Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The Mooncake Festival
Today (Tuesday 28th September 2004), the Chinese throughout the world celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. This day coincide with the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This festival is known in Chinese as “Zhong Qiu Jie”, which is one of the three important annual festivals in the Chinese Calender. The other two important annual festivals are the Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival, 1st day of the first lunar month) and the Dumpling Festival (or the Dragon Boat Festival, 5th day of the fifth lunar month).
Traditionally in China, it is the end of harvesting season in autumn and family members gather together to celebrate their successful harvests. The festival is associated with the consumption of moon cakes and the carrying of lanterns. Therefore, the festival is also known as the Mooncake Festival or the Lantern Festival. Coincidentally, the festival is also celebrated in Korea as the “Chusok Festival” and in Vietnam as the “Tet Trung Thu Festival”, both of which are also based on the celebration of a successful harvest and family reunion.
As mentioned, the festival began as a gathering of villagers to celebrate a successful harvest. How the festival became associated with the moon was loosely based on a legend. The story was that once there were ten suns taking turn to warm the earth. One day, all the ten suns suddenly appeared together and the earth started to burn. A young archer then came forward and shot down nine suns. Because of his heroic action, the villages supported him as the King. However, the good life he enjoyed later turned him into a tyrant. And he had some secrete herbs to keep him immortal. To save the people from his tyranny, his wife Chang Er stole the herbs and consumed all of them. She then floated away to the moon to become the moon fairy. Hence during the festival, people look to the moon to search for the moon fairy Chang Er.
At the end of the Mongolian dynasty (Yuan dynasty) in China in 14th century (1368AD), a peasant by the name of Zhu Yuan Zhang staged an uprising against the Mongolian army. Zhu knew that the Moon Festival was drawing near. He ordered his rebellious army to make special cakes to be distributed to all the peoples throughout the country for this festival. Packed into each cake was a message urging the people to rise up against the Mongolian army on the festive night. Zhu eventually succeeded in overthrowing the Mongolian rule based on the uprising on the night of the Moon Festival and became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. This special cake now becomes the famous mooncake.
Although man has long conquered the moon, old traditions die hard. Today Zhong Qiu Jie is extensively celebrated throughout the world. Where there are Chinese or people of Chinese origin, there are mooncakes and lanterns for sales during the festival period. Today, the festival is celebrated not so much on the appreciation of the moon, or a successful harvest, or the overthrowing of the Mongolian dynasty, it is more of an occasion of family reunion, where travellers make it an occasion to return homes. Long gone is the message inside the mooncake. The inside of the mooncake is now filled with a variety of goodies such as egg yolk, lotus nuts, hams and other delicacies. The mooncakes are now used extensively as a gift for friends and relatives in appreciation for a good relationship throughout the year.
Traditionally in China, it is the end of harvesting season in autumn and family members gather together to celebrate their successful harvests. The festival is associated with the consumption of moon cakes and the carrying of lanterns. Therefore, the festival is also known as the Mooncake Festival or the Lantern Festival. Coincidentally, the festival is also celebrated in Korea as the “Chusok Festival” and in Vietnam as the “Tet Trung Thu Festival”, both of which are also based on the celebration of a successful harvest and family reunion.
As mentioned, the festival began as a gathering of villagers to celebrate a successful harvest. How the festival became associated with the moon was loosely based on a legend. The story was that once there were ten suns taking turn to warm the earth. One day, all the ten suns suddenly appeared together and the earth started to burn. A young archer then came forward and shot down nine suns. Because of his heroic action, the villages supported him as the King. However, the good life he enjoyed later turned him into a tyrant. And he had some secrete herbs to keep him immortal. To save the people from his tyranny, his wife Chang Er stole the herbs and consumed all of them. She then floated away to the moon to become the moon fairy. Hence during the festival, people look to the moon to search for the moon fairy Chang Er.
At the end of the Mongolian dynasty (Yuan dynasty) in China in 14th century (1368AD), a peasant by the name of Zhu Yuan Zhang staged an uprising against the Mongolian army. Zhu knew that the Moon Festival was drawing near. He ordered his rebellious army to make special cakes to be distributed to all the peoples throughout the country for this festival. Packed into each cake was a message urging the people to rise up against the Mongolian army on the festive night. Zhu eventually succeeded in overthrowing the Mongolian rule based on the uprising on the night of the Moon Festival and became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. This special cake now becomes the famous mooncake.
