According to Julian, we are all chords, which are collections of vibration, and so that a definition of health may be that chord is in complete harmony. He said that listening does not equal to hearing. Hearing is passive. However, listening requires understanding. Julian suggests that "listening positions are a useful set of perspectives that can help people to be more conscious and effective in communication." The example that he gave to explain this point is that men and women have different listening positions that effect the contexts of their conversations. Men adopt a reductive listening position, listening for something, often a point or solution. On the other hand, women adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the conversation, going with the flow. I think this observation is quite true no matter if it is really because that listening positions effect the context of a conversation. In fact, I think this statement might actually be another way around. Perhaps it is the context of the conversation that causes different listening positions. Let's take Julian's example, but apply my theory on it instead. The reason why women's listening positions are different from men, in my opinion, is because that the things that women usually talk about are different than what men do. Women's conversations are genuinely quite personal, whereas men might talk more about their business. Therefore, their listening positions shows that they are more open to each other.
Anyways, another thing that caught my attention in Julian's presentation is that "noise harms, and even kills." The statistics he brought up was shocking. The presentation mentions that "the WHO is also the source for the startling statistic about noise killing 200,000 people a year. Its findings (LARES report) estimate that 3 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease result from long-term exposure to noise. With 7 million deaths a year globally, that means 210,000 people are dying of noise every year." Shocking, isn't it? The noises that we often negligent could actually cause us hearing diseases or even death! I remember that my dad used to tell me not to wear earphones all the time because it is going to sverely hurt my hearing. I guess he is not just overacting.
Reference:
- http://www.nj.gov/dep/enforcement/noise-intro.html [Image: NJDEP: What's All The Noise About? Copyright © State of New Jersey, 1996-2010]
-http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-10/opinion/treasure.sound_1_noise-vibrations-positions?_s=PM:OPINION [CNN: 10 things you didn't know about sound. CNN © 2010 Cable News Network]
- http://www.nj.gov/dep/enforcement/noise-intro.html [Image: NJDEP: What's All The Noise About? Copyright © State of New Jersey, 1996-2010]
-http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-10/opinion/treasure.sound_1_noise-vibrations-positions?_s=PM:OPINION [CNN: 10 things you didn't know about sound. CNN © 2010 Cable News Network]
Saturday 2 October 2010
"Every solution creates another problem." I remember hearing this from my former biology teacher, Mr. Gumbay, and I even have it written on my notebook. "You can never make everyone happy." This is something that I've realized, and learned from experiences of being a SRC member. I remember these because I think they are so very true.
I was talking to a friend yesterday. She is the same age as me, 11th grade. She is an artist wannabe, and I am also interested in art, so I suggested her that traveling might help her to prepare for her portfolio. She agreed with me. Then we started to discuss which countries are worth to visit. She suggested Egypt. I suggested some countries in Europe. Then she asked me about my trip to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) in this summer. "Have you seen people's lifestyle there?" she asked, "were they poor? Did you get to have direct contacts with the them? With all the diseases, life must be really difficult for them huh?" I expected every single question that she asked. It's because I've already been asked the same questions for a several times since I'd come back from the trip. However, I did my best to answer, and explain everything to her.
Yes, I have seen how people's lives were in Kenya. Generally poor, which I felt sorry for, but at the same time I was also impressed by the fact that they were still able to survive even thought life is hard. And because life is so hard for them, their view of values are very different from ours. They only get things that they need, not things that they want, but complete useless. I have learned this from a hotel manager's sharing of her own experience of opening a hotel in Tanzania. She is British (I figured it out based on her accent). She said that people's view of values are so different from hers that sometimes it made it difficult to manage them.
"With all the diseases, life must be very difficult for them huh?" Yes, even though life is already hard for the majority, the diseases has made it worse. HIV/AIDS, and malaria are fairly common in Kenya. 7.1 ~ 8.5% of the adult (age above 15) population in Kenya has HIV/AIDS. It is not rare for people to die from HIV/AIDS. Therefore, there are many orphans caused by HIV/AIDS deaths. I remember seeing a women sitting under a tree beside the road, with her likely-4-year-old daughter standing beside her, in her last stage of HIV. She was as thin as a skeleton, and the fact that I know she was dying broke my heart. We visited an orphanage called Nyumbani, which means "home" in Swahili. The orphans in Nyumbani are all HIV positive, and are all complete abandoned. I was lucky to have a chance to talk to the druggist who worked in Nyumbani. Through the conversation with the druggist, I was informed that the drugs have kept the children alive for much longer than the children before, when there were no drugs to help them yet. This gave me the weirdest feeling ever. I pity these children, yet they all seem so happy to be alive that made me feel like I shouldn't feel sorry for them.
