Don't Worry, Be Happy

Recently, test results for most of the subjects except language arts (yes I know this is a language arts blog!) have been released. Feelings towards these results have been mixed from what I’ve gathered from my classmates; some have exceeded their expectations while others… let’s just say they didn’t do too well. I shall not be elaborating further on my results as they are private (actually they aren’t since most classmates know each other’s results but that’s beside the point since everyone including random people from other schools or countries might stumble upon this blog).

Anyway, as I said a few sentences earlier, different classmates have had different feelings towards their test results, with some even breaking down to the point of crying. Yes, I know it feels really horrible when you feel you have put in a lot of effort into the test but end up with lousy results. Yes, I know it feels great when you know you haven’t put in any effort at all into preparing for a test but still get awesome results. Both situations have happened to me before so don’t think you are alone in your suffering and rejoicing.

(Warning: despite the name of the blog post, the next few paragraphs might be a little harsh so don’t read it if you don’t want to)

I won’t be covering much about the ‘rejoicing because you have good results despite not putting in any effort' part, but I will still be writing a few lines about it. To all those people who don’t deserve that A1: You had better watch out, don’t be too complacent or happy; if you don’t study and put in any effort at all for your next test, I really hope you fail it badly and I really hope you get such low marks, you sit in a corner and sob until you can’t sob anymore, I really do hope you suffer. As a famous song by Maroon 5 goes, ‘every night you cry yourself to sleep, thinking why does this happen to me’, I wish you lot a very happy time crying yourself asleep many a night, except you already know the cause. Have you guys even thought about how someone feels because he has gotten bad results despite working so hard? You might come up with some lame excuse like, “I’m naturally talented” and all that rubbish but please just spare a thought for those of us who haven’t done as well despite working hard. It’s really unfair to those people who have seriously tried their best.

I know there are people try to tell you that it’s okay if you have tried your best but it is never, I repeat, never ever okay. Time to wake up. Time to get a life. In the real world, no one cares about how much effort you put in, how many hours of sleep you have sacrificed; all any normal, practical person would care about are the results. It doesn’t matter what kind of results they are, be it results for a test or results for a project; the method of thinking is always the same, the selfish mentality is always there. Yes, there are people who encourage you to try your best and comfort you when you don’t do well in something, especially something of great importance. However, sometimes your best just isn’t good enough. Some people are just not born to do something. No matter how much you try, if you are just not good at something, no amount of practice and help will save you from the horrible fate that is reality.

I say it again; all anyone cares about are the results. Think about it, what happens when your class gets their test results back? Does anyone ask you how much effort you have put into the test? No. Hardly anyone does. What is the first question they ask then? ‘Hey, how much did you get?’ is commonly the first sentence that comes out of students’ mouths when test papers are returned. I know it’s okay if the whole class does very well for a particular test, but this is hardly the case. There will always be a few people who haven’t gotten decent results. Some people who have done well are just really bad at hiding their emotions in front of people who haven’t done so well. You might pretend to be concerned if your good friend has got disappointing results while you have great marks, but many a time, you cannot hide your sense of pride and joy from that poor, sad soul. How would you feel if you were the one who got D7 for a test while everyone else got higher than B4? How would you feel if you had gotten this kind of useless results even though you had put in a lot of effort? How would you feel if people who did not even put in a single drop of sweat into studying for the test get higher than you, and not just by one or two marks, but by a whole 10 marks? You will just feel like breaking down, crying your heart out in front of the whole class, as if not a thing in the sorry world you live in mattered anymore. How much more insensitive could some people get?

I know of several friends who have tried really hard for the tests but have ended up with disappointing and unsatisfactory results. These poor souls have really tried their best but sometimes, your best just isn’t enough no matter how hard you try and how much effort others put in as compared to you.

Okay, after getting all of that over and done with, let’s move on to more light-hearted things (no I don’t mean taking a roller coaster ride at the fun fair). Here’s a song that a lot of people might know, especially people in the generations before mine (sorry but I’m not talking about your great-great-great-grand mother who migrated here years ago).

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
Don't worry, be happy now

Oo, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Don't worry
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Be happy
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy
Look at me, I'm happy

Give you my phone number
When you worry, call me, I make you happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
But don't worry, be happy
'Cause when you worry, your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don't worry, be happy
Don't worry, be happy now

Now there, is this song I wrote
I hope you learned it note for note
Like good little children
Don't worry, be happy
Listen to what I say
In your life expect some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy, be happy now

Now, there was a rumour circulating a few years ago that the singer/writer of this song committed suicide but that isn’t true, you can go look it up on Wikipedia. For your information, this was first sung by Bobby McFerrin (who still is alive and kicking today despite what you might have heard). Those people who came up with that dastardly rumour probably had too much time on their hands.

So, what does this song teach us (ignore that darn rumour, it isn’t true that he committed suicide; talk about ironic)? Well, simply, as the title of the song goes, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’. Or, using another famous source, ‘Why so serious?’. The meaning behind these two ‘famous’ phrases is the same, don’t worry too much about things, let’s put a smile on that face! Contrary to what I wrote earlier, sometimes it is indeed okay to have unsatisfactory results despite trying your best. Remember, SOMETIMES, not always, and the ratio to the number of times it is okay to the number of times it isn’t is different for everyone. It’s one of those half-full half-empty thingies. It depends on your perspective and your attitude; some people have a better tolerance of defeat and anguish than others.

Personally, I feel it’s all just down to luck. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t, it’s something like rolling a dice; the effort put in becomes sort of redundant. However, please don’t quote me when you have to explain why you aren’t studying for that big test.


References:
http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/mcferrin.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_McFerrin
http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/dontworr.htm

Criticism

Should we criticize people and or opinions they have? After much thought put to the matter and ‘tough deliberation’ (although it was only 10 minutes), I decided that the answer is both a yes and a no.

