Contradictions

Nikon F3 | 50mm | Scanned negative

My life is full of contradictions.

People say they want health food, but stalls flavored their food with MSG still makes billions of dollars each year. People say they want to work satisfying jobs, but end up chasing after the biggest paycheck. People say they want news on world affairs, but tune into trash on Astro. I’m no different (except that I don't have TV at home). I have plenty of contradictions between what I truly believe and how I behave. And I think anyone who says they don’t is lying to themselves. Practicing what you preach isn’t easy. It may be impossible to do it completely. But even if you can’t escape the contradictions of modern living, you can lessen their impact. You can consult what you know to be true, and use that to guide you, instead of rationalizing your behavior and living a lie. Personal conflicts is one thing but pushing out to the masses is altogether a different story.

There was this seminar about inculcating integrity among Malaysian. Most dictionaries define integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. I was early at the registration counter as the program was supposed to start at 8.00am. By 7:55am, the hall was filled with crowd anticipating the coming agenda. 15 minutes after eight, the crowd started getting restless and at 8:30, the announcer called for patience in the audience as the seminar would commence in another 10 minutes. Words came to my ears that the VIPs and presenters were still having their breakfast at that time.

It is not uncommon to be experiencing the same situation in our community. I was amazed on why was the programmed fixed as such. If social breakfast is something really important prior to any event, then the program should start at nine or ten. Why do people has little respect for others’ time. I have no objection with anyone wasting their own time but if they are wasting my time, I have little tolerance towards that.I left the place immediately after the announcement. I was looking inside the gift bag with neatly written words on integrity in pamphlets and publication. If only those words were put into real practice.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys :-)

7D | 50mm | f2

Growing up in a remote small village, I remembered how smart children picked up on things that their peers didn't at a very young age, and since they didn't know any better, they expected their peers to understand what the we're talking about. Their peers, however, did not understand and in order to avoid embarrassment, would avoid intelligent children, or, out of jealousy, bully them. This lead smart kids to grow up resenting their less intelligent peers, and to some extent disliking social contact. 

Now, towards the end of my working life, I've noticed that any time there's a smart person around, everyone else gets nervous, so the smart hide, and don't breed. In many organizations, I got the feeling that the administrators don’t feel comfortable when there are smart people around. Smart people are often misunderstood and misconstrued by the aggregate. I myself don't claim to be smart but I do know the difference between duck from a doe, and it costs me to some extent. 

Being bright is more of a handicap in school these days when they're trying to make everyone equal by lowering down public education quality. Anyone in secondary schools in the 70s can confirm this just by comparing the Science and Mathematics curriculum then and now. Now, what used to be 'average' is considered advanced, what was below average is now acceptable. 

I wouldn't necessarily say that society hates smart people. It's human nature to envy those smarter than themselves, but in any good society, those attributes are encouraged and the lesser strive to improve themselves. The problem that I see is that the bosses hate smart people. The people in power hate smart people. It's easier to keep a stupid, uneducated populace in check, because they won't question their authority. It's in the bosses' best interests to dumb down their workers, to encourage the breeding of the stupidest and weakest members of an organization. That way, monkeys are happy with peanuts.

:-)