Comments_Term 3

1) Calvin Mau - Messages offer mother, daughter hope amid carnage

http://calcal1997.blogspot.com/2011/07/messages-offer-mother-daughter-hope.html

2) Chuang Fu Yuan - Shylock: Villain/Victim? T3P2

http://2i305lablog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shylock-villainvictim.html

3) Gaw Ban Siang - Justice - Retributive or Rehabilitative?

http://bansiang2i3.blogspot.com/2011/08/justice-retributive-or-rehabilitative.html

4) Koh Yi Da - Name Calling

http://2i3numbereight.blogspot.com/2011/08/name-calling.html

5) Lee Liak Ghee - Should leaders be judged by their private lives?

http://leeliakghee2i310.blogspot.com/2011/08/should-leaders-be-judged-by-their.html

6) Lee Wei Ren - Home Room system - Pros and Cons

http://lolz-teddy.blogspot.com/2011/08/home-room-system-pros-and-cons.html

7) Lu Wen Hao - Symbolism of the Three Caskets

http://lwh2i3sec2la.blogspot.com/2011/07/symbolism-of-three-caskets.html

8) Jonathan Ng - eBooks vs Traditional Books

http://ispark18.blogspot.com/2011/07/ebooks-vs-traditional-books.html

9) Kervin Tay - Shakespeare's Language & Our Language

http://kervin1i3.blogspot.com/2011/07/shakespeares-language-our-language.html

10) Justin Tay - What makes a gentleman?

http://justinlablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-makes-gentleman.html

Plagiarism #10

Plagiarism, to me, is a very serious and should not be condoned at all.

Plagiarism is basically the act of using another person's work and passing it of as yours. An example of a very famous book which had been accused of being plagiarized was the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In this case, Adrian Jacobs claimed that the plot for the Goblet of the Fire was taken from his book, "Willy the Wizard". Of course, Jacob failed to win the case and was later faced with a legal cost of a few million dollars. To me, I believe there are two types of plagiarism.

Type 1: The smart one

This type of plagiarism would be where the plagiarizer would copy extracts from the source before tweaking the words by paraphrasing to make it seem as though it was written by himself. He later does not cite the sources totally. This type of people are those that think that they are smart, but actually fails terribly at it. Even though words are changed, Google can easily sought out the best possible results and most of the time, the first result that come out is the plagiarized source.

Type 2: The blind one

This type of plagiarism is where one would copy and paste entirely from the source and just cite it as a reference at the back. Well, I believe this type of people are those that has totally no knowledge of plagiarism, as I admit to have done the same thing when I was in primary school. Of course, I must say that this is the most innocent type of plagiarism, where to plagiarizer does not know what he is doing most of the time.

Overall, I feel that schools should educate their students properly and allow them to understand the true meaning of plagiarism. In addition, teachers should do as much as they can to ensure that the students who plagiarize would not repeat their fatal mistakes again.

National Pride or Despicable Action? #9

In the recent World Cup Qualifier match between Singapore and Malaysia, it was caught on video footage that a Malaysian had shone a green laser on the Singapore keeper during the match. This action by the Malaysian fan was definitely an inappropriate and wrong one, but can we say that his actions were entirely wrong?

What he is doing here also shows his national pride for his country, Malaysia. In doing this, he worries not that he would be chased out of the stadium, or even face undesirable consequences in his country, but all he was doing was to give Malaysia a chance to win and enter the next round of the World Cup qualifying match. We can see how much he wants Malaysia to win, his urge for Malaysia to gain the wonderful opportunity to enter the World Cup and bring pride to its nation. Of course, I am not approving about his actions, but thinking about it this way, it does show a sense of unity and love Malaysians have for their country, no?

However, from the viewpoint of a typical Singaporean, their actions were definitely uncalled for and absolutely unnecessary. This action, not only brings about an unfair advantage, but would also give Singapore a negative impression on Malaysians. In the society we're in today, people tend to over generalize and stereotype very often. By shining laser on the Singapore's keeper, this despicable action would make most Singaporeans stereotype that Malaysians are cunning and would do anything to win. When matter comes to worse, they might even say that MALAYS are the sly one, which would affect the racial harmony we have in Singapore today.

Overall, I feel that this act by the Malaysian fan is more of a despicable action then an act of national pride. As this case had happened before in Malaysia's match against Indonesia, it was definitely not an accident. In comparison to resorting to this underhand means to win, the Malaysian fans should just allow the Malaysian players to prove their ability in a fair match of football to see who is truly better, who can make it pass the qualifying rounds. I'm sure that even if the Singapore keeper became affected and blinded by this laser to the extend where Malaysia managed to score a goal and win, none of the Malaysian fans would be happy. Thus, I believe football matches should be played by the players and only the players itself, as the fans present in the stadium are only there to provide moral and not physical support.

Was Portia being merciful or driving Shylock to ends? #8

Whether or not Portia was being merciful or was trying to drive Shylock to his wits ends on purpose depends on how you view Portia as a person. If you view her as one who is pretty, rich, generous, kind (the perfect girl in the context), she was definitely being merciful towards Shylock when she was asking him to show mercy towards Antonio. I believe Portia was already prepared beforehand and have already decided to use these reasons to backfire Shylock's bond, and what she was doing was giving him a chance to stop what he's doing for the benefit of both himself and Antonio. Similarly, previously in the novel, we can see Portia trying to help Bassanio when he knew that Antonio was in trouble. Instead of being stingy and unwilling to let him leave, she asked him to give many more times the amount that was borrowed just to save his dear friend. This shows clearly that Portia was a very generous and big-hearted person in nature.

However, it isn't entirely impossible that Portia was doing this to drive Shylock to his ends. In this case, a very possible reason was to stop Shylock from threatening both Bassanio and his dear friend, Antonio. Through her actions, she first tricked Shylock into saying that he would only have the penalty, but later turned the tables around by saying that the penalty cannot be carried out as it's suspected of murder. Similarly, in other parts of the novel, we can see that she wasn't as "kind" as she appears to be, having a different thinking as compared to what she says. Therefore, being a smart and cautious person herself, it was possible for her to do this on purpose.

