The Good Earth

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck was the first novel that I read when I was in my early teens. It is not a cool book for teens to read nowadays because it was set in China at the turn of the century when China was ruled by warlords and when possessing land was the ultimate accomplishment in the life of a respectable man because land brings wealth and wealth brings the lifestyle of the rich who equate wealth with not having to work because the land brings in the cash.

Though the time, place of this novel is far removed from today's reality of how life is led, the characters in the book are recognisable amongst us today. The story starts with Wang Lung, a poor farmer who slogged to buy a piece of land that he worked with his bare hands producing enough grain to give him just enough silver to buy over the house and all the land belonging to a rich family whose fortunes were declining.

Wang Lung was so poor that he could only afford to marry a slave called O Lan from that particular household. She was plain and not good to look at. However, she was hardworking, frugal and in her quiet, almost silent way, helped Wang Lung to rise from poverty to a farmer that was the envy of others because while they remained poor, he managed to acquire enough land and wealth to become known as a rich man.

To be continued upon request.

Plastic surgery

I have several books at the moment that I have started on. It will take a long time before I finish reading a complete book. Meanwhile I have been reading random stories from women's magazines as time-fillers and I came across this first-person account by a woman who related her story anonymously in one of these magazines and the story, if it was true, is really a sad one.

This woman underwent plastic surgery because she did not like her looks she was born with. After the cosmetic transformation, she became good looking and attracted the attention of a man whom whe married after 5 months of courtship. All went well until she gave birth to her baby. Her husband was horrified that the baby was in his view ugly because it had unflattering features. The woman then confessed to her husband about her plastic surgery. He was furious and he was disgusted with her because he felt that he had been deceived into the marriage.

From then on he rejected her and their child but did not divorce her because of his religion. Her marriage deteriorated and she lived in misery because she was ignored by her husband. She could not tell her parents for she did not want to burden them with her problems.

I am disgusted as well. Not with this poor woman whom some would consider vain and insecure. I sympathise with her and admired her determination to do something about herself through plastic surgery so that she could get on with her life.

It is easy for us to say that ugly people (like Ugly Betty perhaps) have made good with their life despite their looks and that a woman should not resort to plastic surgery to change what she was born with. It is easy to say because we are not that particular person. Whatever she has done could not be undone.

I realised that people will have different views from mine in the way they view this woman. Some will sympathise with her and some will say that she should have told her husband the truth before she married him. Honesty is the best policy in any situation. However the issue is not about honesty. What is done cannot be undone. She withheld the information because in her judgment it was the best thing she could have done in the naive belief that it would not have mattered to him. It was an assumption she made and that perhaps was her mistake. The question is whether the husband should treat her so badly after he found out?

Alex

Last night there was a documentary on Channel U about the life of a boy, Alex, who grew up in an unhappy home because his parents were always quarrelling and taking out their frustration on him.

The documentary traced his life from the time he was about nine when he fell into bad company till the present day. Scenes from the past were re-enacted by actors but the narration that threaded the chronological segments of his life was done by Alex who has now turned over a new leaf.

He had vandalised property, shoplifted, smoked and took drugs. When he was caught for having drugs in his possession, he was sent to a Boy's Home where he had to kick his drug addiction doing cold turkey. It was tough for him and he learned that despite his parents' treatment of him in the past, they and his sister were the only people in the world who stood by him, encouraged him and helped him to regain his self-worth.

Through the help of a social worker he picked himself up, went back to school and topped his cohort in the final-year examinations and he gives talks to students in his school, telling them about this past and motivating them to do good with their lives.

This first-person account account is touching and seeing a real person who is unafraid to reveal his past misdeeds talking about his dreams and aspirations make this documentary one that is deserving of special mention for the way it was made. I do not know how kids who are at risk view Alex. Do they dismiss him as uncool because he turned good? Maybe.

Having watched Alex's story on TV, I am glad that he told it unashamedly and I hope that he continues to be a positive influence on the lives of those who have for various reasons fallen by the wayside and who reject and are rejected by people around them. I hope that teenagers who happened to have watched this documentary will empathise with Alex and learn from him that though it may take tremendous effort to change, it takes only determination to do so.

Just Follow Law - A Jack Neo Movie

I watched this movie with my kids after having had dinner at Swenson's in February around Chinese New Year. This is a made-in-Singapore movie by Jack Neo for Singaporeans to laugh at themselves. He makes a movie in time for release every year during Chinese New Year and though he may not be known internationally we really need a great local talent like him to make us realise that when we have dreams, we should go all out to make them come true.

