Wednesday, November 24, 2010
This blog started out as something for me to record my feelings and thoughts. Truth be told, I never thought it would last very long. I'm not sure when I made the decision, but I came to the conclusion that this blog would serve to record my life during university. After all, it is a big phase in life. Tomorrow will be the final day of my exam and the final day of university for me, officially.
These 4 years have taught me a lot. It has honed my skills to think critically not just in academic areas, but in a lot of social situations as well. It has taught me be independent. I look back at the entries I wrote at the start of this blog, and the entries I'm writing now, and there is a great difference. I can't quite place it, whether it be a sign of growth, wisdom or just mere restraint. Things have changed.
Thus, I've decided to conclude this blog and move on with another phase of life. Just as how I started a blog for this closing chapter, I will also begin another.
See you on the other side
Dan
11:27 pm
Monday, November 22, 2010
Relationship Prudence
"Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult." Proverbs 12:16
One thing I love about the book of Proverbs is that most of its verses can be read on its own, and a large time can be spent just pondering over a short saying. Thus, here are my thoughts over this short saying.
Beginning with the obvious, a comparison is made between the response of the fool and the prudent toward an insult. Might be best to first understand what constitutes a fool and a prudent, as trivial as that may seem. A fool is a weak-minded person who lacks judgement, an ardent enthusiast who cannot resist the opportunity to indulge an enthusiasm (dictionary.com). A prudent is wise in practical affairs, discreet, and careful in providing for the future (dictionary.com).
It appears that annoyance is a recognized natural response toward an insult. The fool lacks patience and reveals this response "at once". This doesn't come as much of a surprise as a fool doesn't resist the opportunity to indulge an enthusiasm. By implication, the prudent is annoyed, but decides to overlook it. The question that comes to mind is, "why did Solomon use prudent and not wise?" I think its because he wanted to play on the "providing for the future" bit of a prudent individual. Often used in the context of financial prudence, is it possible to have relationship prudence? An insult is between two people, and while we are annoyed at it, perhaps it might serve us well to overlook it now so as to ensure a harmonious relationship for the future.
A great insight from just 2 lines! Indeed how great is wisdom to those who have it.
Dan
1:01 am
Friday, November 19, 2010
Critical thinking, critical?
Critical thinking is a skill that many are forced to learn, not many are successful, and hence they develop some level of thinking that falls between not thinking and critical thinking. They don't push the boundaries or challenge what is. Let's called it mechanical thinking. I don't think its very hard to argue that mechanical thinking is largely negative, so I won't go there.
But is critical thinking as critical as we are made to believe it is? Critical thinking is defined as analyzing and evaluating the information we are given to try and reach a conclusion (that's according to dictionary.com). It is therefore in the nature of critical thinking to have an answer, and thus it is of little surprise that the processes involved are tailored to achieve such an outcome. This begs the question that while we are able to accept that there are some instances when a definitive conclusion can never be reached, is it still profitable for us to critically think? This may take awhile to answer, so I'll leave it there for now.
Placing this into the context of studying the bible, is there a difference between studying the bible and critically analyzing the bible? Perhaps the two are interlinked, or even one and the same, in which case the question should be is there a difference between critically analyzing and nit-picking. Where do we draw the line?
Dan
12:49 pm
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
"A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -- and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. " Proverbs 6:10-11 and Proverbs 23:33-34
Interesting that the verse is repeated twice word for word exactly the same, but that is a side note. More importantly, the results of laziness cannot be denied. Why are we still lazy when we have been warned?
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" Luke 16:10-11
I think we should all consider what is worldly wealth. I know there are many ways to phrase what I want to say after this, but anything I say will be too personal so I shall stop here and end with this, do we impose varying degrees of trust, or is trust just trust?
Dan
11:40 pm
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Educated and "Educated"
I had actually typed out a nice blog entry, but it was so long it bothered on a short essay! So I've condensed it into something I hope is a lot shorter. Game Theory exam is tomorrow, and it's not bothering me so much mainly because it's an open book exam. I read an article which said that according to a research conducted by Gallup, Singapore would not experience a brain drain, but instead experience a huge inflow of educated individuals aged between 15 and 29.
As usual, the study comes with 2 caveats: (1) it measured aspirations, not intentions and (2) Singapore's small population meant that impacts of migration are magnified. I think a third and more important caveat is that the proxy for educated individuals is at least a bachelors degree. The article is in the context of a brain drain, so what are we supposed to infer? That Singapore won't experience a brain drain because more people with bachelor degrees want to come to us? Clearly a brain drain is in reference to the outflow of skilled individuals, and not just education. Everybody who goes to university will know that in this day and age, a bachelors is increasingly easier to attain. One day everybody will have a bachelors and we will look to masters as a proxy for skills. And with enough time will we look to PhD?!
With this rant, of course, will come some caveats (: First, I do not have an answer as to what is a good proxy for skill, and it could well be that with our given level of knowledge education is the best that we can do. If that is so, I believe that a lot more could have been done to put the study into context. Second, I could just be picking out a minor flaw in Gallup and making it a big thing because they rejected my application for an analyst (who btw could have been working on a study such as the one fore mentioned!!). Personally, I think its more the former than the latter (:
Dan
3:56 pm
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Smart or Wise?
Which would you rather be?
I think this is a choice which the wise consciously make because they recognise that wisdom is more than what you know and what you say, more than how you act with what you do not know and react to what is not said. Wisdom is so much more that the wise speak in riddles and parables so that we can understand.
Is wisdom a natural progression of being smart? Does it grow in proportion to knowledge? Or is wisdom a character attribute? In which case, increasing knowledge to gain wisdom can only get us so far. Can character attributes be trained? I guess you can learn patience, but how do you learn something without knowing what it looks like? What does wisdom look like? Or is seeking wisdom like the man who chases the wind? Where do we begin in our quest for wisdom?
Pro 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Job 29:28 "The fear of the Lord -- that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding."
Dan
4:53 pm
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Driving is a serious affair. Society recognizes this and that's why not everyone is permitted to drive. When learning how to drive, we're always taught safe practices and road rules. On the roads, there are signs to give us warnings and traffic police to enforce road rules. On the television are ads that go on and on about drink driving and speeding. And as though all that is not enough, we have friends and family who will constantly nag us about driving safely. Everybody knows the importance of safe driving!
But does everybody know the importance of safe speech? The power of words is often underestimated, however when probed further people usually admit that words can be very powerful, whether intentionally or not. How often do we meet people now who just let their tongue fly and not watch the true impact of their words? How often do we take for granted the company of people we're in and just say the first thing that comes to mind without considering sensitivity? How often do we just brush off another person's insensitive words with the phrase "That's just Alan." (Disclaimer: All characters are purely fictional, and any resemblance to characters living or dead is strictly coincidental.)
I'm tired of the degrading of society's level of acceptable speech.
Dan
5:05 pm