Ultimately, I believe that she was being merciful towards Shylock, as it is more reasonable to say that she is a generous person than a ruthless person. Given her actions towards Antonio and Bassanio, I'm positive that she wouldn't treat Shylock, another typical human being, any worse.

Euthanasia #7

Euthanasia is basically the act of intentionally ending a life to relieve the pain and suffering he/she is experiencing. In different countries, there are different laws pertaining to this issue, but deep within oneself, is Euthanasia truly correct and should be an act that must be supported?

To view the issue from one who believes that Euthanasia isn't wrong, it should be supported with the basis that Euthanasia is entirely voluntarily. When one decides to undergo Euthanasia, he/she would have to settle paper works as well as the grief to leave their family members. That feeling, which may not be known to others, is a very painful one. One would have to expect his death the next morning, and knowing that it would be his last night living in the world would definitely be a tormenting one. Furthermore, when one makes a choice, it is his choice. One definitely has the right to do whatever he wants with his life, no matter good or bad. In addition, as Euthanasia will only be permitted if the patient is in a severe condition, I see no wrong in helping him end his life peacefully.

However, to view this issue from a moral point of view, Euthanasia would definitely be wrong. Although the patients may agree to the act, no human deserves a right to die more than another. What's more, since everyone is a human being, no one should have the right to take away someone's life without facing the consequences. Imagine, if someone on the street tells you to kill them, are you morally right to "assist" them in killing? Besides, decisions can be changed anytime. When one asks for Euthanasia, he/she may not be in the right state of mind, and it'll be too late should he/she finds the true value of life later on.

Overall, I don't think that this issue is really subjective to different people. As for me, I believe that Euthanasia should not be done as regardless of how much one is pleading for you to end his life, we should never agree to it, as it'll definitely haunt us for the rest of our lives for taking a life.

Why isn't there a Senior or Elderly Day #6

There's no exact reason that is said, but I do have a few ideas for this:

1) Youth Day is one for the youths to reflect.

People often want children to cherish their childhood while they are still at it, and I believe Youth Day is a day specially set for them to reflect. (Although not many actually does that) Adults often reason that when one grows old, they no longer have the ability nor the strength or are having large difficulties trying to learn new things as compared to when they were young. Very often, children refuse to listen and end up saying these to their future children and the cycles repeats again. In contrary wise, they won't have an "Elderly Day" for the elderly to reflect. To the elderly, many of them already feels sad / regretful that they wasted their childhood on pointless activities, and having this Elderly Day might backfire and hurt these elderly instead.

2) Grandparents Day

There is already an official day proclaimed "Grandparents Day", thus there isn't really a need for Elderly Day. For Grandparents Day, children usually return to their parents home to have dinner, chat, and so on. In the busy world we're in today, many children are unable to visit their parents often, leaving them lonely. Thus, having this day allows for these children to return to their parents side and learn to take good care of their parents. This day is especially important to me, as I felt that children nowadays especially should learn to appreciate their parents. Some of these children, due to work, place their parents in the Old Folks Home. Others who are extremely poor tries to get money and inheritance from these parents through CPF, the ungrateful ones.

Overall, I believe the main reason for there to be no Elderly Day is because no one wants to be reminded that they are old. Everyone who experienced aging would always want to return to their days in childhood, regardless of how impossible it is.

Quoted: "How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country". A Lie? #5

"How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country", I believe this statement has different viewpoints to it under different circumstances and scenarios.

If someone was to die for a country when it is during a war to defend one's country, I believe it is definitely a very noble and honorable act. In wars, there would definitely be inevitable deaths, hundreds of thousands of them. However, what are this soldiers really fighting for? Why are they sacrificing their lives? Well, it's for the rest of the people in the country; they fight for the land, they fight for peace, they fight to defend. In wars, the country defending is always at loss; they have to protect its people as well. These citizens are their "assets", and losing them would be entirely losing the whole place, and thus, soldiers are tasked to protect the people at all cost, even by dying. Thus, I believe these people who sacrificed for the country is those that's truly noble and of course, should feel honored to do so.

However, although both are soldiers, I feel that one who died trying to attack another country should not feel sweet at all. Not saying that these soldiers are the "evil" ones, since the leaders are the ones who launched the attacks, but it is definitely not something to be proud of to me. When attacking others to gain their land, I believe it's a cruel and inhuman act, especially directed at the leaders. All they want is more land, more power, more money, and in doing so, they kill thousands of people, and they don't even show any signs of regret nor grief for them. Thus, I believe those who tries to gain power, whether under orders or not, won't feel sweet and fitting when dying.

All in all, I believe that no one should be killing another human. This inhuman act, even if for the country, should be avoided at all cost as none of us would feel happy for killing another human being.

Peer Pressure #4

On the previous assembly, we were introduced to this topic of peer pressure. During the talk, we were exposed to two different scenarios, one being the "bad boys" side and the other being the "cool girls" side. These videos are basically the extremest bad side of human nature in school, and shows how to new "recruits" to these "gangs" managed to break away from this bad company with the help of their true friends. We were also introduced to a new term, N.A.H

N - Identify NEGATIVE influence

With reference to the video, the negative influence for the male group is basically those friends who are always asking the male lead out for LAN gaming and encouraging him to skip school and steal money from his parents. The negative influence for the female group, on the other hand, are the group who persuades the female lead not to be friends with her best friend because they "didn't like her".

A - AVOID them

This was just what the characters in both groups did, they broke away from them. Besides, most of those negative influence didn't exactly treat them like friends anyway.

H - Finding HEALTHY influence

This is for the person to identify which friends are those that will stand by him/her, encourage him/her to be a better person in life instead of ruining him/her.

Together, these three factors form up the most important and crucial of maintaining a healthy peer group, that will stand by you and push you into becoming a better person no matter what. Even though this cases of extreme peer pressure may not be available in our school (asking them to do foolish things like skipping school), there are definitely are cases like asking them out for LAN gaming and affecting their results indirectly. By finding a healthy peer group early and not be influenced by the negative, we will definitely progress to becoming a better and successful person in life.

A True Gentleman #3

According to Dictionary.com, a gentleman is a man regarded of having qualities of refinement associated with a good family. However, I do feel that this definition is wrong.