He pokes fun at people from all stratas of society and uses dialects so liberally that we can literally roll off our chairs (for those who understand like the older folks, moi included) and those who roll off a second later after reading the sub-titles (my kids).This time it's a movie about the civil service and all its red-tapes, endless meetings, ridiculous bureaucratic practices and civil servant bosses. The scenes were representative of the typical civil service operation magnified many times for that hilarious effect.

Especially classic was the depiction of the emails shooting around the departments, laterally and vertically till someone got 'killed' in the end. That was my favourite segment of the movie.Apart from the humour that was quite slapstick in parts, there was the typical Jack Neo moralising on filial piety, parental love and the need to make something with your life. I hope my kids were moved by these segments.

The TV magazine gave it a two star rating. I think they are just jealous of this super-talented guy who has endeared himself to us masses with his frank and brutal portrayals of how life is in Singapore, expressing what Singaporeans feel deep inside. I give him a 4 star. He missed perfection by one star because there were parts that were a little draggy.

The male and female leads were wonderful in their own ways - superb because they are already established stars in their own right. However, I really love all the supporting cast - they were really a scream, each and every one of them - the auntie cleaner/dancers, the technicians, the "cheapest-quote" pyrotechics contractor who literally set the stage on fire, the 'kia-see' (afraid to die) CEO, the suffering minister, the very pregnant supervisor whose job was to doggedly carry out orders without question, the Tamil-spewing security guard who in just a few appearances gave us much insight about what makes him tick.

Special mention goes to his boss and the two bootlickers who plotted to put a more capable colleague down so they would look good in front of the big boss.

We must also not forget the 'professional medium' and his sidekick who worked their backs off to help solve the problem in the movie and failing to achieve success offered the services of more powerful deities for additional fees.Also deserving of accolades were the actors who played an assortment of civil servants whose common key performance indicator seemed to be the rate and speed they passed enquiries from the public from one statutory board to another using very officious tones and expressions. They made great impressions even though each one had appeared for less than a minute's duration on the screen.

I particularly liked the dialect-speaking mum whom I can relate to because she is just a simple, bothersome mum whose only fault was that she loved her daughter so much. Makes me think of my mum because I am like her daughter in some ways. You have to be a mum and have much love for your kids to be able to think of your own mum and feel the love that you never felt was there before. Have I mentioned all? Yes, I think I have and they are really unforgettable performances. Kudos!When the movie ended and the lights came on, it was back to real life.

The VCD and DVD of this movie is out in the shops so get a copy so that you can watch it when you are in need of a good laugh now and then.

The five people you meet in heaven

Written last Christmas

I just finished reading "The Five People you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. Today is Christmas Eve and I have a few hours to myself before friends and famiy arrive to be together on this day where our reason for the gathering is really to celebrate friendship.

This book draws attention to how people live through life with so much hurt and puzzlement. Even in death they carry these baggages to their graves and are unable to enter Heaven as they were because Heaven is a place only for those who enter it with peace and love.

We learn about how the 5 people in the story come to terms with their bitterness, hate, fears and loss and how everything we did on earth had affected the lives of others in various ways.The key message is that we posess the power to influence the lives of others, especially our children. Known or unknown to us, our children's fate is in our hands. How true it is when the author described children as glass that we adults have the power to crack or shatter.

On the eve of Christmas, I hope that the people whose lives have not been whole or fulfilled can be with someone who will be a source of warmth and comfort to them for as long as they wish. All the shopping and presents cannot make up for the joy of one human being offering love and friendship and another simply appreciating it.

Edward Scissorhands

There's something interesting about this movie "Edward Scissorhands" that I cannot seem to pinpoint. Is it a story about being different, weird or outright freakish? Is it about how people perceive the world through their own lenses and when presented with something or someone less than perfect in their view and not fitting into their idea of what is normal, they respond with fake acceptance, apprehension or rejection. How would you respond when you see someone whose hands are gigantic pairs of scissors? How would you respond when you meet someone like Edward Scisorhands?

