Expectation

A thought I’ve frequently held in the midst of serving my nation.

They wonder why I bother. They wonder why I’m obsessed with standards. They wonder about my priorities in all that I do. They wonder why I pour in so much heart and soul in something that doesn’t really matter. What they can never understand is that:

• Excellence is a habit, not an act.
• Nonchalance is unacceptable behaviour.

On the other hand, I wonder why they don’t care. I wonder about the source of their laziness. I wonder how they put in zero effort. I wonder how they undermine professionalism. There might be some things I could never understand too.

I keep asking myself what is it that made me care so much. To me, doing everything in the best possible manner and putting in just that slight effort to remember what I need to remember (be it people, environment, systems, protocols) would just make my job easier, make time past faster, and make myself look more professional (and actually so too). Or probably it’s my perceived unenlightened obsession with professionalism, image and standards. As a matter of fact, I treat every single task seriously – and there is no laughing matter over keeping myself professional so as to facilitate work in future.

But some people just don’t care. I wonder how they get by it – there’s totally no effort put in. Probably it’s just me. Yes, I can’t stand laziness. I can’t stand stupidity. I can’t stand nonchalance. I value professionalism a lot. I value hard and smart work a lot. There’s a whole lot of things I want the world to become and I believe they ought to become, but there’s too many mediocre beings out there which makes this vision virtually impossible.

But it just does not feel right when I’m the only one working my socks off when everyone around me is in a totally different mood. There’s no way to get them on the ball anymore – it’s reached a point of no return.

Defending my nation also thought me one thing – if not me, then who? No one else is going to take responsibility and ownership for what I am assigned. Although it’s a team effort, I know I eventually only have myself to rely on should everybody else default. If I can’t encourage the ownership, or generalising, if I can’t inspire the attitude and ethics I want, I have to do it myself. Although that’s not very much the epitome of being a leader, there seems to be no alternative in desperation.

Attitudes can’t be forced. If someone has a proper attitude, he would be able to influence that unto his work. But one should not let this bad attitude affect others who genuinely are keen on quality. And despite a poor attitude, he should never show it, or at least complete a status quo set down by the system faithfully notwithstanding any temptations to slack off at any one point in time. We’ll all be gone in due time – yes, so all the more the need take caution against burning bridges. And these are, furthermore, basics of not just the workplace or school, but of life itself. Shouldn’t it be?

The term ‘follow through motion’ in the military is more than common, and seems to be oft-used, yet overused and misused. And the people who are always the ones admonishing others for that silly act are committing it themselves too. Ironic, isn’t it? Military leadership is supposed to inspire leadership by example and a strong subject matter expertise/mastery, yet those given this privilege are not exemplifying what they’re obliged to.

But then again, what happened to the importance of adapting to organisational goals? Times may be different, but be it in the past or present, or even the future, it remains unchanged that any worker must align first to the organisation, then command should that fail, and nothing else, regardless of his/her priorities, principles and pedagogy. All these seem so hard to come by now.

And all these undermine the expectation of any single worker by the organisation. And maybe by me at times. It undermines, totally, the fundamentalism of work itself – not following protocols and procedures laid down way before hand and straying from basics. Yet, I always try to tell myself:

• Expectation provides aspiration and desperation.
• Don’t expect too much from someone you know will produce nothing out of it.

What one needs in a working team is not just his own expectations and models, but also those of the team. There must be a compromise.

“And we couldn’t wait to grow up.”

A photo on Facebook I came across and found really meaningful, albeit a little outdated (early October). Credits to Qianhua Teo on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151042843402854&set=a.52626047853.63955.711132853&type=1&ref=nf

A Maoist Poem – 沁园春

沁园春 (毛泽东/1936)

北国风光，千里冰封，万里雪飘。
望长城内外，惟余莽莽；大河上下，顿失滔滔。
山舞银蛇，原驰蜡象，欲与天公试比高。
须晴日，看红妆素裹，分外妖娆。

江山如此多娇，引无数英雄竞折腰。
惜秦皇汉武，略输文采；唐宗宋祖，稍逊风骚。
一代天骄，成吉思汗，只识弯弓射大雕。
俱往矣，数风流人物，还看今朝。

While the Chinese seems rather profound and those with very basic command of the language might find it a challenge to decipher that apparent code, this poem bears deep meaning behind it. I shan’t do it for the reader for the onus is on you to either:

• Search for the transliteration
• Translate into modern, plain Chinese
• Improve your command of the language

A country’s fate – its destiny in a host of national issues including economy, society, security, education, and health – lies in the hands of its people. Taking a more pessimistic view of a hedonistic and apathetic people, Mao tapped on the heritage to highlight, relatively, the behemoth challenges the government faces in nation building – mostly the underlying and implicit issues the people have among themselves – a far cry from prosperous ancient times.

I have to concur with Mao. Historically, many countries have seen strong and effective periods of growth and development, and they don’t come easy. They are effects of the people’s sheer hard work, dedication, sharpness, attention and focus. Large numbers of developed countries once had vigilant and diligent communities, but they seem to be engulfed by complacency these days.

富不过三代 (Riches will not last beyond three generations)

This pattern is sometimes cyclical. China experienced that in 1936 when Mao wrote this poem, and started a downhill trend until Deng Xiaoping reopened the economy in 1978. Now they are highly resilient, competitive, and easily outsmart their Western peers in schools, factories, workplaces and seaports. When, however will they get ahead of themselves again?