As mentioned in a class, a gentleman would have a few distinct qualities: being smart in appearance, knows what to speak and when to speak, is polite to all and have appropriate behaviour at all times as well as the ability to keep cool under any situation. With reference to the meaning given in Dictionary.com, not all gentleman have to have a “good family” as said. Are you saying that one with a bad background, e.g. family members in jail, does not possess the quality to be a gentleman? And if that’s the case, does that mean everyone who did not have a pleasant family history cannot be a gentleman?

In contrary wise, I do not think that being smart in appearance is an important aspect of being a gentleman. As the saying goes: don’t judge a book by its cover. However smart a man might look on the outside, he could be an all jerk in it, breaking hearts of girls. However, a man might be all filthy or so, but he could have a big heart and possesses every other quality. So in this case, does this mean that a person who doesn’t look smart, especially if it’s natural, cannot be called upon as a true gentleman?

All in all, I feel that a gentleman cannot be judged based on what you see him as and what he’s background is, but must be felt and interacted with to determine whether he is a true gentleman.

What do you think: was the state’s image “rehabilitated”? #2

After such an incident made known to public, there would definitely be a change of perception on the state of Mississippi. To me, I feel that the state's image had not been rehabilitated, even after the actions laid down by the justice system.

First of all, the victims in this case were three civil right workers, a White, a Jew, and a Black, killed by the Klu Klux Klan. According to initial reports, these three were actually caught, but released later on. Worst of all, they went missing after their release and were found dead shortly after. What did these people do to deserve such misfortune? All they were trying to do was out of goodwill, trying to help the Blacks and regain their state in the society, and because of that, they were killed?

Even though the eighteen culprits were caught and imprisoned later, I feel that just a mere imprisonment is totally insufficient. Three lives and all they got was a four to ten years of sentence to jail? That's totally absurd! Today, murder in United States would incur at least 15 years of jail term, which I still feel is not a very reasonable exchange for a life. Although the officials in Mississippi changed their perspective of prejudice in the state, which I felt made the three noble sacrifices a worthwhile one.

Till today, Mississippi is still remembered for the Civil Rights Movements. If we were to ask people their impression of Mississippi, I'm sure the majority would provide a negative one.

Civil Rights #1

When it comes to serious crimes, is it right for the justice system to pursue criminal charges several decades after the crime is said to have occurred?

I believe the justice system has every right to pursue these criminal charges after several decades after the crime is said to have occurred, even for crimes which aren't that severe.

My stand for this would be that when one commits a crime, regardless big or small, he or she should definitely face the rightful punishment for it. Should a criminal be let off that easily if the police are unable to arrest him or her in the stipulated amount of time, more and more people would bound to try commit crimes, be it out of desperation or for the fun of it. This would then lead to an overall increase in crimes rate, making the country less safe for its citizens. Moreover, according to a research on the percentage of criminals caught after committing different crimes in 2004, http://askville.amazon.com/criminals-caught-crimes-commit/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=7191078 , majority of the criminals who actually commit serious crimes like murder are actually caught. So does that means that those who are lucky in their time to escape the clutches of justice can be let go that easily if caught again in the future?

Some might say that these criminals may have repented in the time where they weren't caught after committing their crime.But that is definitely an unfair statement, as of course, it does not apply to all the criminals. Most of all, are these criminals so special to be different from others, to be able to repent in a surrounding much better than those who were caught; jail? Even so, I do feel that some cases should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, as some of these criminals might have committed their crimes out of accident when they were hot in their head, or when it is obvious that the person have repented through his kind acts in the society.

Thus, overall, I feel that the justice system have every right to pursue criminal charges several decades after the crime is said to have occurred.

Reflections on Term 2 Expository Test

I am very disappointed after receiving my results for my expository essay test in Term 2. The reason for this was because there was a drop in grade for my results as compared to that in Term 1. I believe the reason for this was that I am really not reading enough and thus, my range of vocabulary is just insufficient.

In this paper, I was forced to do the question on "The Arts should be made a compulsory component in the school curriculum. Discuss." The reason would be that I am totally unsure of the 2 other topics. For the first topic, I could not decide on what social media was, while for the second topic, I was unable to figure out the meaning of "Adolescence" as well as "turbulence" and thus, was unable to do both the questions.

The thing I've done badly for my essay is that I was unable to include as much examples as I did for my explanation to support them. Furthermore, because of my lack of vocabulary, I am unable to explain my pointers properly.

To ensure that I will do better for my other essays in the future, I would try to read more Time magazines as well as books for me to widen my vocabulary. I would definitely strive to do better in the upcoming tests, achieving at least a grade increase from this term.

Comments_Term 2

Comment 1: Lee Liak Ghee (Poem Analysis – The Soldier)

http://leeliakghee2i310.blogspot.com/2011/05/poem-analysis-soldier.html

Comment 2: Lee Liak Ghee (STOMP – Jiang Lai)

http://leeliakghee2i310.blogspot.com/2011/05/stomp-jiang-lai.html

Comment 3: Gaw Ban Siang (AAT Lessons and Syllabus)

http://bansiang2i3.blogspot.com/2011/05/our-uniform.html

Comment 4: Koh Yi Da (Response to a Chinese Debate Topic)

http://2i3numbereight.blogspot.com/2011/04/response-to-chinese-debate-topic.html

Comment 5: Lee Wei Ren (Facebook sued for $1 billion over Intifada page - Should social networking sites be banned?)

http://lolz-teddy.blogspot.com/2011/04/facebook-sued-for-1-billion-over.html

Comment 6: Lu Zhi Hao (LKY’s comments T2P9)

http://2i315.blogspot.com/2011/05/lkys-comments.html

Comment 7: Jonathan Ng (War Poetry – In Flanders Field)

http://ispark18.blogspot.com/2011/05/war-poetry-in-flanders-fields.html

Comment 8: Chin Ming Fwu (Spitting)

http://2i303la2011.blogspot.com/2011/05/spitting.html

Comment 9: Lee Liak Ghee (Are girls the stronger sex?)

http://leeliakghee2i310.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-girls-stronger-sex.html

Comment 10: Kervin Tay (Term 1 Sabbetical – Solar Panels / Renewable Energy)

http://kervin1i3.blogspot.com/2011/04/term-1-sabbatical-solar-panels.html

Poem_In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

I believe this poem was very well-written as it was able to make, at least for me, feel involved in the scenario.