"So... after the trip, do you want to become a doctor to help those people?" My friend asked me at last. I told her that I would if I am capable of doing it, but I'm not confident enough to say that I shall save a million lives from HIV/AIDS in the furure. If I'm not mistaken, I heard that there is now a posibility to figure out a cure for HIV/AIDS. However, a problem that came into my mind when I hear about the possible cure, is the problem of overpopulation. This might sound immoral, but in Kenya, families believe that the more children you have, the richer you are. It is not unusual to see a family with 5 children in Kenya. And so, will the cure of HIV/AIDS in Kenya lead to another problem, which is worsening the problem of overpopulation? Or maybe causing a high population density in Kenya, which may effect the wildlife with various reasons? As I said, every solution creates another problem, and I don't think people will be happy if they cannot continue to "be rich".
Reference:
I was talking to a friend yesterday. She is the same age as me, 11th grade. She is an artist wannabe, and I am also interested in art, so I suggested her that traveling might help her to prepare for her portfolio. She agreed with me. Then we started to discuss which countries are worth to visit. She suggested Egypt. I suggested some countries in Europe. Then she asked me about my trip to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) in this summer. "Have you seen people's lifestyle there?" she asked, "were they poor? Did you get to have direct contacts with the them? With all the diseases, life must be really difficult for them huh?" I expected every single question that she asked. It's because I've already been asked the same questions for a several times since I'd come back from the trip. However, I did my best to answer, and explain everything to her.
Yes, I have seen how people's lives were in Kenya. Generally poor, which I felt sorry for, but at the same time I was also impressed by the fact that they were still able to survive even thought life is hard. And because life is so hard for them, their view of values are very different from ours. They only get things that they need, not things that they want, but complete useless. I have learned this from a hotel manager's sharing of her own experience of opening a hotel in Tanzania. She is British (I figured it out based on her accent). She said that people's view of values are so different from hers that sometimes it made it difficult to manage them.
"With all the diseases, life must be very difficult for them huh?" Yes, even though life is already hard for the majority, the diseases has made it worse. HIV/AIDS, and malaria are fairly common in Kenya. 7.1 ~ 8.5% of the adult (age above 15) population in Kenya has HIV/AIDS. It is not rare for people to die from HIV/AIDS. Therefore, there are many orphans caused by HIV/AIDS deaths. I remember seeing a women sitting under a tree beside the road, with her likely-4-year-old daughter standing beside her, in her last stage of HIV. She was as thin as a skeleton, and the fact that I know she was dying broke my heart. We visited an orphanage called Nyumbani, which means "home" in Swahili. The orphans in Nyumbani are all HIV positive, and are all complete abandoned. I was lucky to have a chance to talk to the druggist who worked in Nyumbani. Through the conversation with the druggist, I was informed that the drugs have kept the children alive for much longer than the children before, when there were no drugs to help them yet. This gave me the weirdest feeling ever. I pity these children, yet they all seem so happy to be alive that made me feel like I shouldn't feel sorry for them.
"So... after the trip, do you want to become a doctor to help those people?" My friend asked me at last. I told her that I would if I am capable of doing it, but I'm not confident enough to say that I shall save a million lives from HIV/AIDS in the furure. If I'm not mistaken, I heard that there is now a posibility to figure out a cure for HIV/AIDS. However, a problem that came into my mind when I hear about the possible cure, is the problem of overpopulation. This might sound immoral, but in Kenya, families believe that the more children you have, the richer you are. It is not unusual to see a family with 5 children in Kenya. And so, will the cure of HIV/AIDS in Kenya lead to another problem, which is worsening the problem of overpopulation? Or maybe causing a high population density in Kenya, which may effect the wildlife with various reasons? As I said, every solution creates another problem, and I don't think people will be happy if they cannot continue to "be rich".
Reference:
- http://www.laprogressive.com/gender-discrimination/this-era-of-black-women-and-hivaids/ [Image: This Era of Black Women and HIV/AIDS. Copyright © 2008-2010.]
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