Investiture 2011: Stellaris

Looking back, all the ups and downs in my secondary school journey had been mostly created by council. Having fun with council mates, organising events, attending events, being voted in every year.

However, it had been a stressful year in 2010, but again, through hardship will I grow.

Today's investiture was a recognition of my efforts, and I am proud to wear that gold badge. As I shook Mr Low's hand, he gave me a firm smile and said, 'Good job, I am proud of you.' As ego-boosting that statement might have been, at that moment, I resolute to strive harder, and not to disappoint my mentors.

Sure that gold badge did not come cheap, neither will it last if I slack.

To me, the golden badge is a symbolism of my efforts, and expectation for me to do even better in future. I am grateful for the council experience Hwa Chong has given me, and I will treasure every moment.

Quotes

Today, I would like to share a few quotes, the most unique and impactful of its kind, reminding man to persevere in times of adversity.

1. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

Even if the route ahead is faced with obstacles and challenges, as tough as it might be, match it. You will get going. I choose to believe that the social Hierarchy that any country possesses has been determined and structured by the varied amount of 'toughness' everyone have. Meaning to say, the most successful people are those who are tough and those who overcomes adversity rather than those who give up and whine.

Well, I am not exactly stereotyping, I am aware Tough may not be successful and unsucessful may not be not tough. (By successful, it means your position and level of achievement in terms of your ambition. E.g. If you love computers, Gaming Champion = Successful ) To further illustrate the case of exceptions, I will bring in another Chinese quote.

一分耕耘，一分收获。 Well, that's the model one, but my primary school teacher had an add-on.

有耕耘不代表会有收获， 但无耕耘必定无收获！

I hope that this may motivate some of you out there who had worked hard but yet to see result.

In the case of successful people due to inheritance of assets, well, that is not 收获, it is not your yield, but that of others.

Now for the 2nd quote,

2. A successful man is one who builds a foundation with the bricks other had thrown at him.

An analogy couldn't be used more appropriately.

Take criticism in a light-hearted manner, expressing gratitude when you receive them.

(In the right situations)

In the end, it the one that is able to take in criticism and mocking, improving his character as time passes who is the winner, a successful one.

Thank you.

Confidence.

So as promised, I will be sharing and talking about my views on a TED video.

I chanced upon this video a month ago under the category "TEDtalks under 18". Turns out this girl was only 12 years old. I was very much impressed, firstly about her logic on how learning between generations should be reciprocal but more impressed by her presentation skills and confidence. Though she might have some scripts on her hand, it was amazing for a 12 year old girl to be presenting in front of a thousand adults, getting a standing ovation as she finishes. A usual 12 year old who performs better than average in school might even be only learning pronunciation and meaning of the words Adora Svitak used in her speech.

This brings me to a recent experience I had. I was chosen to give a campaign speech to be elected as a head of the student council. Before that, I literally had butterflies in my stomach, I was worried that there might be jeers, I was worried that people might laugh at me, I was worried that I would stumble, basically, I was super worried.

Even after spending much effort on my powerpoint and rehearsed my speech many times, it still boils down to my confidence. Confidence is the trust you have for yourself relative to your expectations, hence I guess I did expect alot from myself but I was not able to trust myself.

Although I had been outspoken in class and possess initiative in oral participation, my confidence of public speaking is still low. Well, it is quite true that it is the society's number 1 fear. I realised that confidence can be improved in a number of ways, number 1, imagine a situation where you managed to amaze the crowd, by imagining some thing positive, your brain will no longer be congested with negative thoughts. Don't worry about screw-ups, and compare the situation with that when you are in the face of death, that should remove all fears you have.

During the campaigning session, it was rather obvious that I did not amaze the crowd and had not persuaded them fully. It was also clear that I wasn't the one with the best oratorical skills. From now on, I shall train my confidence by exposing myself to public speaking experience and also expressing my ideas and opinions during assemblies.

Notice that the girl did not stumble as she gave her speech and a body language was couldn't be more appropriate, she also manage to apply humor which helped to win audience over. Her intonation when she spoke was amazing and was full of impact and confidence.

I had always been convinced that I am someone who was outspoken and that my confidence and oratorical skills were a cut above my peers. However, when I was preparing for my presentation, I had a constant fear that was affecting my appetite and mood. My complacency brought me to a state of shame when I wasn't even half as good as the girl not to mention that I was acting like a wimp before presenting to just 400 students around my age. What I had learnt is that I have much room for improvement and I should continue improving, both my confidence and speaking skills.