For the first paragraph, I think that the poet was able to start off the poem very well by making use of "poppies" as a symbol to represent most likely the soldiers of the wall. Secondly, it also made use of the line "The larks, still bravely singing, fly" as a great reference to the whole war itself as larks are usually used to symbolize hope. Following this sentence, they spoke about how they heard guns below, most likely trying to relate with the previous sentence and bring out the theme of "Behind every war, there is hope."

For the second paragraph, I believe the poet was able to contrast the soldiers themselves from before they came to war and after that. It is also evident that the soldiers were all dead and "lie in Flanders field" at the time when this paragraph ended. On the first line, the word "short" is used instead of "few", which should then be grammatically correct. However, the usage of short could be used to demonstrate that the days prior to these seemed very short, besides being few. The difference in this would be that "short" would be more to the fact that the days themselves were very short in duration, while "few" would be used to show that the days were very little.

The last paragraph, which is my favourite among the three, is used to show the perseverance of the whole team in fighting the enemy. Initially, I was unable to fully understand it, and I thought the "you" in the paragraph refers to the enemy and the things that "we" throw are grenades and bombs. However, soon after, I realised that it was actually meant to show the teamwork among the team and their perseverance to defeat the enemy and the "torch" was actually a form of symbol showing an obligations of the soldier to carry on the battle. Among them all, I felt that the last line of "In Flanders fields" was able to put a really good ending and period to the whole poem.

Should Singlish be recognized as an official language in Singapore?

Singlish is a very widely used language in Singapore today. But should it be recognized as an official language? Below, I'll be presenting my views on why Singlish should not be recognized as an official language in Singapore.

Firstly, what exactly is Singlish? Well, it is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese and many more languages which Singaporeans often use, thus getting its name of Singlish. So what so bad about having this language? Well, for one, it would definitely worsen relationships among different races. Because Singlish is a mix of language, different races might mistake one another for what they’re saying easily. Wouldn’t this therefore, worsen the relationship the social cohesion among the citizens of Singapore, which is totally against what the government is promoting?

Secondly, besides having internal communication problems, communication with citizens from other countries would be even worse. Giving an example here, imagine going to England and saying, “Eh, I want one chicken rice, more sauce ah” at a chicken rice store, the owner would either not understand him at all or give him chicken rice with lots of chili sauce instead of black sauce which he intended. Furthermore, if you were to go to a university in Singapore and because you were so used to using Singlish, you might start to blur it out unknowingly. How would your English friends there interpret and understand you then? Wouldn’t this in turn leave a bad impression on the English man, having them think that our standard of English is poor instead of them understanding that it is our language?

Some of you might argue that Singlish as an official language would help in improving the citizen’s national identity of being a Singaporean. No doubt, that would be the case. But what would the use be if the communication amongst one another be degraded to such a state whereby citizens can’t understand each other? Furthermore, it is a universal fact that if you were to adapt very comfortably to Singlish, it would be very hard for you to use proper English as words and pronunciations would just be blurted out without you knowing. If communication cannot be mastered properly, what use is there to speak for our national identity?

Thus, I would re-emphasize my point and state that Singlish should NOT be recognized as an official language in Singapore.

Sabbatical Term 1 (Hwa Chong Proficiency of Communication)

I had attended the Hwa Chong Proficiency of Communication sabbatical in Term 1 and I must say that it was a very fruitful experience for me.

Some who might have gone to this sabbatical might claim that it was very boring as all we did there was to give speeches, listen to speeches, and give more speeches. Well, I do agree that that was all we did, but at the same time, useful tips as well as techniques were taught to us to be more confident, and most importantly, engaging when giving our speeches to a large group of audience on a certain topic. Furthermore, it is undeniable that from the practice we had from presenting speech was able to help many of the students overcome their stage fright as well as give a more persuasive as well as interesting speech.

On the first day of sabbatical, my thoughts were the same as many others; why did I get into this sabbatical of all? The title itself seemed so boring and I thought I was going to waste 5 days of my life listening to crap. However, I was proved wrong on the first day of sabbatical. There were in fact so much more to presenting speeches then what we knew; impacts, rhetorical question, repetition, there were just far too much method that we can use to give an interesting speech, so why are we giving speeches that would make the audience themselves fall asleep?

On the last day of the sabbatical, which is the assessment, I must say that it was a hilarious thing of me to prepare a PowerPoint presentation instead of a speech. Nevertheless, I could see the improvement in me presenting in front of a large group of audience as compared to the first lesson. I was able to be more aware of my audience as well as use some of the techniques which was taught, mainly rhetorical questioning.

I must say that among all the sabbaticals I've been through, this one would definitely be the most helpful to me in the near future. However, I also learnt a very important thing from this sabbatical; never to be complacent in giving speeches as well as to know your own script like the back of your hand.

Does Hard Work Always Pay Off?

"You must study hard to get good results." This is an all-too common phrase we've seen and heard in our lives. But is it really a fact? Will the hard work you put into studies always pay off? Well, I suppose that many might argue that it is, but I must say that it does not pay off all the time.

Given a very generic example here: a students tries to study very hard for this upcoming Science test he has, burning midnight oil and trying to get all t

he facts into his brain. However, during the test itself, he just suddenly blacks out. What's worse, the teacher might even think that this student did not study at all, and may even reprimand him for not working hard enough, where in actual fact he has.

Whereas in this case, the student would be like :

All over again

How depressing and demoralizing would it be then, for a student, who just simply wishes to get a good and rewarding result from all that hard work he had put into studies?

Another example where many people should have heard of: Similar to the above example, one has this really large exam coming up. But on that day of exam itself, he suddenly fell ill and in the end, had to retake the year all over again. Is this all that could be done for this student; to just have him retake his test again the following year? Years and years of hard work before the exam, and he had to retake; just because he was sick?

Thus, I would like to ask again; does hard work really pay off all the time? None of the above circumstances can be controlled. You may argue that if one student is really familiar with his notes, he would never just black out during the test. However, think from the students' point of view for a change; imagine studying day and night for this test, how stress would it be? So I must say, to guarantee a pay off, one should learn to do more smart work instead of just putting in hard work.

