Tag: new year’s resolution

Estimated reading time: six minutes.

“What’s it going to be then, eh?”

I’m not really a fan of new year’s resolutions, and I did not make any at the beginning of 2018, which is why I started this year with pretty much nothing in mind. But when I was watching this Oxford Union debate on the motion “This House is proud to be patriotic”, some words from this speaker called Varun Sivaram stuck in my head for the rest of the year:

…and I’ve already given away the secret for why patriotism is a great idea: REASONABLE PATRIOTISM. Not nationalism, not blind patriotism of the kind that prompted Tagore to lament ‘to worship my country as a god is to bring a curse upon it’, NO.
Reasonable patriotism is a positive force for society. Over and above bland internationalism, it fuels our special alliance between my country and this country, and it urges us to behave ourselves internationally: because a great country does right by its allies, and it behaves itself internationally.
Reasonable patriotism fulfills a common need to belong, it promotes constructive civic engagement; it promotes collective action to solve collective problems; it defies game theory and it repudiates cynicism. It gives little kids an excuse to shoot fireworks, and big kids like you and me to study and work for our countries and communities.

Varun Sivaram, upholding the resolution “TH is proud to be patriotic”.

They reached for the stars, and acted like men; they aim to share their virtues, not to fault other people’s differences – this was how Mr. Sivaram described the reasonable patriots. Speaking of my own aspiration, I would very much like to become one of these reasonable patriots – one who strives on the international stage, while holding rational support for his homeland and culture.

As an international learner who had received nine years of Chinese education, been attending Singaporean school for three years, and intends to pursue his interest for international relations in the States, these words resonate with me. I have been exposed to multiple cultures and I know for certain that in the future I will be exposed to many more cultures that I’m not familiar with. Taken together with the Chinese concept of “求同存异”, or “seek common ground while reserving differences”, I think this is how I’d like to behave in this big, big world, always keeping a positive mindset when interacting with people from another cultural background.

Ever since then, I have set my big goal for 2018 as:
To explore the world around me, and see if I can do something for it.

This was indeed very important to me: before I have the capability to share my culture’s own virtues while respecting others’, I must first establish connections, initiate interactions, and share my reflections – to achieve my dream, I must first reach out for experiences.

And to me, the past one year was a few more steps closer to my dream – and how did it do that? Well, looking back, my 2018 was actually full of cool endeavors; but here there are two of them that I am especially grateful of:

One. Charity

This February, I decided to start the year by doing something for my community. The social cause I chose to work on was animal welfare – as Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’ The motivation behind this was the feeling that many people in the society I live tend to see animals as cute soft toys which they could throw away anytime they want – which is why we see so many abandoned pets and abused animals.

With a seed fund of 1,600 Singapore Dollars (SGD) and a 39-member team, me and three friends started our social enterprise, Project P.A.W. the journey ended with a net profit of 24,000 SGD (which we donated all to Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and of course, a lot of cool experiences and new friends. It also changed my perception for charity per se; it taught me that contributing towards a social cause could extend beyond volunteering as an individual: elements like knowledge about business, social connections, and creativity could combine to amplify our efforts. It was, indeed, very amazing.

Two. Drama

All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players

William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII

This is already my third year working in a student theater, and this year’s experience was rather unique, in terms of the character that I was acting.
For the past two years, I acted in two historical dramas, one about Cultural Revolution, another was about one of our school’s founding fathers. While I like the stories, and they did serve their educational purposes well, I felt somewhat distant from the characters, in a sense that I was never able to put myself into their shoes. This year was different – I acted a desperate father who was trying to deceive his daughter, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), that everything’s alright. A slightly dramatized, this character is nonetheless closer to our daily life than the previous two (one was a zealous defender of Mao Zedong, another was a successful businessman who was devoted to the educational industry).

Thus, I got to build a part of the character by myself, by figuring out his life stories that were not written in the script. This was done by thinking: what on earth is going on in his mind when he scratches his head, or when he gives his daughter a pat on the shoulder? This actually brings us to the reason why I chose to do drama: we all get to live the life for only once, and we live it in one own particular perspective. But drama, literature, movie – these are the things that allow us to put ourselves into different perspectives, and think like how others think, feel what others feel – that’s understanding. With her work “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, Harriet Beecher Stowe showed America the perspective and life of the African-American slaves, which set the first step for greater understanding towards the long-suppressed group, and eventually lead to one of the most influential social changes in human history.

Sometimes, it gets me thinking: let’s say, if one day we all have the chance to jump into a brand-new perspective, and to understand another individual, another culture, even that particular culture has been hostile towards mine – wouldn’t this world become a better place?

After you improve yourself, you can manage your family; after your family is managed, you can govern your states and eventually bring justice and virtue to the World.

Confucius, Book of Rites

Great aspirations are not easy to achieve; for now, I think I’m gonna go step by step.

“What’s it going to be then, eh?”

2019 is going to be an exciting yet very tough year: it is my last year in junior college, it is the year for my college application, it is also our school’s 100-year anniversary – as a student director, I’m involved in the preparation of a musical for the anniversary celebration – sure, there will be things to keep me busy.

To be honest, there are simply way too many things I wish to do in the year to come – but sadly, I must admit that time is very precious, and I should spend it wisely. So, I will try to be a minimalist and extract out things that I really wish to achieve. And here are seven things that I really really want to do in 2019:

1. Read 10 books
2. Keep this blog constantly updated
3. Learn to be a good drama director
4. Finish my philosophy research paper on ethics of war
5. Run at least three times every week and try half-marathon
6. Survive college application season!
7. Do well in A-Level: get that full A!!

Last but not least, the second article of the previous topic “The Story of a Peacemaker: Singapore and International Commercial Mediation” will be released soon. Stay tuned!

Wish everyone a happy new year!