More saliently, when will the rest of the world understand that our forefathers have worked hard and start being objective and pragmatic for our own survival?

Thoughts of the Week (44/2012)

Top three random thoughts/ideas of the past week (22 Oct – 28 Oct):

1. About empathy
Many a time, we expect others to reach our standards/levels of ability, be it intellectual, emotional, or physical, in what we can sometimes refer to as the Expectations Model. But we too often fail to recognise that there are limitations on their side. We can’t expect the rest of the society to be as fortunate as us, an awareness our eugenic/elitist education system has inhibited.

2. Military engagement
Crimewatch screens on Channel 5 and Channel 8, keeping our citizens aware of crime and extending the police’s crime prevention campaigns. Shouldn’t there be a Defencewatch put up on free-to-air television to increase citizen knowledge on what the Armed Forces is doing, and to further keep our faltering state-society relations in check?

3. Inequality
Inequality exists everywhere, from skills proficiency to economic equity. The fundamental question to ask is, “So what if we are all equal, is it that desirable after all?” What is the basis behind ‘leaving no man behind’? There are, straightforwardly, two ways to axe out inequality: either to improve those at the bottom or stop those at the top. Which would you choose?

Some of the best minds, apparently, can’t think.

• http://theaveragedollar.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/a-thought-on-wage-shock/
• http://sg.news.yahoo.com/-1-000-minimum-wage-scheme-as-%E2%80%98last-resort%E2%80%99-for-wage-shock-therapy–lim-chong-yah.html

Our Position

This morning, on my way to work (simultaneously having my daily dose of commuting claustrophobia and trying to make time productive by engaging my mind via a book), the train stopped at a certain station along the way. As per usual social practice, I stepped out of the cabin of a fully packed train and then in again, only to be facilitated in the latter process by a man in his mid-40s who obviously wasn’t as well dressed up as many other Singaporeans. A foolproof deduction would give it away that he’s a foreign worker – and yes, he’s from the world’s most populous nation.

Aha, the sensitive part of this musing has just kicked in. Do note that there is no xenophobia intended. This is just an interesting and non-routine analysis of the geopolitical situation in Asia captured from an everyday occurrence.

At the same station, another foreign worker of presumably Indian nationality (let’s assume he is Indian) boarded the train, went past my side, and somehow managed to find himself some space right behind me. The doors closed momentarily and the former used his back to squeeze into the cabin as far as possible, with little, instead no, regard for any persons or objects behind him. The latter was standing on a really constrained spot and had no choice but to exert a slight force on me as well. Being in the middle, I was literally sandwiched and had to halt my reading for a moment, before finding oblique space to continue. It instantaneously occurred to me that this scenario bears some resemblance on an extrapolated scale.

Imagine the three individuals in this episode as the countries they hail from, and the rest of the train cabin as the global fishtank. China, India, and Singapore are in physical proximity, and like other independent states, are engaged in a rat race fighting for what’s closest to heart – in this case, physical space on board a crowded rush-hour commute. While doing so, China, building on the authority and significance it has gained over its socioeconomic rise, exerts its power on other smaller nations such as Singapore (represented by the Chinese man pushing his way inwards without even looking back), oblivious to their feelings and reactions (well, they are probably aware but can’t be bothered to care). India, on the other hand, showed signs of resilience and the desire to establish itself as equally a power. Despite the societal restraints it faces in nationwide modernisation (the Indian national stayed put and did not inch back in spite of restricted space), it remains unswayed by China’s iron fist in getting what it wants, sometimes even putting pressure on more vulnerable countries, whereas other nations have no choice but to give in to some extent.

Singapore – characterised by me, was awkwardly and uncannily squeezed in between the two most populous nations and two of the world’s largest economies. Singapore’s geographical location in relation to China and India has slapped us a fate in which we have to go with the winds the two Asian lions are commanding (if we were the tigers, they would be the lions – rulers of the animal kingdom). We sometimes get ‘bullied’ or forced out of certain standings. We tend to get squeezed when the two are at loggerheads – we can’t afford to take sides. Yet, we never fail to, somehow, devise a method to get what we need at the moment (I turned slightly and found some space for my book). I didn’t apply any returning force to any piece of my human-sandwich bread, for fear of causing tension in the cabin (exactly why our Defence Ministry engages in diplomacy).

Instead, being flexible, resilient, and finding our own way out is exactly the mindset we need to employ in such times. While we’re clearly unable to tell others outright that they’re stepping on our grass, we cannot just sit there and let it happen. We must continue to think out of the box and think critically, for our survival in this dangerous global era.

The Way of Life

The Way of Life

Fear not the uncertainties, but your own inadequacies.
Improve yourself with all your heart, and tell your body to play a part.

Let no one but yourself hold you responsible,
For it is your own character, and what’s next on the table.

Busk in the moment and be crazy about life.
The last thing you want in yourself is strife.

Aim to challenge the limit, not be timid about it.
It’s only when you’re near the threshold do you banish in you the kid.

Life waits for no one, and be answerable to yourself.
You only live once and never again, never engulf your youth in taint.

Don’t expect too much change, don’t expect too little change.
Embrace it with consistency, and be prepared for calamity.

 Try the weirdest of them all, and the wackiest of them all.
But do remember not to break a bone, for you’ll never have it back at all.

To cure yourself of bore, do a little more.
Do not forget to give, love, and adore.

 Never allow yourself to look back and say,
“I could’ve done so much more.”