Facebook: A Waste of Time?

There has been many arguments pertaining to this issue; some may think that Facebook is never a waste of time with all the games, applications, people you can find there, while others might think that it is a pure waste of time.

The benefits of Facebook, which is what many would argue to be the merits of Facebook and why it is never a waste of time, is that it contains many entertainment utilities like games and cool applications that can show you when you die and what god tells you (Of course, they're just for the fun of it). Most importantly, it allows you to maintain relationships with one another, even after a long time. For example, some things that Facebook can do is to remember all of your friends birthday. I for one, would never be able to remember all of my friends birthday without the help of Facebook, so indeed it is helpful. Furthermore, Facebook can be said to be a "hoster" for many games as Facebook itself does not really produces games for users to play with. Some examples of this very addictive game: Mousehunt, Backyard Monsters, everyone plays them. Lastly, Facebook also allows users to create groups, which can be used for many purposes. Examples of these groups include political groups for publicizing, class groups, and many more. Thus, over more than half of Facebook's 400 million users would say that no, Facebook would never be a waste of time.

On the other hand, there is another small bunch of people who would argue that Facebook is a waste of time. Small, but yes, they do exist. The basis of their argument would be that what Facebook does is make your life lazier, more generically like what technology does. In rebuttal to my previous point on how Facebook remembers your friends birthday, many would say that the sincerity of remembering your friend's birthday would be gone with Facebook. People nowadays no longer depend on themselves to remember their friend's birthday, so what's the use of looking at the day's event before going to your friend's wall and post a "Happy Birthday"? Furthermore, some would find that Facebook is a totally immature form of platform. So what does one actually get for "poking" someone else on Facebook? What's the point of liking all those weird and totally random pages like "The awkward moment: when the Queen confuses the Royal Wedding with a fancy dress party and comes as a lemon." What then is the point of all these pages? Entertainment? Or would it more to be discriminations? Besides, if Facebook was to close down one day, all of these contact information would be gone instantly. For avid users of Facebook, can we assure that they can still live on without it? Lastly, supporters of Facebook being a waste of time can also argue that Facebook can be a very dangerous source of platform for cyber bullying as well as what some call "stalking". As people normally do not "private" their information such as their addresses and number etc., information can be seen by ANYONE and EVERYONE in the world. How dangerous would it be if informations like that of government officials fall into that of terrorists then? The consequences would be severe. Thus, the minority of Facebook users would say that Facebook is not only a waste of time, but also a threat to some.

Well, my stand in this issue is that, Facebook is a waste of time, but it cannot be argued as a platform that does no help to users at all. I, for one, am on Facebook almost all the time away from school. However, I admit that I do nothing in Facebook except for games and staring at the recent news every 10 minutes. A distraction it is, but with the help of Facebook, it has also allowed me to form discussion groups for my friends and I to discuss our project in an easier, more effective platform. Although some may say that the Window Live Messenger would be a more useful tool in this case, Facebook would be a better choice as one would have a higher chance of having Facebook as compared to MSN due to the high popularity of it, especially among teenagers.

Thus, I believe that there are many viewpoints to this issue. As long as people are able to utilize it fully to their advantage and not be taken in by its disadvantage, Facebook would inevitably remain as the best and most popular social networking site.

Task_Featured Article (Task)

Court Case Featured Article

http://www.filedude.com/download/drIO3lFxEHbc32d7f29d

Comments for Expository Essays

For the expository essay exercise done on Thursday, 21 April 2011, I have commented on the following people's essay on their blogs:

Lee Liak Ghee (10)

Low Wei Yang (13)

Jonathan Ng (17)

Ivan Ong (19)

Kervin Tay (23)

Essay

What do you consider to be the most important social problem in the world today?

Social problems around the world: lack of values, relationship issues within families, prejudice, which is the most important among them all? Of course, there might be different arguments for it; some may say that prejudice is the most important because these incidents are happening around them, while others might say that the lack of values is the most important as the new generation is starting to show their wrong attitude about life. I would say that none of these are the most substantial problem, but the problem of greed would be the one that might harm our world the most in the near future.

Workers yesterday, managers today, state bosses tomorrow; would people ever be satisfied? A definite no! The generation today would always seek for a higher position in life, never willing to stop and be happy with their own results. An example would be the infamous Adolf Hitler. Did you know that before he became a leader and dictator of such power, he was just a mere worker? Because of his overwhelming greed, he had that strong desire to crave for more power even after he became a leader, resulting in him killing over fifty million people in his lifetime. This is an example of the phrase “greed is the root of all evil”. What would we do if we would have someone like him in the world again?

The problem of greed does not stand alone; it affects the honesty of a human being as well. When one starts being greedy, underhand means would be used to attain what they desire. In a competition, we often see people harming or threatening their competitors prior to the match so as the gain the upper hand before the game even starts, giving them unfair advantages over others. Wouldn’t this reflect badly upon them, both that they were greedy and that they were dishonest?

Some may argue that prejudice is the most important social problem, but in actual fact, prejudice is actually caused by greed. Cases of prejudice occur in many different forms: skin colors, income groups and many more. For skin colors, people show greed as people would want more advantage over some other people, and income group depicts greed as the rich did not help the poor but instead, flaunt their richness by making the poor do work and treat them like slaves. Don’t these then show that greed is indeed the root of all evil?

One would never be satisfied with himself. At the end of the day, the problem of greed would never cease to exist. Nevertheless, as long as people in the world know when to stop, the social problem of greed would definitely decrease drastically and thus, other social problems that arise such as prejudice and crimes would subsequently diminish eventually.

(Word Count: 467)

NSmen trained to be fit, strong soldiers -- yet this one makes maid carry backpack

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/caught_in_the_act/588060/nsmen_trained_to_be_fit_strong_soldiers__yet_this_one_makes_maid.html

This STOMP news is about a NS man caught on camera having his domestic helper carry his bag pack while he is using his phone. This photo has reflected a very negative impact on the Singapore army as comments have reflected the public's displease with the army, thinking that if NS men are unable to carry their own bag pack, how would they be able to defend our country?

