Process vs Outcome

From time to time, we face the obstacles in life, which may instill the sense of helplessness in us, and hence the urge to give up arises. As some may say, how we initiate a goal somehow reflects how it may turn out to be, whereas some may see the process holds the key to desired outcomes. Personally is skewed to the latter concept, in the same time values process more as compared to the outcome. Reasons why? Taking the first step to start a commitment is indeed difficult and requires courage; nonetheless, a strong determination is needed to go on with what has been originally drawn out, and needless to say, to overcome the obstacles ahead. Challenges come after one and another, as though they are meant to put us to test and evaluate our qualification to achieve what we wanted to achieve. It is noteworthy that challenges as such come in many forms, range from people to events occurrences, pushing us to the edge of the world, forcing us to choose between giving up and moving on. Therefore, it is crucial to understand that we are responsible over our very own actions and every decisions made, whether to fail or to succeed in accomplishing the tasks given, thus scoring the goal. Whenever we are worn out and not wish to carry on with our original plans, take a deep breath and rest our mind, replenish our souls and re-strike, for we are merely the human beings who need to take a break from time to time in order to be effective once more. 

Quality & Quantity

It is fascinating to see how people often focus on their demands for qualities instead of quantities, despite the fact that they themselves fail to carry out the message via own behaviours. Look at the many advertisements across highway and television show cases, putting the slogan such as “Quantity does not matter, but the quality,” and “We provide quality services.”  How they truly define the terms quality and quantity really? And how they differentiate from one to another apart from the alphabetic differences? Time is different now, so is the life and its people. Back then, academic achievement is seen as something qualitative, where the higher we go, the better we are. Nonetheless, it is somehow more towards the quantitative side in the current days, where the higher we achieved not necessarily equals to better skills or higher knowledge. Why so? Look at the so called quality education system; there may be tons of doctorate holders as educators, but the work they produce might not even meet the lowest level of quality. How pathetic. In this case, education achievement is more on the measure of quantity, because the higher we achieve simply shows the longer list under the column of academic achievement as we draft out on our resume. Seriously, where is the quality? Well, some of us may say educators are there merely to assist us in academic growth, and spoon feeding does us no good at all. Indeed we are not supposed to be overly dependent on people whom we assume to be reliable as knowledge sources, where we only seek them for assistance, but here’s the catch. If they cannot provide moderate or high quality assistance, what else do we do? Depend on self may be one way, or perhaps we seek for other better sources. So, at the end of the day, we still seek for quality even when it comes to help and assistance. And when the educators cannot meet our needs, what is the point of us registering ourselves into private institution for the quality education as they claim and pay tons of money for the unmet standards? Quality and quantity; what a argumentative topic when given the right case study.

Peer Pressure

In one Hong Kong drama series, a female cop accepted the ex boy friend’s marriage proposal in public, accompanied by tons of people who non-stop urging her to say yes. Ignore the fact that situation like this only occurs in created stories and the probability of it actually takes place in reality, did the person really say yes because she still has feelings for him or merely due to the pressure applying by the public? It is fun indeed when we start repeating some words such as “kiss her” in particular situation, intending to urge the recipient(s) to commit in some behavior where the crowd follows our lead and repetition continues. From one point of view, we may see it as something positive and hence, there’s nothing wrong with doing so. Nonetheless, things might be viewed differently as we judge it from a different angle. In another words, we may urge people in terms of decision making in which we think is good for them, but will we be the one who is responsible of the subsequent consequence? Certainly, some of us may say we should be credited if the person who listens to our advice actually succeeded. What about when it happens the other way round where things went wrong? Will we be brave enough to admit our contribution to such unwanted incidences? Well, it is the person’s choice of making which leads him to current situation, regardless the outcome of success or failure. But how many do realize the fact that what we say not only may, but do indeed affect how the others come to finalizing their thoughts? Believe it or not, the peer pressure is there, working in different degrees, depending on how strong the recipient’s mind or determinism is. 

