Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Stress in school: Students are constantly reminded to excel academically. While not a bad thing in itself, stress comes from not knowing how to respond. In recent years, the pressure is extending downward, even to kindergartens. ECAs, ideally a way to de-stress, are viewed by some students as additional work. Parents add to the stress when they pressure their kids into taking up ECA not to their inclination.
Stress at work: Workers struggle with tight deadlines. They lament the tendency to equate staying late with working hard. Older workers feel threatened by younger ones. Some also feel threatened by the Government 's policy of attracting foreign talent. They fear that there will be glass ceilings for locals once the import of foreign talent becomes a norm. Less-educated Singaporeans fear lower-priced, better-educated foreigners taking away their jobs.
Stress at home: Adult Singaporeans juggle roles as parents and caregivers to their own aged parents. Many ply their children with extra tuition and enrichment classess, creating strain not only on their and the child 's time, but on their own pockets too.
Stress as a SG citizen: The Government is constantly trying to get people to improve, some people lament. While they may understand the need to boast productivity, they resent being mere economic digits pushed into prescribed moulds. They want a sense of control. If Singapore is a pressure cooker, one person asked, "Am I the cook or cooked?"
Stress is like cholesterol: there is good and bad. We should optimise good stress and minimise the bad ones.
We need to look beyond our basic survival needs to the higher needs of people, as individuals with social and spiritual dimensions. Success is not so much whether we live up to other people’s expectations, but whether we live up to our own. We must strive to be the best that we can be. Sometimes, paradoxically, this can be tougher than being what society thinks we should be...
By the light of the moon
She rubs her eyes
Says it's funny how the night
Can make you blind
I can just imagine
And I don't know what I'm supposed to do
But if she feels bad then I do too
So I let her be
And she says oooh
I can't take no more
Her tears like diamonds on the floor
And Her Diamonds bring me down
Cuz I can't help her now
She's down in it
She tried her best and now she can't win it's
Hard to see them on the ground
Her diamonds falling down
I'll still secretly be Carls Junior
[Don't Know, Don't Care]
Growing old is mandatory;Growing up is optional
4:08 PM
