What is greatness? To me it means etching your name in history through contribution to your community, your country or to the planet. That is the purpose of life...to have your life mean something to others, to contribute towards the greater good, to be remembered fondly by others after passing on.
Life is hardly about one upmanship, chasing after wealth or power. To me wealth or power should be a byproduct of greatness, not the other way around.
Obviously not all of us can be Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln, so we will need to have the right scale of greatness. We will have to find our very own personal greatness road map.
It would be great to share your life story with your grandchildren someday (if they would like to listen). And I'm sure they would want to listen to your story if you lived a great life.
It would be really sad if in your deathbed, you realize that you squandered your life on passing clouds and never aimed for greatness.
I wonder what passes through the minds of people who cheated and lied to acquire wealth and power at the point of death, those who complicated their life over fleeting pleasures...Would they repent or would they think it was all worth it?
Personally I would rather let out a satisfied sigh over a great life before passing on. Perhaps we Malaysians need to look for some modern role models whom we should look up to....Richard Branson, Tony Fernandez, Nelson Mandela, etc.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Freedom Of Speech
I must start off by saying I salute the Malaysians who attended the BERSIH rally and saw it through. Despite all the pressure from the government and the police, tens of thousands (it seemed to me) gathered , braving the rain and the police blockade.
What does Freedom Of Speech mean? To me it means we as citizens have the right to bubble up our concerns to whatever level we deem necessary. If we feel our concerns can only be handled by the Agong, so be it.
As a democratic nation we as citizens have the right to gather and raise our concerns. Especially if the concerns relate to our democratic fundamentals and if our requests are reasonable.
Since it's a peaceful gathering, why do the powers that be feel so uncomfortable with it. As long as public or private property is not damaged. As long as there's no injury caused to anyone by members of the gathering. I would say by definition it's a peaceful gathering.
Why the worry over a little dissent. We can't all have the same opinion or be on the same side, can we? I believe it's due to the comfort zone of Malaysian's not questioning authority. It's been a long held belief that Malaysians will question the government only and if only their rice bowl is impacted.
What makes politicians so afraid of people voicing their views. This seems to be feared by politicians everywhere including in the show Boston Legal last night. :)
To me it's a sign that we as a country are maturing. There must be room to look at the other side of the coin. And it looks like we Malaysians are finally starting to see the flip side of the coin...after 50 years of independence. To me that's a good sign as any.
What does Freedom Of Speech mean? To me it means we as citizens have the right to bubble up our concerns to whatever level we deem necessary. If we feel our concerns can only be handled by the Agong, so be it.
As a democratic nation we as citizens have the right to gather and raise our concerns. Especially if the concerns relate to our democratic fundamentals and if our requests are reasonable.
Since it's a peaceful gathering, why do the powers that be feel so uncomfortable with it. As long as public or private property is not damaged. As long as there's no injury caused to anyone by members of the gathering. I would say by definition it's a peaceful gathering.
Why the worry over a little dissent. We can't all have the same opinion or be on the same side, can we? I believe it's due to the comfort zone of Malaysian's not questioning authority. It's been a long held belief that Malaysians will question the government only and if only their rice bowl is impacted.
What makes politicians so afraid of people voicing their views. This seems to be feared by politicians everywhere including in the show Boston Legal last night. :)
To me it's a sign that we as a country are maturing. There must be room to look at the other side of the coin. And it looks like we Malaysians are finally starting to see the flip side of the coin...after 50 years of independence. To me that's a good sign as any.
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