My aim will be to be as good as the girl in 2 years time.

Life of a Jew.

Here are my diary entries as I attempt to impersonate a Jew during Hitler's rule. I did extensive research before penning these entries down and gained much as I tried to imagine the situation there and then but my imagination went slightly overboard and I had never expected it to be deemed realistic by my history teacher. Well,he enjoyed it and I hope you do as well.

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3^rd August 1934

Dear Dairy,

Today, I am at a loss of words. Our worst fears have come true, the Nazis and Hitler himself had fully taken over Germany. We are sending off some of the women and children away to a safe place far away from the Nazis. We all know what kind of life waits for us. There is no doubt it will be a life of chaos, violence, terror and poverty. My uncle and his party opposing Hitler had already been executed by the Gestapo publicly for making comments criticizing them. The scene was so gory and gruesome, what will come out of their children? I pass each day with increasing fears, that soon, the Nazis will exterminate the whole Jewish population. Why, why am I born a Jew?

Dear God,

Please give me the strength to live on.

Signing off

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14^th August 1934

Dear Diary,

I am currently hiding under my bed; in fear that any time, the Gestapo or Hitler’s SS might knock down my wooden door and arrest my family. It is no longer safe to stay quiet; Hitler is bent on eliminating our race. My whole family stays in the house; we no longer see any point in working outdoors at the risk of our own life. The discrimination is intense, I felt as if I am bullied like a kid by the Aryans.

I will be constantly updating this diary for future generations to read and I hope this shall show the world the injustice the Jewish people faced… My current focus will be to stock up on rations by sneaking outside to steal food, it is too dangerous to venture out… It is scary how the Army and secret police are able to come out with excuses to punish the Jews, when that happens, they will spectate the event and derive joy from it.

Sadistic bastards.

Signing off

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1^st September 1934

Dear Diary,

I got a huge scare today. I was reading the paper when there was a series violent knocks on the door. It had been peaceful for more than 2 weeks that I did not think before acting. I opened the door and a few of the Gestapo’s police rushed and pinned me to the ground. They asked if I know of a man called Toraso Sidenbarg, he was caught to have shouted at an Aryan child and will be brought to a concentration camp promptly. At that moment, my shoulders will tearing apart as if it is going to wear away. I knew that cooperation was my only choice, I murmured out his whereabouts as he was a close colleague of mine. The moment I finished reporting, they gave me a hard push on my head, laughed, and walk away. I heard them saying ‘Typical Jewish…’ as they exit. Tears flowed from my eyes down my cheeks.

Sorry friend, I didn’t mean to betray you…

This was a period of time when betrayal is essential for survival.

Signing off

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23^rd September 1934

Dear Diary,

Today maybe one of the last times I write in you. You had been discovered while I was on the way to the market. I showed you to a Jewish friend who seemed very interested in where I live, what I do daily. He gave you a good read before dashing off. Apparently, he was a spy for the SS. I chased after him and snatched you from him. The spy will definitely report back to the commander, I am currently hiding in a desolate shelter, waiting for time to pass, taking leftover buns for prayers as food…

Awaiting for my doom.

Signing off

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1^st October 1934

Dear Diary,

I am currently in one of the concentration camps. I was caught stealing bread from a stall, as I tried to run away after being discovered, I was grabbed by my hair by the police. Upon confirming my race, I was sent to the concentration camps. This is my first day after admittance, perhaps life in the camp may be better than constant fear living outside as I get to see fellow Jews.

At least there is food here too.

Let us pray for a better tomorrow.

Signing off.

25^th October 1934

Dear Diary,

This had been the first time I am free to write this entry. How wrong was I to think that the camp is going to be better than life outside!

No freedom, no dignity, no food.

I do not have much time left, my body is getting more and more frail… I feel like collapsing, this will probably be my last diary entry and I would like the whole world to see how cruel the Germany government is. The space we sleep in is so cramp, it is the size of a room with 80 people. Many of my friends had been executed as they were unfit for labor some were killed in the gas chambers, I hope that I will die peacefully instead. Today, the food was rather good compared to the rest of the days, after doing labor work for work; we had a piece of bread, a cabbage and bowl of soup. I manage to eat the share of another prisoner’s when he fainted halfway eating.

The warden is coming, I have to go.