Edward Scissorhands discovers by accident his talent for cutting (of course) starting with shaping shrubs in the neighbourhood to styling dog's fur and ultimatley to displaying artistic talent for hairstyling (women's hair). His talent escalates and soon people forget that he is 'different' and soon treat him like one of their kind. What happens if he were to trade his scissorhands for prosthetic hands? Would he then become nobody special and fade into oblivion? Will he still be special like a famous TV personality well-known for his styling feats or will he be special to those who don't really care if he is famous or not.

His innocence beomes his undoing as people take advantage of him from the lusty woman in the neighbourhood to a bunch of teenagers who need his assistance to stage a burglary in one of their homes. Not knowing what he is doing when he agrees to help, he is left behind when the burglary goes wrong and he is arrested. Soon, those who cannot not hurt him or take advantage of him completely begin to tell lies about him and he is shunned even by those who have benefitted from his talents before. But he never gives up. In his isolation from those who never see him beyond what they could get from him, Edward Scissorhands creates the best work that his heart could conjure up - an ice sculpture of an angel that looks like the girl he is in love with. Then as suddenly as he has found peace, evil in the form of the girl's jealous boyfriend taunts him and a series of unintended mishaps make him appear to be dangerous to the community. He is driven back to the castle where he came from alone and misunderstood.

The jealous boyfriend follows him and is killed by Edward trying to protect the girl from harm. The whole town arrives to conclude that Edward Scissorhands is who they have always thought him to be - a freak, a misfit - and they get him out of their lives.

Edward, returns to a world where he is happy but alone in his own castle with the beautiful memories of the family who have given him their love but were not able to sustain it because by and large, people who see beyond 'disabilities' or what they perceive as abnormal, are rare. It takes very special people to be able to stand up to those who ostracise them and equally special ones to stand by them.

Edward Scissorhands is a story about growing up and going through an important phase in your life where you come to realise who really loves you and who does not.

Good Will Hunting

This was a Warner Brothers production in the late 1990s starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams who won an Oscar for his supporting role. It was also remarkable that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won the Special Achievement in Filmmaking as well as the Oscar for best screenplay. This movie was made about 8 years ago and Matt Damon was so young that I did not know who he was.

The movie is about Will Hunting who was so brilliant that he could solve problems that Nobel Prize winners in mathematics could not, that he could cite all the great literary works at the snap of his fingers and he literary had a professor at MIT on his knees when he burnt a mathematical solution in retaliation for what he thought the professor was doing to him.

Yet he never went to school and chose to live his life as a janitor in MIT, goes for drinks with his working-class buddies never wanting to step beyond an existence where he knew that he would be safe from redicule and harm. When he got into trouble with the law and was facing a jail sentence, the MIT professor managed to help him stay away from jail by promising the judge that he would be responsible for Will. Will, in turn would have to help the professor in his academic pursuits because Will was the mathematical genius.

In addition, he would have to undergo therapy for a set period of time till he became 21 years of age so that his anger could be managed for him to stay out of trouble. This was when he met Sean McGuire, his therapist and counsellor who was the professor's friend. Will refused to be helped at first because he wanted no one to know of his past. Sean McGuire shared a similar background with Will in that he was an abused child and in the process of counselling Will, both were able to confront the demons or their respective past and to come to terms with their emotions.

Will Hunting eventually realised what was was stopping him from venturing beyond the walls of his current life in the course of the therapy and Sean McGuire realised that, like Will, he was undermining his own potentials and capabilities because of a shadowed past. A love story was in there as well when Will met a medical student at Harvard who fell in love with him. Again he could not bring himself to love her because he was afraid of entering her world where he feared he would not be able to fit in.

I thought hard about this movie that I watched on a VCD with my son yesterday. What was the message in the movie? Was there one? I detected a few, the main one being that if we do not know what we want in life, we will be stuck in time in one place for the rest of our lives. To know what we want, we have to know what we are good at and develop that strength by keeping an eye open for opportunities that come our way. If they don't come, we have to go and find them.

Will Hunting was prepared to live out the rest of his life doing menial jobs because he did not want his genius to be known as he was abused by his father as a child resulting in a fear and distrust in people. Thus he covered up his brilliance because he did not want to be in contact with people outside the safety provided by his buddies and being in a place in which no one could rule his life and he did not have to mingle with others whom he feared will hurt or abandon him.

But when he, through the help of Sean McGuire, learned to let go of his fears that were entrenched deep in his life because of his abused childhood, he began to see the opportunities around him and once he sees them, he was able to set his goals and exercise his options i.e. he finally knew what he wanted in life. He finally realised that he had abilitities that he should tap on and not hide.

