I was just slightly disturbed over an incidence that happened before the movie start; I saw a guy resting his legs over the top of the seat in the row in front of him. Looking on the bright side, at least he bothered to take off his shoes before doing that inconsiderate act.

He put down his legs only when the seats in front of him were taken up. How would you feel, if you were the one taking those seats? I just hope that the guy takes good care of his legs’ hygiene.

Do Singaporeans really have no sense of self-respect as was criticised by Jackie Chan, in a recent speech he made during the Boao Forum for Asia?

At first I was furious when I learned that he made such a senseless remark. There is a saying by Abraham Lincoln that goes something like this, “I am not bothered by what others said about me as long as I know they were not speaking the truth of me.” So I shouldn’t be bothered right? Not exactly, because I know that there are some truths to what he said.

Look at the example of the guy I saw in the cinema over the weekend. Not to mention, the amount of litters you can see around the mail box when there is a trash can just besides it. And then there is the usual rushing into the subway’s cabins whenever the subway reaches the station and the cabin’s doors open. Couldn’t they (the people rushing in) allow the people inside the cabin to come out first?

Back to the mail box area, was it really easier to throw the junk mails on the floor than to throw it into the trashcan, which is just about a metre away? Or is it as what Jackie Chan said, that Singaporeans really have no sense of self-respect?

Instead of saying that Singaporeans have no sense of self-respect, would it be more appropriate if I should say that Singaporeans have no sense of civic-consciousness? Now the next questions are, “Is it true only in the case of Singaporean or do you see such lack of civic-consciousness in your country too?

I believe that civic-consciousness voices down to the individual and it is not an unique characteristic of a particular nation. Education, cultures and upbringing play a part in forming the civic-consciousness of the individual. Laws and regulations are sometimes made to force through the civic-consciousness.

In the example of Singapore, anyone caught littering can be made to do Corrective Work Order (CWO); the litterbugs are basically made to clean up parks, beaches and house estates. Many never made the same mistakes again.

Jackie Chan may ridicule the laws in Singapore but some times these laws are there to protect the majority from the minority. And most time, whether certain laws are there or not, they never bother the majority at all because I believe that most people are civic-conscious.

Often time you have heard people saying, “How could I forgive him so easily for what he has done to me” or “I couldn’t let the matter rest so easily, I must get back to him.” The intense negative feelings associated in these statement are enough to devour you from within. Anger and hatred are very intense negative feelings that eat you slowly from within, draining away all your positive energy.

From Mitch Albom’s book, ‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven,’ he wrote, “… Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.” How true isn’t it? Remember the times when you are angry or hated someone? The more intense your anger or hatred, the more it hurts from within you, isn’t it?

The truth of the fact is that we need to forgive. Forgiving doesn’t mean to condone with the act of the other person. It simply releases us from the negative feelings and allow us to take control from within and in return you will receive untold peace and happiness as what Robert Muller said.

Do yourself a favor today; give yourself the gift of forgiveness and to let go of whatever negative feelings within you and fill it up with love instead. And as mentioned in the post, Forgiveness, “It is the best gift you can give to yourself and you can benefit greatly from it too.”

It has been more than two months into the new year. Have you already made your new year resolutions and following them faithfully? I believe many would have resolved to be a better person this year or to have a better health. Or do you resolve to improve your relationships with loved ones and people around you? Or could it be to be more successful and wealthy this year? More spiritual and to help more people this year? Or could it be what I want to share with you in the following?

I remember reading a quotation in one of the blogs, while dropping entrecards at the start of the new year, that goes something like this, “new year is a time for us to redeem ourselves; to set things right and to right any wrongdoings and to relive our lives.”

Did you put up a quotation like this in your blog at the start of the new year? If you did, I would love to give you the credit by linking back to your blog. Do let me know in the comment.

The quotation got me in deep reflection. I thought initially that new year is indeed a good time when we can start everything on a fresh note. Then again, it is only true to certain extent. Is new year the only time when we should collectively reflect upon our lives in the past year? 365 days is a long stretch of period; do you still remember exactly what you had done last year at this time?

The thing is why do we have to wait for another 365 days to pass before we start reflecting on our lives again. Who says that resolution can only be made yearly and before the start or at the start of a new year?

I am grateful for the fact that I am still alive and writing this at this very moment. I am grateful to be still breathing in the air that you are breathing. I have learnt that if I wanted to do any good, I have to be alive in the first place. What? You knew that simple truth a long time ago? Alright, I admit I am slow in some areas; better late than never.

I have reminded myself almost every night to be grateful that I am still alive. What is the meaning of being alive? To me, everyday I get to wake up in the morning, I’m bless with a gift – the unique gift of life. This gift of life continues to allow me to make a difference in the lives of others and to correct whatever wrongs done in yesterday. The unlimited potential of doing good.