Although man has long conquered the moon, old traditions die hard. Today Zhong Qiu Jie is extensively celebrated throughout the world. Where there are Chinese or people of Chinese origin, there are mooncakes and lanterns for sales during the festival period. Today, the festival is celebrated not so much on the appreciation of the moon, or a successful harvest, or the overthrowing of the Mongolian dynasty, it is more of an occasion of family reunion, where travellers make it an occasion to return homes. Long gone is the message inside the mooncake. The inside of the mooncake is now filled with a variety of goodies such as egg yolk, lotus nuts, hams and other delicacies. The mooncakes are now used extensively as a gift for friends and relatives in appreciation for a good relationship throughout the year.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Of Conflict Resolution
Last week, a local newspaper in Singapore reported that a housemaid was jailed for four years after spiking her employer's milk with insecticide following repeated abuse over her work performance. A similar case occurred last year when a 19-year-old maid was jailed for 15 months for mixing glue in her employer's soybean drink, seen as revenge against her abusive employer. Such cases appear to be rampant and justice appears to have been served when the culprit housemaids were sent to jails.
In all these cases, seldom do the authorities or the communities go beyond the events to analyse the root causes of such evil acts. In a hectic society where people spent a lot of time at work in competitive office environment, they have little time to do the chorus of the homes. For those with affordable income, the solution is to employ housemaids to help out in the house. These maids tend to come from neighbouring countries when the cultures and habits may be different from the locals. So it is understandable that there are issues to work out and minor conflicts to be resolved.
I do believe that most employers do treat their maids kindly as humans and fellow helpers. However, there are some employers who view their maids more like cheap slaves than like fellow human being helpers. This could be due to their inability to relate to people of other cultures or their lack of experience to deal with the situation, or simply their higher than average expectation of the performance of their maids. As a result of the conflicts, and the inability to deal with these conflicts, these employers often adopt a dominant attitude and resort to abusive behaviour. It is just the human weakness of power domination, where the strong rules over the weak. This can be illustrated in a recent case in Malaysia, where it was reported that a housemaid was repeatedly abused and burned with hot iron, causing much public uproar. The poor and helpless house often have no other recourse except to take revenge and fall foul of the law.
I do not pretend there is a simple solution to these conflicts. However, community and authorities can always do more to put better social and legal system in place to protect the poor and helpless maids. More important, authority needs to raise public awareness of human values and that such cases can be prevented or minimised. This can be done through better moral education, counselling of employers before and after the employment of their maids, periodic monitoring of the working conditions, better community and social support and networking for the maids, and many other measures. Merely punishing the maids with the full force of the law for their wrong vengeance actions will not remove the root of this social evil.
In all these cases, seldom do the authorities or the communities go beyond the events to analyse the root causes of such evil acts. In a hectic society where people spent a lot of time at work in competitive office environment, they have little time to do the chorus of the homes. For those with affordable income, the solution is to employ housemaids to help out in the house. These maids tend to come from neighbouring countries when the cultures and habits may be different from the locals. So it is understandable that there are issues to work out and minor conflicts to be resolved.
I do believe that most employers do treat their maids kindly as humans and fellow helpers. However, there are some employers who view their maids more like cheap slaves than like fellow human being helpers. This could be due to their inability to relate to people of other cultures or their lack of experience to deal with the situation, or simply their higher than average expectation of the performance of their maids. As a result of the conflicts, and the inability to deal with these conflicts, these employers often adopt a dominant attitude and resort to abusive behaviour. It is just the human weakness of power domination, where the strong rules over the weak. This can be illustrated in a recent case in Malaysia, where it was reported that a housemaid was repeatedly abused and burned with hot iron, causing much public uproar. The poor and helpless house often have no other recourse except to take revenge and fall foul of the law.
I do not pretend there is a simple solution to these conflicts. However, community and authorities can always do more to put better social and legal system in place to protect the poor and helpless maids. More important, authority needs to raise public awareness of human values and that such cases can be prevented or minimised. This can be done through better moral education, counselling of employers before and after the employment of their maids, periodic monitoring of the working conditions, better community and social support and networking for the maids, and many other measures. Merely punishing the maids with the full force of the law for their wrong vengeance actions will not remove the root of this social evil.
Monday, September 13, 2004
My Religious Thought
In a recent e-mail to me, my friend discussed the issue of faith. We discussed whether it is better for one to have a religion. And whether religion really does good or harm to us. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Basically, it is good for one to have a traditional religion, so that one can find peace and comfort with one’s own faith.
2. Taking religion as a possession becomes not very good, as it can become an obsession leading to one less tolerance on other’s religion.