I feel that this particular NS man here is a very bad example of soldiers in the army. Although there are minority of people who are causing all these bad public impression, there are the majority, who are of course strong and independent. The main purpose of the army is to make sure that men in Singapore are all physically fit and are able to defend our countries in times of need. Another purpose is to ensure that men actually become independent instead of being waited on all the time.

I believe that the army should find out who exactly is this NS man and discipline more to ensure that this type of acts would not be caught by the public again. Should there be more of such case, I am sure that other in times of war, other countries would be able to intrude Singapore very easily due to the fact that our army is not smart, quick-witted and too dependent on others.

A day in the life of World War II

Dear Diary,

We were victorious; VICTORIOUS. We have successfully intruded the ridge and have seized it from the enemy’s hands. This battle was one to remember; as it was the first one I have fought in my lifetime. Right now, soldiers and commanders alike are celebrating outside, singing, dancing, and feasting after our first victory in intruding the Southeast Asia. I really wonder, why did the emperor want to go into war? Wasn’t it much better when we were living in peace, happily beside our family? It was indeed a great victory, but how long will this victory last? One year? Three years? Ten years?

The battle was cruel, brutal. Blood were spurt all over the battlefields, as thousands of enemies and allies alike fell onto the ground, one by one, dead. Even my best friend, Sam, was killed in this battle. It was tragic, tragic indeed, blown into pieces by the impending grenade. I would back out from this war right now if I could and return home and be with my family. Everything seemed like a heaven before war, and now, after my first battle, I would never wish for a second one.

They seem to be having much fun outside now, I should be joining them. Besides, I should be living everyday like it’s my last. Perhaps this diary entry would be my first, and my last? Well, I’ll just hope that I’d be able to write diary entries all the way till the end of the war. Hopefully.

July 8, 1937

Wei Kiat

Descriptive Paragraph_Class Task

One look and you’ll see the dozens and dozens of unfortunate and malnourished children, all looking weak and fragile, camped at this undesirable forest with bad conditions. In every corner of the forest, a child could be seen; the look of fear and hunger was evident, on each and every single child, while their ribcage was protruding out of their thin skin. With bloated stomachs, these children were reeking of unpleasant smell, as though not bathed for years. Occasionally, cries from these toddlers could be heard echoing through the forest, as they weep in desperation. As I laid my hands on one of these children, I could feel their rough and dry skin, as though touching an uneven rock. Torture it was, for these newborns, who have yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

STOMPed

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/ugly_commuters/606506/even_students_from_elite_school_cant_follow_noeating_rule_on_bus.html

This STOMP report is about three Hwa Chong students being captured by the public eating ice-cream on the bus. From the comments, there are two main sides of looking at this case.

The first perspective would be that from the STOMPer's point of view, that students' from elite schools can't even show proper discipline in public, and are only "nerds" to them. I find that this point of view is a very biased one, as it might be the viewpoint of members of public who detests these students from elite schools. This can be evident from their repeated usage of the term "nerds", which is an impolite term used to describe people who only studies and does nothing else. These type of thinking is more prone to people who are unable to view things in the larger scale. When students from neighbourhood do such a thing, would they blow up the matter? Why is it such that the actions of pupils from elite schools "deserves more attention" from the public?

The second perspective, which I believe is a fairer view of issue, is that students in Singapore are not disciplined enough to follow rules. However, I still feel that this mindset should be instilled into the people, as it is only the minority of the population who are ruining the reputation of the country. When one commits something wrong, such as eating in the bus, the issue is immediately blown up and pictures and information are released onto the World Wide Web. When doing so, wouldn't the STOMPer, in this case a Singaporean, be ruining the reputation of his/her own country? Why is it such that only negative images are portrayed and showed to the members of the public, and not the helpful, the understanding and caring side of our citizens?

I find that blowing this case up by putting it onto the World Wide Web is a bad move. The STOMPer should just have informed the school of this misbehavior outside school compound and let them handle the issue behind closed gates. In fact, I think that the whole set-up of STOMP was a big mistake. NS men having maids carry bag packs, students kissing explicitly in neighbourhood parks, China hawkers attacking patrons for taking extra ikan bilis; is it really a necessity to have all of these undesirable news to be placed online for everyone around the globe to view? What would their impression of us be? Thus, I believe that usage of this online platform, STOMP, which only gossips and does harm for our reputation as a Singaporean, should be highly discouraged.

*No stand is taken in the issue of the Hwa Chong STOMP case here to avoid undesirable comments.*

Corporal Punishment

A corporal punishment is a deliberate punishment of inflicting pain onto the wrongdoer, mainly as retribution for an offence commit or for disciplining him/her. There are three main phases of a corporal punishment, namely at home, in school, and judicial punishment.

For punishment at home, it is a very common sight as children are often spanked or caned using a cane when they misbehave or did something wrong. Other common actions, mostly used on younger children, is to get their child on their lap and spank their bare buttocks.

For punishment in school, it is often done where the Discipline Master would cane a student in front of a group of students, sometimes a class, a level, or the whole school. This was to serve as a reminder to the rest of the student population not to misbehave and also to the offender, whose self-esteem would naturally be affected.

For judicial punishment, it is very often seen in jails with criminals who have committed serious crimes and jail terms are just not sufficient enough and death penalty are just too heavy. Caning in jail are far more pain as compared to schools or at home and thus, are able to leave a burning and permanent scar on the inflicted. An example of one who received such punishment was Michael P.Fay, who was an american teenager who vandalized in Singapore, thus having him undergo caning, leading to the displease of the Americans.

Newspaper

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other? Are there in-between types of newspapers?

The most distinctive difference between a broadsheet and tabloid would be its size. A broadsheet, as it name suggests, consists of broadsheets, which means that it is bigger while tabloid, on the other hand, is smaller. A more generic term to describe a broadsheet and a tabloid would be serious and dramatic respectively.

The purpose of a broadsheet would be more to inform the readers of happenings. They are more in the factual and objective tone, whereby there is a minimal point of view on the topic. The language used in broadsheet is also more complexed as it mostly accommodates for the more educated readers who are seeking information and knowledge. It consists of more text and has a more serious and intellectual readership as compared to a tabloid.

The purpose of a tabloid is more faint, as consists more of gossips, scandals and include very sensational headlines. In the articles, it consists of many point of views, which broadsheet is lacking. Lastly, as a broadsheet is more for recreational purposes, it uses lots of visuals a more casual as well as emotive and dramatic tone with much simpler vocab to relate well with the audience.