Signing off

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6 November 1934

Dear Diary,

Today, 9 of the prisoners are taken for experimentation purposes and some into the gas chambers. They had been in the camp for 3 months and no longer had energy to work on. The wardens cruelly took them out when they were unable to stand up. Another friend of mine wanted to stop the wardens but was slammed with a bat, the cell had became a bloody place.

I have no more energy to live on, but I have to finish this diary entry… My food was confiscated as I was deemed to be rude to the officers; I have grown so thin that the prison shorts are no longer wearable…

Signing off

1^st January 1935

Dear Diary,

Today is a joyous occasion; it is New Year’s Day. The labour work was reduced and we had a bowl of rice each. Up to this point, my left leg can no longer move due to malnutrition, I sit in a corner, brainstorming the ways I might be killed. Will I be used for experimentation, beaten to death or will it be the gas chamber?

I miss my family… I want to die.

Signing off

5^th January 1935

I need food… food…

Goodbye all, May the person who gets hold of this diary publish it.

Expose the corrupted.

Signing off

6^th January 1935

Footsteps closing in… thud thud, thud thud.

The warden is coming to drag people.

I remained sitting in a corner, unable to move.

What will become of me?

Treating people with your heart-

Lying on the bed, recounting my life as a councilor, I had a sudden epiphany I had to record. I recounted the campaigning periods the year before and just recently this year. I am ProEd Councilor and every year, the student body will cast vote for their favorite councilors and shortlisted councilors will remain in the council, while the rest shall drop out. I realized that I had always been desperate in my measures to the extent of using emotional blackmail to garner support for the elections. It was similar to last-minute hugging the buddha's foot, in this case, it was hugging the students' foot.

Why was that so? It then dawn upon me that I had been mistreating my friends, calling them names they dislike, and frequent teasing. I had not been helpful in many occasions, dismissing their request with a wave of my hand. Overall, I had not been a helpful friend.

Now, just 1 month before elections, I started treating people better, helping them occasionally, no longer my usual rowdy self. However, my change in behavior was not able to reach all the friends I had mistreated, and for those people, they were not willing to cast me their votes due to past taunting, they felt that someone who was not sensitive enough should not be in council. However, for my classmates who were able to sense my change in behavior, they themselves reciprocated by treating me better. They no longer call me names nor tease me too. This is when I realised that it is important as a human being, you treat people with your heart and never let your overwhelming ego hurt others. So, that was what adults always meant, to live in a better society, with everyone caring and helping each other.

Back to my campaigning process, as I went along convincing classmates why they should vote for me, they reflected that they have certain choices in mind and I will come after that. And more often than not, these choices always corresponds. I was indignant, these people did not had a better MSG than I do , nor were these people as outspoken as I was. As I sat on a chair, staring into blank space, wondering why some people who does not seem too capable are a popular choice. Shortly, my friend joined me and I poured out my woes.

He replied, "Lionell, you want to know why? Because they are not bastards like you. "

This statement angered me quite a bit, I was not able to restrain myself and I insulted him by calling him a 'dog' accompanied by various profanities and a slap on his back.

"See, this is what I meant, bastard..." and he went off. I immediately regretted my action as it had cost me to lose a vote, but above that, I probably had lost a friend. I realised that these frequent actions of mine has damaged relations with my friends. For a moment, I thought I was not able to make it to council, but most importantly of all, I had wasted my year, mistreating friends, not valuing friendship.

When I got home, I was saddened by the fact that I had minimal support for the elections.

I googled, " What does people look for in a leader?" and hoped to come out with a miraculous campaigning method. The page was filled with a few questions, a supposed checklist for leaders-to-be. Mentally, I asked myself the questions. (Paraphrased it)

1. Do I have what it takes for ProEdians to look up to?

No. Even my friends call me a 'bastard'.

2. Am I able to command the respect of my friends?

No. Same answer as 1.

3. Am I exceptionally superb in leading?

No. If you are superb, people won't call you a 'bastard'.

4. Had I been helpful to my friends?

I wouldn't be so desperate now.

5. Are you extremely capable in a certain field of studies?

My MSG is better than the average, but hey, I guess that is not something to be proud of as my class has more than a handful of people doing much better than how I am doing and they are not interested in council.

Seemed to be all crosses for my checklist.

I scrolled down to read more.

5- Great, way to go! You have the attributes of what people look in leaders!

4- Well done, focus on the aspect you are weakest in, you are prepared to lead.

3- Acceptable, but you are not ready to lead yet, studies, charisma, whatever it is, work on it!