3. There is no harm for one not having a religion, except where the law of the land requires one to have a religion.
4. It is good to believe that all faiths are good so that no one religion is less superior then the other.
5. Buddhism is normally practiced as a way of life. But if one thinks that Buddhism is a religion, then it is.
6. There are now more choices for religion. Some religions are actually combination of two or more other basic religions, or a practice as a different version from the basic religion. In China, “Capitalism” is a fast growing religion. In Australia, “Football” and “ “Crickets” are the two almost compulsory religions.
7. In this new era where everything is computerised, “PASSWORD” or “PIN” (personal identification number) is a very important religion. If you forget your password for any thing, you are not blessed.
8. Religion serves to unite people in a small community, but can be a cause of divide in many regions of the world.
9. It cannot be established that having a religion is better or worse off than not having a religion. Both good deeds and bad things have known to happen under the name of religion.
10. Where different religions exist in the community, understanding and tolerance are the key factors in maintaining the good blessings from their religions.
1. Basically, it is good for one to have a traditional religion, so that one can find peace and comfort with one’s own faith.
2. Taking religion as a possession becomes not very good, as it can become an obsession leading to one less tolerance on other’s religion.
3. There is no harm for one not having a religion, except where the law of the land requires one to have a religion.
4. It is good to believe that all faiths are good so that no one religion is less superior then the other.
5. Buddhism is normally practiced as a way of life. But if one thinks that Buddhism is a religion, then it is.
6. There are now more choices for religion. Some religions are actually combination of two or more other basic religions, or a practice as a different version from the basic religion. In China, “Capitalism” is a fast growing religion. In Australia, “Football” and “ “Crickets” are the two almost compulsory religions.
7. In this new era where everything is computerised, “PASSWORD” or “PIN” (personal identification number) is a very important religion. If you forget your password for any thing, you are not blessed.
8. Religion serves to unite people in a small community, but can be a cause of divide in many regions of the world.
9. It cannot be established that having a religion is better or worse off than not having a religion. Both good deeds and bad things have known to happen under the name of religion.
10. Where different religions exist in the community, understanding and tolerance are the key factors in maintaining the good blessings from their religions.
Friday, September 10, 2004
The Best Welfare Is A Job
It is again Federal election times. Both the government and the opposition are enticing the voters with their proposed policies on a variety of issues. One issue is welfare and taxes. One commonly used strategy to win over the voters is the promise of tax reduction and increase in welfare payments.
The opposition party while promising a tax cut has also attacked the generous welfare system. I thought, this time it is a bit different. This country is traditionally well known for its generous welfare system, derived from the human value of caring and sharing. It is the fundamental value of mateship. Over the years, politicians hungry for votes had developed the welfare system into a monstrous lucrative right. The social stigma of being a socially disadvantage person depending on welfare handout had been transformed into a prized status much sought after by others, in particular, the unskilled and often much under paid workers. The idea of welfare as a social poison is rarely challenged. However, it is also no secret that the oversupply of welfare had created a disincentive for people to look for work. The current tax system is also seen to add to this disincentive. There is always a cost to working and earning an income, but these are always overlooked by the current tax system. As a result, a lowly paid worker at time is financially worse off than his counterpart who stays at home or surfing off amongst the waves and supported by welfare.
The basic concept of welfare is that the system takes care of the disadvantaged and vulnerable sector of the society. However, the generous welfare system had itself attracted people from other sector to fall into this disadvantaged sector. There is now a large group of people citing disadvantage as an excuse for their bad behaviour for not looking for a job. The opposition was quoted as saying “ Long-term welfarism is not the future …… the best welfare policy is a job.” I think this has hit the nail right at the head.
The oversupply of welfare cannot be considered as good economic management. How can that be good economic management when hundreds of thousands of children live in welfare dependent families where neither parents had a job? Apart from those very frail and really physically sick people who truly unable to perform a work, the majority of those able bodied people who depend on welfare for their living must be encouraged to be less dependent on the welfare and to stand on their own feet. This can be done through encouragement in changing the mindset of welfare dependent people, the provision of better training and educational facilities and opportunities, the creation of more jobs through encouragement of investment, the creation of a better investment environment, and the removal of other incentives that discourage people from working. The opposition policy of encouraging people to look for a job or to better themselves in their job must be applauded.
The opposition party while promising a tax cut has also attacked the generous welfare system. I thought, this time it is a bit different. This country is traditionally well known for its generous welfare system, derived from the human value of caring and sharing. It is the fundamental value of mateship. Over the years, politicians hungry for votes had developed the welfare system into a monstrous lucrative right. The social stigma of being a socially disadvantage person depending on welfare handout had been transformed into a prized status much sought after by others, in particular, the unskilled and often much under paid workers. The idea of welfare as a social poison is rarely challenged. However, it is also no secret that the oversupply of welfare had created a disincentive for people to look for work. The current tax system is also seen to add to this disincentive. There is always a cost to working and earning an income, but these are always overlooked by the current tax system. As a result, a lowly paid worker at time is financially worse off than his counterpart who stays at home or surfing off amongst the waves and supported by welfare.