There are, of course, in-between types of newspapers. This would mean that the newspapers would most likely relate to you well while at the same time, giving valuable information. This type of newspapers would include Todays and Homes. These newspapers might also include bits and pieces of abstract from the two types of newspapers, thus being able to portray an in-between of the two newspaper types.

TKAM

Question: How is world happenings around us related to the context in the fire at Miss Maudie's house? (Extension)

Firstly, we will start off by evaluating the issue in Miss Maudie's case. During the fire, people from Maycomb were all working together to help Miss Maudie in saving her valuables from the house. Among all these people, Mr Nathan Radley, who was actually quite anti-social and not on good terms with everyone in the neighbourhood, was the last to leave the scene and the one who continued bring out her things until the last minute. This shows that in times of need, people would still show their help and support, regardless of who they are. This incident also showed the unity of the people in Maycomb.

Now, we will be discussing about the recent disaster: the Japan Earthquake. In this incident, the undersea earthquake triggered triggered destructive tsunamis up to 40 metres, which swallowed up everything in its way. it was estimated that 13,000 people died, 5,000 injured and 15,000 missing and over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, incurring over 300 billion USD, being the most disastrous earthquake Japan had ever faced. The fire could be compared to the tsunami and the people trying to save Miss Maudie's valuables could be compared to the people around the world who offered help and assistance to Japan.

The fire was the one who initiated all the people in Maycomb to gather and help Miss Maudie, and the tsunami was also the one who initiated people from all over the world to help Japan. The people who helped Miss Maudie is the same as those who helped Japan, as they were all trying to ease Japan's pain during the earthquake. Likewise, Mr Nathan can also be compared to those countries who were under Japan during the Japanese Occupation. Although Mr Nathan was not very close to Miss Maudie, he was still willing to lend a helping hand. After the Japan earthquake, the country who were tortured by the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation did not show signs of hesitant when helping Japan, but forgo all she had done to them and helped them regardless.

The moral of this two stories, as said in the Reading and Reasoning Paper 2, is that people show their best side in life only during crisis. If everyone could change their views that other people only need help in crisis to people should offer help all the time, I'm sure the world would become a better place for you and me.

Prejudice_Telephone Conversation

Telephone Conversation
by Wole Soyinka


The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. "Madam," I warned,
"I hate a wasted journey—I am African."
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.
"HOW DARK?" . . . I had not misheard . . . "ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?" Button B, Button A.* Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis--
"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.
"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,
I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding
"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused--
Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black--One moment, madam!"--sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears--"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather
See for yourself?"

This poem is basically a conversation of two main characters: the narrator, a black, who is trying to rent a flat and the landlady, who is trying to rent her flat. This poem was able to bring out a strong feeling of racism and prejudice against the black within it as they made us of the two skin colour to show the displease and unhappiness between the two colours.

In this poem, we can see that the landlady who is renting her place was very prejudiced against blacks and had a strong sense of racism. This is evident from the point where she started speaking into the phone saying "How Dark?". This meant that she was very concerned about the skin colour of the narrator, thus showing the fact that she was unwilling to rent her room away to someone who is indifferent in colour with her as she was also hesitating alot in the conversation, which can be seen from the long silences. Also, the fact that she said "What's that" and "Don't know what that is" could also mean that she was not very smart and did not understand the meaning behind why blacks should be discriminated and only did it because everyone else was doing so too.

Favourite Poem

Blog Prompt: Pick a poem or prose extract that has left a deep impression on you. Write about why it left such a deep impression on you. Write about why it left such a deep impression and what you learnt from it. Include the poem/prose extract in your post.

Racial Understanding - James Di Fiore

I wasn't asked at birth
When mamma squeezed me out of her still slight girth
If I preferred my skin to be dark or light or in the middle
Nobody asked me to fiddle with
My pigment
So how am I to explain the actions of my ancestors, even a little bit?
I know the history, I just wish it were her story
Instead of the bloodshed washed through the claims of glory
I'm sorry

but I don't think I can say I have any pride
Take a ride through the past and you might see where I reside
They looked just like me those who committed homicide
They looked just like me those who committed genocide
They looked just like me men who brandished weapons at their side
They looked just like me but they never really looked
They never looked at all, from proverbs to graffiti in the bathroom stall
and voices in the hall laughed as they watched them fall

But it wasn't me

But I can identify with those who believe they have a right to look down on me
I can see their frustration and can almost agree
With sentiments that state they hate what people who looked just like me
did to their family's fates
It's crazy
But stillit just wasn't me
I wonder what it would be like if I woke up black
Given my temperment I know I'd fight back
And want to lynch those who looked just like you

But what did you do?

Nothing that you can undo
Nothing that makes you the epitome of the evil that men do
If I woke up Chinese would I hate the Japanese?
If I woke up Japanese would I hate the Canadian authorities
from the 1940s?
If I were a Jew would I hate a modern day German?
If I were made of two races, would I hate the puritans?
I'm through man, with all of this hate
I can't take it
Is there anybody that can take racism and bust like me?
And if I were a black man, would I hate someone who looked just like me...?

I like this poem very much as aside from being in such close reference to the issue of racism, this poem also brought out a very deep sense of feeling that was not only able to discuss the issue of racial understanding, but also brought out a very special feeling in the second stanza when the phrase "They looked just like me" was repeated several times.

In this poem, however, I liked the last stanza the best as I felt it made a lot of sense. We can't change our past, what has happened has already past by; why are we still dwelling on things that happened and maybe hate those people who caused this? What's the whole point of this? Hatred for pride? Wouldn't it be much better, if the world could just live harmoniously, with no issues of discrimination or racial tensions? Quoting from Martin Luther King, Jr., a member of the Civil Rights Movement "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

Ku Klux Klan

This post would be about the history of the Ku Klux Klan in America. The Ku Klux Klan engaged in many terrorist activities and members of this Klan also wore white costumes, consisting of robes, masks and conical hats, which is meant to be terrifying. The history of Ku Klux Klan is separated into 3 different Klans, the first started in 1860s and died by the early 1870s. The second Klan started in 1920s while the third started after World War 2. As such, this post would be focusing more on the timeframe of Mississippi burning, which would be the third Klan.