1-2 : You are too hasty to be a leader, reflect on how you can even be a better person before coming back.

0: You are too hasty to lead. Work on your basic character, a few years later, you will definitely be prepared.

I was prepared to drop out, however, I remained in council.

It was by luck I entered as a good friend of mine helped me to propagate within the consortium.

This had taught me a lesson, to treat people well with your heart, not for votes. Naturally, they shall reciprocate and only then, are you a worthy Hwa Chong student.

From now on, I shall work on my attitude towards friends and work to be a better person before I even look at leading.

Tomorrow is the ExCo interviews, I wonder how I am going to fare after all these negative reflections. D:

TED: Ideas worth spreading

Addiction- the teenage life is faced with temptation from all sorts of aspects that cannot be halted easily. From gaming addiction, drama addiction, Facebook addiction, titillation addiction so on and so forth.

Can addiction ever be positive and beneficial for someone? Let us not be restricted by its definition although the word inevitably has negative connotations. In the case of work addiction, it is a double edged sword. For extreme cases workaholics may suffer from malnutrition due to frequent skipping of meals and lose social contact with friends and families. However, being a workaholic will ensure a swift elevation through the posts in your career, it also ensures that your time is not wasted and you learn much in the process.

This bring me to my point, nope- it is not about My aspiration to be a workaholic nor My experience as a workaholic. I would like to introduce you to something called TED. Something that got me hooked to and addicted.

TED is an organization that often negotiates with accomplished people to give talks on their personal experience, their findings and thoughts. The speakers may range from Steve Jobs to Arthur Benjamin and from William Kamkwamba to Bill Gates. The topics may be courageous, inspiring, persuasive so on and so forth, addressing Global Warming or the importance of letter writing. And TED aims to compile all this video on one site, (http://www.ted.com) and allow viewing to be free-of-charge. They do this, with only one aim, conveying messages, ideas, that are worth spreading.

I happened to chance upon TED 2 years ago, under the recommendation of my brother. At that time, TED was not as established, it didn't had their transcript, it did not had introduction about speakers nor subtitles. At that age, my capability to understand and appreciate the talks were limited, and so I was not very interested in them. This year, I revisited the site while reading an article on the net. I remembered the first video I viewed was regarding our origins which was substantiated with plenty of pictures and videos by a speaker who tried to convey her belief that we originated from primates. The talk was fascinating and clearly got me thinking. Before I knew it, I was clicking on many of the videos, one by one. Clearly, I was addicted as the ideas were truly worth spreading.

Well, I would not say this is an all beneficial addiction when you neglect your revision to watch the TED videos. However, you can take away many tips about presentations and how the presenters made use of their slideshows. Most of the presenters were trained and extremely skilled, which explains why one can enjoy it thoroughly. There are also subtitles in 29 languages and aides in your comprehension of the talk.

By watching this videos, I firmly believe that it will broaden your horizon and encourage critical thinking instead of whaling away your time, Facebooking, feeding on useless addiction. I assure you that these videos are mostly entertaining as many speakers implant humor in their talk, even entertaining to the extend you get addicted to them. Whether or not you are agreeable to the idea, you would definitely have some learning points to take away on how this great people manage to generate an idea, how they go about doing it to substantiate it such that it can be persuasive.

However, just yesterday, I realised that on one hand, although watching these talks allow you to gain insights and entertaining at the same time, I chanced upon some videos I viewed before in the past and was disappointed when I tried to recall the gist of the talk only to have failed. Hence, I came to the realisation that it is essential for me to document each talk with a reflection and my view on the topic and that only then would I had clearly gained. Not to mention that this will also train me in critical analysis and broaden my experience, further etching the talk into my mind. I have decided to do this in the form of blogging to share my ideas and facilitate active discussion.

To end off, I hope my post had served its purpose to introduce TED to some of you and convey the idea that rather than indulging in useless addictions that only develops bad habits within you, watching these entertaining and informative talks will be more entertaining. And I congratulate you if it ever becomes your addiction and you manage to kick the others out of your life.

I hope you will ever find the talks as entertaining as I described. Do check in on my blog in the near future, I may be posting up my reflections soon!

Well, that's all, folks!

Task 1

Rainbow Death
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

What the poem means

America wanted Vietnam to pay for trying to invade them and hence produced herbicide of different colours to destroy Vietnam's ecosystem, hence the title "Rainbow Death", due to the code names of the different dangerous chemicals used by America.