Half-Hearted Effects

It’s common to have low quality teachers when we were back in primary or secondary school, as all we were asked to do was, stand up and read lines by lines. When it comes to tertiary education level however, we have a higher expectation on the quality, especially when we enroll into semi-government or private universities. Truth hurts though, apart from disappointment and demotivation. Looking at the many people around us, we can easily spot the half-hearted souls, straying from one street to another, waiting for the time to pass. With the values we are now paying in everyday’s life, it is such irony that we do not get equivalent level of services. Dealing with the individuals whose faces are as black as the charcoal, we nevertheless still have to include service tax into the bill. It is understandable that a person can never be constantly full-hearted and commit in the decisions made. Nonetheless, is it that difficult to at least do the very best and not just doing for the sake of earning the numbers? When we are the persons who sound the horn and take the lead, we ask for many, many things in order to satisfy ourselves. Such irony, however, when we are the ones who are supposed to provide services and be the followers, we often find our ways to slack and going in between to seek for the chances of being a leader among other followers. When we are half-hearted, we do things half-heartedly, providing half-heartedly-transmitted knowledge, producing half-hearted students, creating half-hearted future. The chain effects are scary, but the half-hearted people who have caused the chain reactions are even scarier. 

Reset

In the current days we are given either the recyclable or disposable eating utensils when dining in some random restaurants. One of the odds is, each time we use the recyclable ones, some of us may ask for hot water or as simple as using tissue to “sanitize” them before using. Perhaps it is our mind that is playing with us, thinking by doing so helps to reduce the chances of consuming “unclean” particles as we place the food into our mouth. In other words, the sanitizing procedures actually function as some sort of reset button, whereby the once-has-been-used-by-unknown-stranger utensils will be renewed within seconds. We are fully aware of the fact that countless people have used the utensils which are now in our hands, but we couldn’t care less, unless we are fastidious with cleanliness and are squeamish over the thought of sharing the same utensils with hundreds of people. A simple observation, but activates numberless neurons firing to more thoughts. Though we are able to reset our mental set on recyclable utensils, there are times when it can’t be helped but to imagine how the previous users might look like. Similarly, when we have a reset in relationships, be it friendship or romance, the probability of drowning back into the possible past exists. We can never truly reset something into brand new, as it merely happens in our mind, that is if we can control it well. 

Circular Value

Sometimes it is so contradicting when a person who claims to be generous and kind is actually engaging in actions which speak the opposite. Look at our surroundings. We have those who say they pay a rather significant importance on educating the younger generations, and yet charging the courses available at such high cost to the point of some fail to take up tertiary education. We have those who want to bring people off from the dying edge and to ensure the health of many souls, and yet charging even higher cost for the medications, even the medical check up requires particular amount of money. We have those who wish to bring better lifestyle to all citizens within the restricted boundaries, and yet they ask for dozens of surcharges onto each requests made. Are the wishes and claims true after all? Indeed, it is ridiculous to have a person making losses out in their professions. Nonetheless, is it really necessary to charge at such a price that many cannot afford, which may then cost the person a great opportunity or perhaps, his life even? Perhaps some may say the price value allows people to distinguish the best from the worst, the higher the better quality and guarantee. Is it really? Or it is as simple as the marketing purposes? Are all the low priced items that bad? The amount we pay in the current days does not guarantee us the best service nor the best learning environment, but merely, the envious expressions in which others put on their faces whenever it is mentioned. It is a circle indeed, without us knowing what could be the main contributor to such a mess. Do all doctors wish to be doctors so that they could save many lives? Do all academic institutions founders found universities and colleges just so they can produce students of higher quality? It all comes down to one word, money. How pathetic. 

Showing Empathy

We are asked and taught to be empathy toward the surrounding people and incidents, regardless whether we’re biologically bonded. In hospitals for example, we have patients checking in and out daily, with their family members going in and out the building during the hospitalization period. Their presence may be due to their love and care over the significant ones who are now lying on the bed, in the room which is filled with the smell of chemicals and medication. Some may be wondering why bother to be present, as the visitors can only stand there and watch the patients undergo suffers and pain, not a big help to ease the pain they are going through, nor to pull them off from the illnesses. Perhaps we are there to provide emotional support and so the patients are able to hang on and continue fighting the terrorists who exist within the bodies. Perhaps we simply show up to prove our care and concern, as there will be the others who would witness our presence, and not commenting on the absence which many may perceive as cold-hearted. Even the hospital staffs themselves are required to show particular facial expressions and voice behaviours which suggest empathy, such as speaking in a lower tone and showing neutral expression. In other words, empathy is no longer to just feel for what the others do, but also to engage in actions to show that we do feel. It may not necessarily to be actions in making the other person to feel better, but actions which reflect our urge of supporting the individual, despite our relationship proximity with him or her.