In real life, we are like Will Hunting. We may not have extreme brilliance but we do have enough worth in us to start with. Some of us are inclined towards the sciences, some the arts and some sports. In any one of these three, we need to set ourselves up for success in whichever field that we choose to earn a living in. It's like national service. Every one has to pass basic military training before being channeled into the various fields. Every one has the capability to pass this basic training stage. If you fail, it's really because of a physical handicap or mental weakness.

Once you get over this hurdle of school, you will see more opportunities before you. If you don't get over this hurdle as Will Hunting did, you would be stuck as he would have been, as a janitor for the rest of his life. Getting through school and graduating with the 'A' levels can be considered as the basics. Everyone has a reasonable potential to do well enough to enter a polytechnic or the university.

We have fears and hang ups that could prevent us from doing well in our studies just as Will Hunting was unable to get himself through a formal education because he fears rejection and hurt. But once he overcame that fear, he was able to soar.

Many teenagers today do not know what they want to do with their lives. They are like Will Hunting. These teenagers have so many opportunities before their eyes but they do not see them because their vision of their future is clouded by the distractions of the day that are mostly about having fun now or never, instant gratification, shooting aliens on the screen, boy-girl relationships without bothering to think about responsibilities because parents are always there to bail them out.

The Will Huntings of this generation are not held back by their past but by their parents who pamper them too much so that there is no motivation to venture out of their current existence where "I don't know", "Anything", "Whatever" are the key words in their vocabulary.

But I am optimistic that there is still a chance that these teens will one day find the demons that are holding them back, slaughter them and venture out to a new world where they are not shackled by all the things and ideas that make them feel that life is good as it is and should carry on for as long as they find it unnecessary to think about the future.

Will Hunting was set free by an extraordinary counsellor. Parents are no match but parents do try and this movie gives a glimmer of hope to parents - that one day, somehow, a switch will flick on magically to light up the possibilities for the teenager and wake him up from his slumber.

What reading is about

My son once asked me what goes on in my head when I read. Is it like a movie being played? Do I imagine the scenes as I read? Yes! In the days when I was growing up, there were no pcs, no internet, no online games, no msn, DVDs, VCDs, Ipods, MP3s etc but I had just as exciting a time as kids now because I had books and I had a LIFE magazine subscription and a wonderful full-coloured ecyclopedia that is now out of print and that I still treasure - The Caxton Encyclopedia where I learned about art from all the beautiful photos of the paintings of the masters through the ages.

Let me explain what reading does for me using excerpts from the novel by the Booker Prize 2006 winner "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai:

"...Nepali ladies with golden rings dangling and Tibetan women with braids and prayer beads, between those who had walked from faraway villages to sell muddy mushrooms covered with brackish leaves or greenery, already half cooked in the sun. Powders, oils and ganglions of roots were proffered by Lepchia medicine men; other stalls offered yak hair, untidy and rough as the hair of demons, and sacks of miniature dried shrimp with oversized whiskers; there were smuggled foreign goods from Nepal, perfumes, jean jackets, electronics; there were kukri sickles, sheets of plastic rainproofing and false teeth."

Why, I could paint this scene just based on this description. And, if you want sound to go with this market scene, here it is:

"The muffled thunder of prayer rumbled down the mountain as the mules and horses stepped pom-pommed out of the fog, bells singing, prayer flags flying from the saddles."

If you want smell, here it is:
"...Tibetan muleteers in furry boots, earrings swinging and the earthy smell of men and beasts had run a hot current against that exquisite scent of pine that people like Lola and Noni came from Calcutta to sample."

If you want to experience the emotions of the character:
"He went to Lark's store for Tosh's tea, egg noodles and Milkmaid condensed milk. He told the doctor, who had come in to collect the vaccines that she stored in the Lark's fridge, "My son has a new job in the USA." Her son was there as well. He shared this with a doctor! The most distinguished personage in town."

How could we find time to be bored when there was so much living to do just through reading alone.