This then caused the death of many innocent Vietnamese. The poet was a victim himself as he was diagnosed with a illness even long after the war. He expresses his anger towards America who did not think twice before acting and appears to be reflective of its actions. Due to this, many generations will have to suffer due to the lethal effect of the Agent Orange and other agents. However, the poet mentioned agent orange specifically as he himself experienced the ‘Execrable effects’ of agent orange.

Further Back ground info ( Adapted from http://www.warpoetry.co.uk)

Agent Orange is the code name for a highly toxic weed killer, a chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause its leaves to fall off. Agent Orange is contaminated with TCDD which can potentially cause indirect DNA damage through induction or activation of other DNA damaging compounds in the body. Agent Orange was used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

From 1961 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins. All this information I found on Wikipedia.

More about the Poet

“I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang!
My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash. “

- Herbert Wilson

Hence, we can see that the Poet wrote this poem with a illness due to drinking water toxified with agent Orange. He wrote this poem full of anger of America for causing so many innocent lives. The poem is widely praised due to its practical description and criticism for America as Hubert Wilson himself experienced it himself.

Task 2

POV/Speaker

The Speaker of this poem is presumably the poet himself. This can be seen from his criticism of America and speak out from his own experience and wrote the poems according to his own feelings about how war effects are not finished even after it had ended.

Situation & Setting

This aspect of Poem analysing is quite tricky. After reading for a few times, I believe that the situation is long after war where the Poet experience the harsh effects of the herbicide, also known as the ‘agent orange spray’ before he choose to write this poem depicting his displeasure for wars. Another interpretation could be that it is shortly after war and everywhere is filled with Graveyards.

This can be seen from “Toll on the innocent and unborn... Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.” Which describes the many casualties after the war.

Diction

· Potpourri - is a mixture of dried materials. In this poem, the word is used in the 2^nd Stanza, 2^nd line before ending with a exclamation mark. It depicts the anger of the poet as he criticizes America for not foreseeing and having so many different agents( poisonous substances) cause the death and suffering of people. By reading that particular line out, the poet mentioned all different colours representing the different harmful agents that are used in war, in a way, he was fed up with these agents and ended with “potpourri!” to vent his anger.

· “Not thinking twice?” – Personally, I feel that this sentence portrays how disappointed and angry the poet is with America. He ended with alliteration and a question mark to question what America has said after criticizing their actions

· Toll- Damage and death caused due to conflict or disasters. (Death Toll) by using this word as a verb, it means that America had caused the death of innocent people and unborn babies as seen in the last line of the first stanza.

· Omnipotent- Having unlimited power. Attempts to put the culprit as someone who is very proud lack of empathy as it is coupled with ‘ Disregarding’.

· Reflective- Someone is only reflective after he has done something wrong. In this instance, the poet is trying to mock the culprit for acting guilty as they see the people who caught up with illness and death.

· Deceit- As said, the poet mock the culprit for acting guilty, deceit is used again trying emphasize that the culprit had never been guilty for their actions. Them being guilty had been a lie to everyone.

· Nefariously- Led astray, America is wicked as it leads its citizens astray from its wicked actions.

· WILL – will is caps for 2 uses. To show how ridiculous and unfair it is for the future generations to suffer and it shows another tone such as America’s. After committing such actions, it provide the sense that they are still not regretful and stating that the future generations will pay.

· Excreable effects- Alliteration to create impact of the effects of the Agent Orange. Excreable on the other hand means deserving a curse. It put on very clearly where the poet is standing, against the America.

· The last word of the 2 consecutive lines rhythms to create the feeling that the poem is linked and will not seem out of place when being read. It also builds up its argument using a systematic manner.

Personal Response

I feel that this poem is very well written and shows the cruelty of War on one side, the cruel aggressor. It tells us that one wrong move without thinking twice will lead to suffering and many deaths and that by reflecting is no use. I feel that it also bring across the fact that war effects shall last even after a war. From this poem, I realise the harsh effects of war and how much pain it can cause a victim, in this case, the poet. Thinking twice before action is certainly important, and we shall not toll on the innocent.

Lastly, through the uses of sound devices and word choice, it creates a sense of anger in the reader and goes a long way in discouraging war. ( and criticizing America)

THE END

If you would like to know more about the vietnam war, you may want to watch this video on youtube for better understanding on the effects of the different agents. You may want to skip through some parts for it is quite long. Do look through the comments to find out more about people's view on this incident.

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc