Follow the micro-trend

Read a review on Mark Penn's books entitled 'Microtrends Squared' and thought it will be a book worth reading. In the book the author lists 50 observations which in his words are ' new forces driving today's big disruptions'. Micro trends unlike macro trends are small forces which quietly redraw the norm of living ie. changes that are increasingly noticeable in everyday living. He categorises them into 6 groups, namely love and relationship, health and diet, technology, lifestyle, politics, work and business. The reviewer of the book thinks that many of these trends seem relevant to Singapore. In fact I notice such trends myself and can even relate to some of them.

One of the micro trend on relationship is that a greater percentage of husbands are playing 'second-fiddle' in the bread winning role in marriage. Now personally I experienced that before my retirement ie. if you consider yourself earning more than your husband by 20 to 30% but with him footing the big ticket expense items and you channelling money into reserves as fitting the second fiddle description. In retrospect I think I was wise to let him pay the big items to preserve the traditional provider role that a man wants to fulfill whilst being part of the changing trend of achieving wives..

Other than the trend of remaining single another observation the author made is that even married couples are living 'independent' parallel lives or sleeping in separate rooms. This excites me because I have harboured thoughts of sleeping in another room to get some real sleep without interruption from the snoring half. I will feel less guilty if that is fashionable, really. In fact visiting someone's small condo the other day made me feel how good it is to stay on your own with your own living space and then returning to a headquarter for meals and socialising with family. 

Just another interesting trend that tickles me is the growing fixation with pets. In my case I won't call it a fixation but I dutifully give my Miaomiao an organic aloe vera (from my garden) scrub weekly and my husband feeds it lemon grass (also from the garden) every morning. Yesterday night I was awakened by screams of cat fights and had to scramble out of bed to shoo away a stray cat lurking outside my gate. Well if that is not part of the emerging weird micro trends, what is?

Not Just a Fairy Tale

I was reading through a children book entitled "Snow Queen" to prepare for a story telling session at the library. Finding the fairy tale by Hans Anderson very interesting with its twists and turns I knew it has much symbolic meaning underlining the story. So I did some research and discovered to my amazement so much symbolism that is relevant even to our modern world. In other words Hans Anderson like Shakespeare observed human traits, strengths and weaknesses which are universal truths that live through time. He managed to capture in the story themes about life's journey fraught with temptations yet coloured with individual philosophy, transformation, love and charity.

Firstly the writer recognised the strength and determination in women, a tribute to women in a male-centric world. Among the various female characters, the evil Snow Queen was portrayed as one who mesmerized her victims with her dazzling beauty before turning their hearts to ice, eventually freezing to death. It is a stark reminder of spiritual death in the absence of love. In the book the main victim is a young boy called Kay who left everything behind including his warm memories and followed the Snow Queen in her shining carriage to her palace. Shafts of ice that resembled mirrors had pierced his eyes and heart. Anderson must have observed how men tend to be more obsessed with their own image and pomp ( distorted mirror vision) and in pursuit of grandeur leave their feelings and empathy behind.

The main female character is his best friend, a girl named Gerda who was determined against all odds to look for him (theme of sacrifices). She faced many hurdles and used both intellect and intuition to overcome them, often resorting to nature to lead the way and going with the flow as a last resort. In one instance she was misled by her own conviction that a young man whom a princess took as a groom was Kay, only to be utterly disappointed. This subplot  in the story illustrates how in desperation people adopt false hopes.  Along the way Gerda found support from many female characters who are portrayed with various human traits and some of them had their own agenda in helping her or expected something in return. Among the supporters was a little robber girl who finally gave in to her inherent compassion to help Gerda unconditionally. In the final leg of her search a reindeer could not bring Gerda any further in the long journey and she had to break through sheaths of ice on her own . This signifies how in life we have to accept the fact that we need our own resolves to accomplish our goals. When Kay was saved from being frozen to death by the Gerda's tears, love transformed even the coldest hardened heart. The story is realistic in that the Snow Queen was not punished  a symbol that evil still exists

Apparently Snow Queen is Anderson's most ambitious fairy tale. So much meaning and relevance to life is embedded in a fairy tale. It pays for an adult story teller to research into the symbolism so that when telling the story to children one knows how to subtly bring the messages across. It is not just a fairy tale after all.