The Blue Light - Grimm Brothers

Once upon a time, there was a soldier who outwitted a witch and gained possession of a blue light that he retrieved from the bottom of a well for her. He discovered that the blue light had the power to summon forth a dwarf when he used it to light his pipe. The dwarf was like the genie in the bottle who could grant his master's every wish. The soldier asked to be taken out of the deep well and have the witch take his place there because she had left him there to die when he refused to give her the blue light.(This is revenge)

The wish was granted of course. He then went to the witches house and took as much of the valuables as he could carry. (Taking what is not yours is stealing). Next he checked himself into the finest inn and when he was done with ordering new clothes (This is greed) he lit his pipe with the blue light and hey presto, the dwarf dutifully appeared. The soldier was upset with the king for not rewarding him for his years of loyal service. (Soldiers serve the country not for rewards, only mercenaries ask for rewards)

With his new-found power, he wanted to show the king that he was now the master. He asked the dwarf to bring the king's daughter to him every night to be his servant and to take her back to the palace every morning.(This is abuse of power) The princess reported to her father that she had been having strange dreams of being carried away to a place to work as a servant for a soldier every night. The King on hearing this devised some schemes to check if his precious daughter was dreaming or if what she said was true.

The dwarf thwarted the efforts of the king to find out the truth the first time. The second time, he warned the soldier that if he was found out and caught by the king, he would not be able to save the soldier a second time.

The soldier was eventually caught by the King and imprisoned. There the smart fellow asked to be granted the wish to smoke his pipe before being put to death. When he lit the pipe with the bue light, the dwarf appeared. Whereupon the soldier commanded that the King be killed. The dwarf obeyed (This must be forgetfulness for the dwarf did say that the soldier could not be saved a second time)

The King begged for mercy to which the soldier asked what he would be willing to exchange for his life. The desperate King said he could have anything he wished for. Guess what the soldier wanted?

His wish was to marry the princess and to let him succeed the throne. The King agreed and the soldier married the princess and lived happily as a rich prince. (I wonder if the princess was happy)

What is the moral of the story? I think there are no morals in this story.

The 3 Samurai Cats (in a nutshell) by Eric A. Kimmel.

In a nutshell, here is the story:

There was a daimyo (lord of the castle) who was frustrated by a huge, mean rat that ravaged and terrorised his household. He went to a docho (monk) for help. The monk sent a samurai to deal with the rat. The rat beat the samurai to pulp.

The monk then sent his top samurai. Armoured and skillful the samurai fought with the rat. He was beaten to mush. The then told the daimyo that the Neko Roshi (Zen master) would have to deal with the rat. The Zen master turned out to be a decrepit cat dressed in rags and walked with a limp. He never lifted a finger to fight with the rat letting it over run the castle even more boldly. The rat literally became the boss of the castle to the exasperation of the daimyo. It went on a rampage and all the while the Zen master slept, lazed around and let the rat do what it wanted.

During a particular festival (Obon festival) where rice balls were made in celebration, the rat stole rice from everyone and made his own rice ball. He made a gigantic rice ball bigger than himself and then he tripped and fell into the rice ball and got stuck. He cried for help. The Zen master limped over. He told the Rat that he would help him provided that he promised to leave the castle after that. The rat said no, whereupon the Zen master extended a single claw in the Rat's face. The rat had no choice. The daimyo was free from the rat at last. He asked the Docho (monk) how was it that two strong and skilled samurais did not succeed to get rid of the rat but a useless-looking aged cat managed to do so.

The docho replied that in Zen teaching you do not use force on the enemy. You let him defeat himself. The lesson is to "draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting."

This is of the most entertaining childen's story book that I have come across in a long, long time. The illustrations were fantastic. They were beautifully done and the comic element showed up in subtle ways making me smile as I read.

I have travelled miles in life to arrive at this threshold where I have to try to cross over without tripping and falling flat on my face. It will take a lot of mastery to be able to "act without acting". Is this deceit? To act like you do not care when in fact you do?

With people who loves you, that would be deceit because in such relationships, trust and truthfulness should prevail. With enemies and people you do not care for, this principle could be applied as a strategy to defeat them.

This story tells us only how we should act in one type of situation. It is useful to have this knowledge and to apply it when necessary. But life is really very complicated. We do not have only one enemy and some of them know what you are trying to do and defeat you before they fall into your trap.

We also have people whom we love and care for that we do not seek to destroy but whom we do not know how to cherish. What about the saying "Love thy enemy?" Is it possible to do that? Why have enemies? It is not our choice most of the time. Life just unfolds and we just have to face what falls our way be they good or bad and learn not to act without thinking.