The basic concept of welfare is that the system takes care of the disadvantaged and vulnerable sector of the society. However, the generous welfare system had itself attracted people from other sector to fall into this disadvantaged sector. There is now a large group of people citing disadvantage as an excuse for their bad behaviour for not looking for a job. The opposition was quoted as saying “ Long-term welfarism is not the future …… the best welfare policy is a job.” I think this has hit the nail right at the head.
The oversupply of welfare cannot be considered as good economic management. How can that be good economic management when hundreds of thousands of children live in welfare dependent families where neither parents had a job? Apart from those very frail and really physically sick people who truly unable to perform a work, the majority of those able bodied people who depend on welfare for their living must be encouraged to be less dependent on the welfare and to stand on their own feet. This can be done through encouragement in changing the mindset of welfare dependent people, the provision of better training and educational facilities and opportunities, the creation of more jobs through encouragement of investment, the creation of a better investment environment, and the removal of other incentives that discourage people from working. The opposition policy of encouraging people to look for a job or to better themselves in their job must be applauded.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Thinking Positive
Times can be good. Times can be hard. But one thing I know is that we all need to be positive in particular when facing hard times. It is easier said than done. But we really need to try hard and cultivate a habit of positive thinking, because with a positive mindset, we are more able to overcome difficult situations and make ourselves happy. To day I receive this e-mail (again) which had been in circulation for a while, which I reproduce below. I thought this might help to remind us to always think positive.
***********************************************
I am thankful....
* For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.* For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets.
* For the taxes that I pay, because it means that I am employed.
* For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.
* For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat.
* For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.
* For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning, because it means I have a home.* For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means that we have freedom of speech.
* For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means I am capable of walking and that have been blessed with transportation.
* For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes to wear.
* For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been capable of working hard.
* For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means that I am alive. And finally...
* For too much e-mail, because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.
***********************************************
I am thankful....
* For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.* For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets.
* For the taxes that I pay, because it means that I am employed.
* For the mess to clean after a party, because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.
* For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat.
* For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.
* For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning, because it means I have a home.* For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means that we have freedom of speech.
* For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means I am capable of walking and that have been blessed with transportation.
* For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes to wear.
* For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been capable of working hard.
* For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means that I am alive. And finally...
* For too much e-mail, because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.
Friday, September 03, 2004
The Love Package
I met this friend of mine the other day. I hadn’t seen him for many years. He seemed troubled and did not appear to be too happy. A few minutes into the conversation, he told me that he was in a dilemma. He had trouble with his girlfriend. Well, he has been dating this girl for the last 10 years and he was unable to bring himself to propose marriage. Their relationship appeared to be on and off basis. This was the only girl he had dated during the past 10 years. Apart from feeling sorry for his situation, I managed to give him some words of encouragement. I encouraged him to be patient and the same time, to be persistent in pursuing his love. Hopefully the Goddess of Love might pay him some attention.
There are cases of love at first sight. There are cases of blind love and there are cases of many unconditioned love. To me those are the exceptions. In today’s society, and in most cases, love comes as a package, a Love Package. In this package, you will find items like wealth, health, power, appearance, social standing, education status, mannerism, behaviour, attitude, caring, sharing and many other items. Some look for certain items in this package while other looked for other items. The choice is very individual and personal. Needless to say, people who have more of these items and with better quality item stand a better chance to win the love package. However, those with lesser item or lower quality items are not necessary the losers. They may need to pay more effort to gather more of these items and improve the qualities of the existing items, which they have. Above all, love needs to be cultivated and love need to be natured. The cultivation of love requires effort, time, patient and the exhibition of all the fine qualities of human being.
There are cases of love at first sight. There are cases of blind love and there are cases of many unconditioned love. To me those are the exceptions. In today’s society, and in most cases, love comes as a package, a Love Package. In this package, you will find items like wealth, health, power, appearance, social standing, education status, mannerism, behaviour, attitude, caring, sharing and many other items. Some look for certain items in this package while other looked for other items. The choice is very individual and personal. Needless to say, people who have more of these items and with better quality item stand a better chance to win the love package. However, those with lesser item or lower quality items are not necessary the losers. They may need to pay more effort to gather more of these items and improve the qualities of the existing items, which they have. Above all, love needs to be cultivated and love need to be natured. The cultivation of love requires effort, time, patient and the exhibition of all the fine qualities of human being.
