I've been too lazy to blog. Hence for the time being, please enjoy my GC journal.

PRE– TRIP JOURNAL

10 December 2005, Saturday
It was the first global citizenship briefing. It was uncertainty which I experienced. I received an email a few days ago and was told to be in the reserves. I’ve never taken a flight before. I hope this would be an opportunity for me to see the world out of Singapore.

One of my friends didn’t attend the briefing as he thought that the chances for him to get in the subject would be low. However, I think that if you want something and go all out, you’ll get what you want eventually.

Beautiful pictures were shown in the briefing. The world is big out there but I’ve yet to seen any. A shanghainese woman was invited to provide us with more information and lifestyle of Shanghai – interesting. I guess many who attended the briefing had fun pronouncing some of the shanghainese phrases.

I’ve also realized from what I’ve learnt in sociology, I was able to apply this concept - cultures and values are embedded in our language. Without language, it wouldn’t create the environment you are living in, and the values you’re taught ever since you’re born. Then, it’s where you’re born that’s important. Environment and people shaped our life.

There’s still hope though. I hope I’ll be able to go Shanghai.

7 March 2006, Monday
It was the first day of global citizenship lesson. I’ve got into the class of TV01. Ms Marie had lots of proverbs which sets me to think deeper. There’s so many citizenship that I’ve come to realize, global; student, employer, employee and tourist. They come under one big umbrella - citizenship.

Globalization is the compression and intensification of the consequences of the world as a whole.

The world has become smaller each day with the rapid growth of technologies. Good or bad? Perhaps I would prefer the world to continue to be in its primitive state. Why? Good phrase to quote, “When the world is big, we think small. But as it gets smaller, we think big.”

There are so many problems in the world now. Environment verses Human, Human verses Human. For the recent years, many things had happened. It started out with mouth and food disease, SARS, Bird Flu; evolving from one stage to another, Tsunami and etc. And we human tried our best to overcome them and restore them to what it was in their original state. Coming to human verses human; terrorism around the globe and genocides happening in other countries.

Is it a hint that we should restore Earth to what it was supposed to be?

Human life has improved over the centuries due to the wonderful brains we had. At the same time, it has brought us various consequences. In many ways we had benefited (an easier life). However, from what we have done and received over the years, was it human’s retribution?

Maybe if we’ve learnt to be more self-contented rather than trying to pursue knowledge and understand why, the Earth would be able to survive longer, humans would be happier and live longer. However, pros and cons emerged as we get more and more educated. Imagine, I wouldn’t be typing this entry. Back to primitive, I may be learning how to hunt now.

7 March 2006, Tuesday
Today’s presentation was impressively done by my classmates. I could have done better, but maybe I’ve yet use to the people in my class. There was lots of “arguments” in defending individual perceptions.

Though I have my point of view, I wasn’t spontaneous enough. While the arguments were going on, thoughts are running in my mind, analyzing others perception. I wasn’t confident enough in a new group of people to speak up.

Our thoughts, is it regarded as perception or deception? What is right and wrong? If murdering and taking one’s life is wrong, it’s because we have the mind to judge. What about taking the life of an animal? Do we have the mind to judge? Yes. But because an animal doesn’t have a mind to judge, humans aren’t blame.

Right and wrong isn’t defined. If there’s a day whereby we’ve to be cannibals, I guess many will be; in the mental state of desperate survival. If you say you wouldn’t, you’ll be killed. Naturally, you’ll sleep well and sleep forever. There’ll be neither have fear nor guilt.

True enough, human tries to maximize profit over all values. Due to environmental and social problems, we can be extremely selfish.

“World federation is an ideal that will not die. More and more people are coming to realize that peace must be more than interlude if we are to survive; that people is a produce of law and order; that law is essential if the force arms do not rule the world.” -William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice

To simplify this proverb – the world is perfect, peace is important if we want to survive; hence if we can produce law and order, peace should be made without resorting to violence.

It then leads to peace lying in the mindset of man. We chose our path in life; we’re responsible for what we’ve chosen. Selfishness leads to anger and frustration and then leading to war. It starts off as initial state of selfishness, to the process of anger; war had already started in the process before actions actually took place.
Therefore, for this proverb, “The primacy of profit maximization over all other values is the core of environmental and social problems.” I do only agree partly.

I do not agree that environmental and social problems are the core that we go against our values. Rather the core problem lies in us. As what I’ve learnt recently, the “moral compass”. We can choose to go against or not to.