We should respect others peoples’ actions and opinions. You wouldn’t like someone coming up to you and slapping you just because they did not like the way you felt about something. However, if the thing that you did is indeed wrong, you should just accept the criticism, learn from your mistakes, and act differently in the future.

If you are the one who is criticizing another person, stop and think before you act. Is what the other person is doing that unacceptable and wrong that you have to tell that person off? Put yourself in that person’s shoes. Would you get angry if another person told you off for something that you did? Remember that you must put your perspective from the other person’s point of view, not your own. You would naturally say that it is right to criticize the other person as you are not the person that is being criticized.

You might not know it, but the person who is doing the thing that you think is wrong may have a good reason for doing it. For example, if you are in a car driving to a hospital to see your dying relative whom you are very close to and you are scolded (hopefully not in hokkien; get what I mean right?) by another driver for cutting into his way, how will you feel? If you are a normal person (which you should be unless you are not a normal person [wait that was kind of irrelevant]), you would most likely think that this person is being very unreasonable. You are rushing to see your dying relative and some overly-sensitive guy can’t even cut you some slack.

However, if you were the one who is criticizing the person who just cut into your way, you would probably feel that the person who cut into your way is being stubborn and rude. The driver who had his way cut into would feel like it is unfair; why should he get his way, how can he just cut in like that? I have already been in this lane for so long (this is usually the case every morning during peak period at the portion of road just before Bukit Timah Plaza).

This shows the different points of view that each driver has towards a certain situation. The driver who cut in would think that he should not be criticized as he was just trying to get to the hospital as fast as possible to be with your loved one during the person’s dying breath. On the other hand, the driver whose way had been cut into would very likely think that they were right to criticize the other driver as they had wrongfully had their way cut into.

This brings us back to the main point. If we criticize people, it should be because we care for them, not because we want to upset them. When you criticize a friend, you might think that it is for that person’s own good. The friend might take it differently. The friend might think that you don’t want to be his friend and just want to upset him.

If you really care for the person, criticize him out of the good of your heart. Whether he or she chooses to accept the criticism, it is his or her own choice, not for you to decide for him or her. If he or she gets angry over it, it shows that he or she is not really your friend as he does not accept criticism which is for his or her own good. As I have stated earlier in this post, whether we should criticize has both a yes and a no as an answer. After all, it is a philosophical question.

Chewing Gum

Mmmm… Chewing gum…

To most Singaporeans, chewing gum is sort of a ‘forbidden fruit’. Although it sounds quite unusual, there are quite a few Singaporeans who have yet to try chewing on this, well, chewing gum. To people who do not live in Singapore (or people who have just migrated to Singapore or tourists), this seems even stranger. Have you ever wondered why chewing gum is no where to be found in shops around Singapore?

The answer to that question is pretty straightforward. The sale of chewing gum is banned in Singapore.

Now do you know why you can’t find chewing gum being sold in Singapore? Wait, before I move on, please let me correct a common misconception that many people who live in Singapore have. Chewing gum is not really banned in Singapore; rather the SALE of chewing gum is banned in Singapore. That means you can safely consume the chewing gum you bought from Malaysia (yes, I know many of you do that). If you still don’t believe me, here is a quote from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA):

Sale or advertisement for sale of chewing gum prohibited
2. —(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the sale or advertisement for sale of any chewing gum is prohibited.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the sale or advertisement of any chewing gum in respect of which a product licence has been granted under the Medicines Act (Cap. 176).
(3) In this regulation, “chewing gum” means the substance usually known as chewing gum, bubble gum or dental chewing gum, or any like substance prepared from a gum base of vegetable or synthetic origin and intended for chewing.

I hope you believe me now but if you still don’t and think I invented that myself, the link to the page is at the bottom of the page (the second page of the pdf file). Anyway back to the topic. Recently, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary for National Development, said in reply to a question asked by Ms Denise Phua of Jalan Besar GRC about when chewing gum could be re-introduced into Singapore, 'We remain concerned that lifting the ban on the sale of chewing gum could result in chewing gum litter resurfacing as a problem, and undermine our on-going efforts to curb littering,'. In short, that means the sale of chewing gum in Singapore won’t be happening anytime soon. However, selling chewing gum is still ‘legal’ under certain circumstances provided it is therapeutic.

Firstly, let’s see the reasoning behind why chewing gum was banned in the first place. Many years ago, in 1992, the sale and advertisement of chewing gum was banned in Singapore. This happened because there were many cases of people sticking chewing gum on public property like trains, buses and other stuff. Eventually, the government (and some people who were tired of picking gum of their shoes) got fed up of cleaning up after the inconsiderate litterbugs who were committing these acts. Their solution? Ban the sale of chewing gum in Singapore. That way, the amount of chewing gum circulating in Singapore would fall, and so would the cases of people leaving chewing gum everywhere.

Many people felt it was a rather unfair move; why should the entire community be punished because of the inconsiderate and selfish acts of a few people. I too feel that it is somewhat unfair as most of the people had done nothing wrong but were still punished for what a few thoughtless litterbugs did. However, it does make some sense. If the people cannot enjoy this privilege properly, the government has the right to remove it. This will ensure that Singapore stays clean like it should.

So, finally, in conclusion, chewing gum will remained banned in Singapore until the people have shown that they can be considerate citizens and not litter or damage public property. Oh well, back to chewing gum from Malaysia ;)

References:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_497870.html

http://www.newasia-singapore.com/faq/will_i_be_able_to_bring_chewing_gum_into_singapore?.html

http://www.ava.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/0CA18578-7610-4917-BB67-C7DF4B96504B/8726/Attach61_legislation_Sale_Prohibition_rules.pdf