Life and Death
This morning, I was reading the sports section of ST in the living room, when my lil' sis popped up from behind and screamed, "Ewwwk, jie jie, you cannot see this." Initially, I thought she was referring to the bared-bodied athletes on the AYG photo spread, then I realised, she was talking about the obituary section. I don't know what came to me, but I started this serious talk with my 6-and-a-half-year-old sister on life and death. I told her that everyone will die one day, even 'jie jie will leave you and this is not a bad thing'. I reckoned this subject was a little too serious for her, as she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. I quickly switched to the Life section and left the subject.
On the train ride to work, as I was trying to fend off the Zzzz bug and the dreadful commuters, my mind wandered back to the topic - what is life? I always feel that you determine how your life turns out. It is within your control and to put it simply, it is like choosing an apple or a durian.
An apple is a comfort zone
1) You know what you can get - all the goodies such as vitamins and nutrition. Likewise, if I choose to be an engineer, I know that upon graduation, I should be able to get a reasonably well-paid job, with good benefits and stable working conditions.
2) You know how to deal with it - you wash it, you peel it, you cut it, you consume it and you dispose the non-edible parts. To be an engineer, I have to get a degree, stay focused, graduate with good results, find a good MNC firm and try to get myself in. About the horribly far work locations i.e., Tuas, and the 10 hours shift, 5.5 days workweek? We learn to “dispose” them, as we only focus on the “goodies”.
And so, living an apple of a life is secured, stable and you will most likely be happy. This might be a good choice for some people, but it doesn’t work for everyone. This brings me to choosing the durian
A durian is the road less travelled
1) It sure doesn’t look pretty and you don’t know what lies beneath. Assuming that I wanted to be a professional Muay Thai fighter in Singapore. For one, there isn’t a good training environment (good coach, training facilities, etc) for Muay Thai fighters. Secondly, while the sporting culture is booming locally, Singaporeans are in general apathetic and less supportive of local athletes. The road ahead sure looks tough, but if I believe that I have the talent and the perseverance, it might pay off.
2) To reap the benefits (in durian’s case, the custardy seed), one must go through the possibility of getting pricked, and the difficulty in finding the right place to lay your first cut which determines if the fruit can be opened easily. In life’s equivalent, it is about finding the right opportunity. Find the right sponsors who can send you for proper overseas training and you might have hit the jackpot. In the twist of fate, you might also end up pricked and battered.
Why then do some people choose durian over apple? It is about challenge - challenging oneself, and challenging societal pressures & norms.
A wiseman once said “An experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want”.
For a good part of my life, I know that durian will be my fruit of choice, and even if some durians fail to open eventually, I still have, well, the smell to savour.
On the train ride to work, as I was trying to fend off the Zzzz bug and the dreadful commuters, my mind wandered back to the topic - what is life? I always feel that you determine how your life turns out. It is within your control and to put it simply, it is like choosing an apple or a durian.
An apple is a comfort zone
1) You know what you can get - all the goodies such as vitamins and nutrition. Likewise, if I choose to be an engineer, I know that upon graduation, I should be able to get a reasonably well-paid job, with good benefits and stable working conditions.
2) You know how to deal with it - you wash it, you peel it, you cut it, you consume it and you dispose the non-edible parts. To be an engineer, I have to get a degree, stay focused, graduate with good results, find a good MNC firm and try to get myself in. About the horribly far work locations i.e., Tuas, and the 10 hours shift, 5.5 days workweek? We learn to “dispose” them, as we only focus on the “goodies”.
And so, living an apple of a life is secured, stable and you will most likely be happy. This might be a good choice for some people, but it doesn’t work for everyone. This brings me to choosing the durian
A durian is the road less travelled
1) It sure doesn’t look pretty and you don’t know what lies beneath. Assuming that I wanted to be a professional Muay Thai fighter in Singapore. For one, there isn’t a good training environment (good coach, training facilities, etc) for Muay Thai fighters. Secondly, while the sporting culture is booming locally, Singaporeans are in general apathetic and less supportive of local athletes. The road ahead sure looks tough, but if I believe that I have the talent and the perseverance, it might pay off.
2) To reap the benefits (in durian’s case, the custardy seed), one must go through the possibility of getting pricked, and the difficulty in finding the right place to lay your first cut which determines if the fruit can be opened easily. In life’s equivalent, it is about finding the right opportunity. Find the right sponsors who can send you for proper overseas training and you might have hit the jackpot. In the twist of fate, you might also end up pricked and battered.
Why then do some people choose durian over apple? It is about challenge - challenging oneself, and challenging societal pressures & norms.
A wiseman once said “An experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want”.
For a good part of my life, I know that durian will be my fruit of choice, and even if some durians fail to open eventually, I still have, well, the smell to savour.