Taking Responsibility

When I was younger, one of the earliest 'lesson' that was drilled into my head was to take responsibility. Its one wrong to break Mum's expensive Correl plate, its just another wrong to not admit to it. Owning up meant getting scolded at and punished, but that would have happened anyways. At least I would have gotten credit for being brave enough to come up.

As I grow up, I realised that owning up meant so much more. Humans will always make mistakes, we will never be perfect. Admission of your wrong, an apology and the acceptance of the necessary penance are all part and parcel of the learning processs. Otherwise, how else will we learn from our wrongs?

Having been taught this since before I could write, it still amazes me that this simple act of 'owning up' escapes some people. As we grow up, we are given more trust and responsibilities. Consequently, the magnitude of our mistakes grow. Where it was once just pulling a friend's hair or a broken plate, now it may be a wrecked car or worse still a lost life. But I steadfastly hold to the same principle.

If you have wronged someone, come up, take responsibility, accept your penance then maybe everyone can move on and start figuring out how to prevent similar episodes in the future. But pray, do not pretend nothing happened. Do not blow hot air and bluster about making loud sounds. Similarly, those in charge need not act like immature parents wading in to the fight of their children with rolled sleeves and ready punches. We are not in a playground anymore. We are all mature adults with grace, mental astuteness and most importantly, values. Some things, like a life, can never be brought back. Have respect for that.

No act done is ever without its repercussions.

iPhones etc

Read an article today about resisting the technology of 'smartphones'. The author questioned the necessity of having such a gadget which at the end of the day, most people just use as a phone anyways.

Got me thinking.

As I look around me, more than one of my classmates own an iPhone. Several more own a similarly advanced 'smartphone'. Blackberries aren't so common, but then again, we haven't yet entered the working world and hence, a Blackberry isn't exactly the age appropriate fashion statement. iPhones are way more trendy.

Yet, do we really use all the applications on our phones?

I see the new iPhone owners clicking away on their new gadget. Engrossed. From playing games, to checking emails to reading downloaded books. It seems, if it was possible, they would fit their whole lives onto their phones. And for good reason too, considering the money they spent on them. And so, for them, all I can say is if you can afford it, go ahead.

But is it for everybody?

I will be the first to shout no. A phone is personal. Everyone uses their phone differently. Tell my Mum that she needs to get a thousand dollar touch phone and she'll smack me in the face. After all, she only uses the phone to make calls to her children and send them 'warning' texts. For her and many others of her generation that can still remember the days when using a computer meant staring at a huge screen at the university library, just the mere fact that they can make calls from a tiny device they can tout around in their bags are baffling enough. Even then, most of the time she prefers to call from our house landline, it never runs out of battery she says.

And not just the older generation. More and more nowadays I catch my friends reverting back to the early generation Nokias. The ones with no colored screen and doesn't even receive MMS. When I ask why, its more hardy they say. You can drop them in a puddle and they'll still work. We only use the phone to call & text anyways, who needs so many applications? Plus their batteries last forever. :P

Weather, are you ignorant?

"Have you picked up a newspaper recently?"

Posing this question to those around me, I was taken aback by the answer. It was hard for me to find a person in my close circle that actually read the news. Most only knew the headlines of what was happening around the world, and some didn't even know that. Stories of tragedy and strife apparently did not strike a chord in the hearts of my colleagues. And yet, deep down, I was not surprised. When your daily routine is so demanding, I cannot blame those who simply choose to dissociate from the troubles of the world. But, neither can I encourage it, much less allow myself to go down that road of oblivion.

Picking up the paper these past few weeks it seems like the world is being hit by one tragedy after another. First, the horrific earthquake shattering Haiti. Almost overnight, Port-au-Prince became a common name in news columns with reports of death tolls, stories of the hungry and homeless and the international call for aid. As the world was still reeling with the aftermath of rebuilding Haiti, last week Chile became the next country hit by a shattering earthquake. 8.8 on the Richter scale made Concepcion the next infamous city on the news. And these are only the major headlines.

Why am I writing a weather update?

Each time a tragedy strikes, especially when it strikes less developed countries, many parties promise aid and help. Millions are collected through numerous charities and yet it seems like there is a huge gap between the hand that gives and the hand that receives. Hundreds of thousands die not from the actual tragedy but from lack of food and water supply in the devastating times that follow the event. The whole situation is made even worse with stories of looting and thieving heartlessly, adding salt to an open wound. The end result is just millions of people suffering.

Even as I am shaking my head in disgust I cannot help but wonder how it would be should a similar catastrophe hit our country.

This is why I am writing.

In these uncertain times it would not do for those of us who are unaffected to merely shake our heads. We should lift our hands in prayers but more than that we should sit up and take note. Just because we were spared this time, does not mean we will forever be spared from tragedies. When they hit, what would we do? What would you do?

Will you be one of those who will risk your life to save a complete stranger?
Or will you be one of those who lie in waiting to loot a rich man's house?

It is in the times of hardship that our true color is shown. Ask yourself, what will yours be?


p/s- Ignorance is sometimes just the escape for those who are in denial of their own stupidity. Just because you refuse to see what is happening around you, doesn't mean it is not happening.