The third Klan which appeared was strongly against the Civil Right Movement as well as the idea of desegregation. It adopted the anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, anti-Communist and anti-Immigrant perception. Some common acts the KKK carry out would be to burn crosses as a form of warning that the KKK was there. This Ku Klux Klan was also closely allied with the police forces and as such, was able to lay down attacks at appropriate times and places, carrying out several bombing and assassination in the 1960s. To curb the issue of the KKK, the FBI paid informants in the Klan in places like Birmingham as they seemed more concerned about Communist links to civil rights activists than about controlling Klan excesses against the citizens.

Lynching

As I was quite curious about this topic of lynching and more specifically about how lynching occurs, I have done some research on this topic.

Lynching is basically an unofficial, an illegal execution of someone which is carried out by a group of people. Some methods of lynching, besides hanging being the most common, would be burning, or even shooting. As such, between 1882 to 1968, up to 3,500 African Americans, the blacks, were lynched. Now, in United States, the government and the nation strictly adhere to the law that lynching of a person is a serious crime and those who were found to portray acts of lynching would be punished seriously.

Blog Post - Mississippi Burning

Reflect on the phrase, 'Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing'. What have you done when you have seen people being discriminated against? What more can you do the next time you witness discrimination taking place?


The phrase "Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing" is especially applicable to this film, "Mississippi Burning". In the story, we can say that not all of the whites were discriminating the blacks; at most to the point where they just ignore them entirely. However, this people are also guilty in not standing up for the right values that blacks should not mistreated by the whites. Some examples would be the supposedly "unprejudiced" police force of the town. When they saw that a black was being dragged into a car and beaten up, all they did was close one eye and acted as though it never happened.

When I see others being discriminated against, I have the same thought in mind as what those police in Mississippi Burning would do; "close and eye and avoid trouble unless necessary". I do understand that this form of thinking is a very selfish thought, only caring about yourself and not willing to spare a thought for others, especially the one being discriminated. However, seeing how these innocent people were being lynched in Mississippi Burning, I feel that someone must initiate and step up to defend this poor people like how the FBI agents were helping the blacks in the town. As such, next time, upon encountering situations of discrimination, I would first try my best to break the argument up. If all does not work, I would inform a teacher of this incident for him / her to take over.

TKAM Blog Post 5

What memories of your own childhood come to mind as you read Scout’s experiences?

As I read about Scout's experiences, I recall the times where all we had to do was to go to school, learn simple ABC, have fun, get back home, have fun, take a shower, have dinner, play again and go to sleep; that simple. Back then, life was so much more carefree; not worries at all. Perhaps the only worry we had back then was which toy to buy, which show to watch. However, seeing Scout's experiences, I could see that Scout's maturity level was growing at a much faster pace then I had, learning about issues of prejudice and discrimination at the young age of 7 to 9. However, nonetheless, looking at Scout's experience during summertime, where she just laze around all day doing nothing, similar to what we did when we are toddlers and when she was in school, where her level of curiosity was very high, questioning at every single question she had in mind.

Posterous Prompt 1

Have you ever been part of a group of people that were unkind to one or more individuals? Describe the circumstances. What caused you to behave the way you did? How did you feel then? How do you feel about the circumstances / events in retrospect?



I have been in this kind of situation or have seen this kind of situation several times before. During the incident, there would also be this person in the whole group who is segregated, ignored. From his facial expressions and actions, I could see that he wanted to join this group in engaging a discussion or just playing with them, but was actually instead, discriminated against and chased away from the pack. Up to now, I still cannot understand why people would discriminated others so much. In this case, the guy being discriminated against did not do anything at all to irritate this group of people, but was still singled out. However, because I found that "the situation was none of my business", I did not stand up for that guy.

I find it enraging and weird how people would actually pick upon and "bully" these people when they've done nothing at all. All of us are humans, are no human's life is worth more than another. How these people are actually treating this guy, I feel quite pissed at their actions. Everyone in the world needs friends, be it you or me. For those people who actually have lots of friends since they were born, maybe because their wealth attracted these people, who would never be able to understand the loneliness of someone who is being ignored and thus, become the one ignoring and telling others to segregate this particular person. Quoting from a famous person, ""Whoever says Friendship is easy has obviously never had a true friend!" This quote would be especially applicable to these people; those who were spoon-fed since young.

Anger Management

With reference from one of the previous PCME lesson Anger Management, I am going to talk about my views on it in this post.

I believe anger management, although not the most important psychological control we must have, is a very crucial factor we must have to ensure that we become a better person. One without proper anger management would flare up easily and cannot control this anger of theirs, leading to them doing wrong things when they are hot in their head. At the end of the day, most people who cannot handle their anger well would find that they would soon be segregated from the crowd due to their bad temper and habit to flare up at the slightest thing you can find.

To be able to handle anger well, the first thing you would need to do; think before you act. Whenever you feel angry and have the urge to punch that very person before you, think. What has this person done to make you so angry at him? Maybe its just you yourself overacting? For those people who really cannot control their actions when they are angry, they should just walk away, not because they are afraid or cowards, but because it is a chance for them to cool down to make sure they do not do anything wrong.

Some extreme examples of anger would be people who actually kill others just because they were very angry at what they do. This moment of folly not only made them do something immoral, but also ruined their whole life because of this criminal record. Other cases would be whereby parents quarral and get angry over each other, in the end filing for divorce. At the end of the day, the one who perishes is neither of them, but their own flesh and blood; their children.

As such, I believe that anger management is a very important quality we must all have in order to succeed in life.

Blog Prompt 4_TKAM

Harper Lee’s novel is full of interesting and richly paint characters. Which character was your favourite and why?

Among all the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, my favourite character would be Atticus Finch. I started liking him especially a lot after reading about the court case. This is because I find that his actions of standing up for the blacks although others are prejudice against them are very commendable. Even though he was called a “nigger-lover”, he disregarded this comment and continued helping Tom Robinson, as he knew that was the right thing to do. People like him are very rare back in those days, who was willing to work with them, what’s more help these black people, who were regarded as of much lower status then the whites. To be able to stand up for justice; that is what I really admire about Atticus Finch.