Quoting a paragraph from the book, ‘Make The Impossible Possible,’ by Bill Strickland, “Sometimes, the hardest thing about living an exceptional life is realizing what it means, in simplest and most essential terms, to be alive. Just waking up to the fact that you are alive – that each day and each moment you’re on the planet gives you once-in-a-lifetime chance to build the future you dream of …”

If I can make life easier for at least one person a day, that will be 365 people a year and around 13,000 people in my lifetime; assuming the average lifespan of a man is 70 years old. Not very impressive but not bad also. Of course, these numbers can be reduced drastically if someone up there decides that my time is up today. One must really make full use of his or her time given and live it to the fullest!

As I took in another breath, I am filled with gratitude. Time is bad now especially with the financial crisis happening everywhere and it may have taken its toiled on you, but to be alive, you are open to greater possibilities and potentials. It will get better! Quoting something John Gokongwei, Jr. said, “The important thing to know is that life will always deal us a few bad cards. But we have to play those cards the best we can. And we can play to win!”

Last but not least, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. Yes, it is that time of the year again where lovers will re-pledge their loves for their loved ones. Take this day to renew your vow towards your loved one but always remind yourself that everyday is a Valentine’s Day.

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Thank you iWalk from iWalk, U2? for giving me the passionate blogger award and to Michele from Digital Artisan for giving me the Lemonade Award.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Aldon from Orient Lodge for informing me of the Trojan alert coming from my website a few days ago and for helping me to test it after I cleared the site of the alert. Thank you for taking the time to do that. And I hope that none of you were affected by it yesterday. My sincere apology for any inconvenience caused to all of you.

Who is Naomi Campbell? According to AskMen.com, the Jamaican-Chinese, British born Naomi Campbell, had already conquered the fashion world by her early 20s and Naomi was also the first black model to appear on the covers of Time magazine, as well as the French and British Vogue.

Back to the newspaper report that I read over the weekend, the British supermodel Naomi Campbell was released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at Heathrow Airport. London’s Metropolitan Police said she is out on bail pending further inquiries and told to report to a police station in late May. She was on a flight to Los Angeles when she was informed that one of her checked bags was missing. She just simply ‘lost it.’ According to the police, she was going nuts, spitting, punching and lashing out. She was eventually asked by the BA to leave the flight.

To begin with, 28,000 bags have been separated from their owners ever since the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London and for travelers, the last thing you want is to be informed of your missing luggage. Thus the above incident could basically involve anyone and maybe there were similar incidences but they were never reported in the first place. Naomi happened to be the celebrity to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time. However, Naomi does has records of violence to start with.

I am least interested to discuss who is wrong or who is right. Just to share something that I realized – that celebrities are only human after all. When the lightings on the runway go off, the make up removes and in the privacy of her home, she is just like anyone of us; she has her own strength and weakness, her own likes and dislikes, her own family and friends. The only difference, if you really have to differentiate yourself from her, is that she has the word ‘celebrity‘ tagged to her name. If you want to find people with record of violences, I believe you can probably find at least a dozen people with similar bad records.

There are probably at least an equal number of cases on act of violent not reported. No reporters or media would be interested in these other cases because they do not have any ‘news value’ for them. However, the case of Naomi has ‘news value’ for them as it guarantees readership. And after being reported too often, the whole issue of her violent acts amplifies and may seem much worst than it appears to be.

Helen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” Isn’t that very true? This one quotation by Helen Keller always reminds me to look at things beyond the surface. In this case, removing aside the tag of ‘celebrity‘, I saw Naomi Campbell as like one of us.

I am not condoning Naomi’s act of violent and violence is an action that I do not approve, especially in using it to resolve conflicts. And that is why to a large extent I look up to Gandhi for his non-violent resistance which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. I remembered what an associate of mine once told me – that we can idolize someone but not to the extent of worshipping him/her. I will say I finally understand what he meant by that.

We can adore a person as long as we do not allow ourselves to be blindly devoted to that person. We can absorb the strengths of others and make it our own strengths. We can even learn from the mistakes and weaknesses of others so that we will not make those mistakes or absorb those weaknesses. This is how we learn and evolve to be a better person.

One thing I do agree with some people is that being a celebrity and a public figure, Naomi and other celebrities do have a social responsibility, to certain extent, to the general public. They have great influence over the younger generation and people who worshipped them blindly. Otherwise as far as I am concern, I respect their privacy and regard them as just people like myself.

End of the day, it doesn’t matter whether one is a celebrity or not. What matter most are the values that one has within oneself. Celebrities are, after all, only Human.