Tokyo's Mother of Vagabonds

I mentioned before that there are many followers of the Way who labor beneath the radar. Haruko Morimoto (found 20 year old article on her too) isn't actually one of them but she is low profile enough for most of us including the Japanese not to notice her. Our work is mostly done quietly. Depending on the context we don't even tell people we remember them in prayer because the people we are asked to help are often waiting for something 'better than prayer'. A few loaves and fishes to feed thousands still work better than prayers and that is what they want. The work is very quiet and sometimes you do feel quite useless and powerless because you don't seem to do anything. You just basically WAIT. This is the hardest thing to do in a world that believes in massive action. Christians by and large do not understand. Ironically the ones who do are the top investors because they also spend a lot of time waiting.

Nicole Seah at Ground Zero

See more or rather read further.

What cannot kill you will only make your stronger. I think she will come out of this much stronger. Perhaps she is already beginning to or she wouldn't have written that post. It was a U shape story with a visible right ascend.

Actually she kinda of remind me of Jennifer Lawrence and was losing it. Going back to herself, being authentic I think is best. Long ago in school and no longer fashionable now, I learned not in moral education but English for exams: honesty is the best policy. They used to test you on idioms and we had to memorize a long list of them.

The most important lesson is not to be seduced by forbidden fruit. Do that and she will be much more than alright. I think she will be fine. Perhaps she could also have a chat with Jack Sim of the WTO. I think she can learn lots from him on how to carry on.

New Johor weekend next year

From January next year Johor weekends will be Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday.

We should not be surprised that this is happening. People are getting more religious. Everywhere and it is only a matter of degrees we see a backlash against commercial values, a living proof that man does not live by bread alone.

There will be winners and losers from this change but overall in business terms Johor has more to lose than Singapore. We would be less keen to invest there. Asset prices will be discounted down. On the other hand many Muslims would be happier and at the end of the day people want their lives to be happy and meaningful.

An absolutely silly spat between some Johoreans and Singaporeans. It is here only because it had attracted 56 likes. Johor is free to do whatever they see fit about when they have their weekend. Likewise we are free to visit or stay away. Smart people will adjust to the change and a lot of good can be made from this.

It is not the strongest but the most adaptable which survive.

Celebrating PSLE

In the past it was the top scorers, the victors of a meritocratic race without regard to the outcome of the ovarian lottery that filled our papers the day after the PSLE results are released. Like many I welcome the change in emphasis.

We have not gone to the point of acknowledging good luck in our achievers. When we do, the high achievers will not have a reason to be arrogant or possess a sense of entitlement. It is appropriate and wise at this juncture to press the point continuously that winners are nurtured by their villages or communities. Nobody makes it purely on their own merit. Increasingly so many just happened to pop out from the right birth canal.

Meanwhile with a year's experience behind them, our newspapers haven't yet figure out how best to report this event well to readers.

Update: 7:50pm

Another good PSLE story from Today. What about ST?

Shane and Tom a gay tragedy

Unless it was Hitler, no tragic death is to be celebrated.

I just came across the documentary 'Bridegroom'. This is the story of two gay men waiting for the day the law would allow them to marry. Some would wish and say the day will never come but to be realistic I am not so sure. One view is that it didn't come soon enough for them, and that would be the view of sympathetic people.

I found and checked how may had viewed the YouTube clip: more than four million with far more likes than dislikes.


Framed as civil rights the gays will eventually get what they want. We have gone too far down the road and the Christians have no blinking idea what they are dealing with. By and large I am witnessing the pot calling the kettle black. Just as well over the centuries they have also loosen their stricture against divorce. Why not ending up the same with this issue? For me Pope Francis represents the most gracious and realistic response to homosexuality.

The human condition repeatedly show us that except by grace we have no chance to redeem ourselves. In fact Christians today lower the standards of morality so that enough of them can achieve them, ignoring that by doing so they are locking out many more deserving people. They have become the Pharisees of Jesus days. Those Pharisees claimed they weren't like the religious leaders who persecuted and killed the prophets. Similarly today many Christians also claimed there are not remotely like the Pharisees of the past. Exactly why Mother Teresa had to make a big deal that we do not judge others. If your religion is not capable of inclusiveness you do not belong to Jesus Christ.

PSLE Results tomorrow

Academically we are one of the peaks in the world and this allows us the flexibility to invest beyond books. We are finally taking advantage of it seriously under this minister.

Even if it is very slow to win many parents over to a more holistic education, it is important that they are prepared to endure with it long enough for superior results to show.

Now only the most kiasu parents would research the numbers which were once easily available. Tomorrow result slips will not print the lowest and highest scores.

I have gamed the system by sending my children to secondary schools where a significant numbers of them regularly score seven distinctions or more. In this way they do not need to be among the top few students to do well in major national exams, which is the sort of pressure they would feel if they had attended a neighborhood school. In their schools being among the above average is good enough. This has freed up so much more time for them to pursue other interests.

What I have done was just making the best of what was available and I think eventually parents will not need to strike the sort of balance I had. Many people are fuzzy about where all these changes is taking us as they are not easy to visualize but I am sure they are for the better.

So if you are no good with the academics, you must try very hard to do better. And if you are already more than competent, often it makes more sense to pursue other interests instead of trying to top many or any subject for the sake of a silly and transient trophy. Therefore I look forward to the day when MOE scraps T-scores for grades or bands like we have for the O and A levels. Make it so soon.

Update: 9:45pm

I happened to be reading "One good trade" which my brother pointed me to a few months back. Tonight I come across this from the book. Everything about this is familiar to me. Note the stuff you learn in school if you do not combine it with lots of experience and skills which is not taught and especially tested in school you would be very limited. Since many of the additional skills must be built upon knowing school work well the pupil must try to be good at them. However there comes a point when you can over work yourself for the best grades which is counterproductive. You must not spend all your time studying.

Australia's Stupidest PM

When the gaffe prone Tony Abbott became Australia's PM I feared for them that there will be many more moments of stupidity, and true enough I didn't have to wait very long. In fact, his lack of diplomatic good sense had surprised me on the downside and completely threw me off. Pity he had also picked Bishop as foreign minister. Both of them should just pay attention to keeping fit which they excelled. Not sure what else they are good at but to be fair I don't know both well except of their extraordinary ability to dig holes in the ground for themselves. Simple question. Forget about Indonesia, but how does all these serve Australia's interests?

I don't think we have seen the last of his stupid acts, in fact I wonder how long he would last as PM. The chap doesn't have the brains, skills and definitely judgement to be effective. His frequent gaffes suggest that he might not even be able to competently think. How on earth did he become party leader? If the Aussies can throw up someone like him to be PM what is the risk of the same happening to Singapore. In the main that is what I am interested in.

Update: Nov 21 1:30pm

The stupidity of Tony Abbott and his inner circle is running ahead of my expectation. Sad day for Australia to have such buffoons as leaders. Fromer PM Malcolm Fraser is pressing for this idiot to be sacked immediately. Right!

Indonesia and Australia importance to each other is like the one between us and Malaysia. If the Aussies cannot conduct themselves with common sense with their most important neighbor how is any other country going to be able to trust much less do business with them. I am just shocked at the low standards the Aussie government has descended to. SBY must be wondering how on earth such a bad dream is happening. And Tony Abbott will keep doing stupid things until he is kicked out.