Think before you click

The government is seeking public opinion on section 377A of the penal code as to whether it should be repealed. The code penalises gay sex.  I am not here to argue one way or another but find some opinion put forth for and against quite intriguing.

The National Council of Churches does not support the repeal as it is deemed harmful for individuals, families and society as a whole. "The council urges Christians to pray that God will protect the institution of marriage and family because they are indispensable for the well-being of the future generation and the flourishing of our society".

The question that comes to my mind is why the 'institution of marriage and family' is of such importance to the church. Has it an ancient historical origin to preserve the human race and reinforced centuries later by the need to ensure Christians would continue to propagate and grow in numbers to combat the muslim turks during the Crusades. No doubt Christians believe the Bible which is God's words advocates marriage with threefold objectives. First to reflect God's image as he created both man and woman, second to reproduce and third to reign (Genesis 1:28).

When I google on Genesis 1:28 "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground," my instant response was we have multiplied in such numbers to send so many other species into extinction we should really give others a chance.

On the other side of the scale, advocates of the repeal quote human rights and evidence that homosexuality is inborn and is present even in nature. To me it is quite obvious that some people are born with this orientation.. I have read and personally know of families that have endured untold sufferings because of society's stigma. Yet what I fear is not so much a slide down the slippery rope of morality but more of the tendency to develop even the slightest tendency towards homosexuality.

The above are just off the cuff response and my understanding of the implications is superficial. I have not researched and thought through enough to vote either way if called upon to do so at a referendum. One must understand fully the arguments put forth by both sides and not blindly jump in to support either party based on cultural preconditioning and bias either way. That is what we have to do to be fair to our fellow human beings. So at least think through before you click on the next request to sign an online petition.

Lottery of Birth?

Two weeks ago I was keeping track of the 'ding' sound from my handphone. Both children are away travelling on their own, one to India and another to Osaka. India on your own hails all kinds of risks whilst Osaka was bracing some storm or typhoon around that time. It did not help when the son landed at New Delhi late in the evening and messaged there was a change in plan as many roads were closed for the ex PM's funeral.

As it turned out he was misled by a couple of people (among them a guard at the train station and a cab driver ) who cahoot in saying that it was difficult to access his hotel and instead brought him to a so called licensed tourist office. As he had planned to head for another town early next morning they suggested he headed for the town straight away instead of spending a night at New Delhi and provided him the transport . In the process he was grossly overcharged. However what is really incredible was on his return to New Delhi after touring other places he lodged a complaint with the police against the tourist office. The police accompanied him there talked privately with the owner while drinking ' coffee ' and managed to help my son get partial refund of the money he spent.  My son had learnt from this trip that no stranger can be trusted and every one who  comes up to you is thinking of getting some money from you more or less. For example a doorman will unexpectedly wrap your head with a turban take a picture and ask for some small money; not to mention hosts of others along the street either peddling their wares or begging for money. Despite what he likened Indian cities as big garbage dumps where no one uses the garbage bins, he is still enthralled with the architecture, cultural diversity and mysticism of their forts and places of interest while shocked at the unbelievable squalor and unhealthy conditions of living, in summary a total eye opener. He described that getting out of the noisy and filthy streets to an indoor destination is a great relief. (Just to mention he brought back some bacteria or virus too).

In contrast my daughter related her encounter traveling from Osaka to Mt Koya where she experienced a temple stay. The zen along the forested paths and the quiet especially in the temple where " one can literally hear a pin drops " is mind bogging. At one onsen, after taking their baths a few foreign ladies did not wash the basin and keep the things in place. Noticing that, a local Japanese bather took her initiative to clean up the mess.

Hearing these stories when they return home I ask the question why some people are so lucky and others so unlucky being born in different parts of the world. The Economist Intelligence Unit has an index known as 'where- to- be- born index' which measures countries by the opportunities they provide for a healthy, safe and prosperous life. In the 2013 ranking Singapore is 6th and India 66th out of 80 countries (Japan came in 25th).

If there is really a GOD how does he allocate where one should be born or is it just a lottery, A lottery of birth.

Below are pictures which they took which show the contrast of the 2 countries.