Global Warming -- Is it that Pressing an Issue?

Hey guys. I'm back. Today I am doing this extremely important topic on global warming. As most of you might know, global warming is become an important issue these few years. However, is it as important an issue as it seems in the newspapers and reports?

You might have seen advertisements or posters or even heard from your friends or teachers to perform the 3 Rs, Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce. Let me give a brief introduction on what these three Rs are about. Reuse. What does it really mean? It is to tell you that instead of using a new item everytime, you can reuse it if it doesn't cause much harm. For example, toothbrushes can be reused until a certain period of time. Recycle. When you use something and find no more use of it, you can recycle it and the material can be made into something else for another purpose. As for reduce, we have to reduce the usage of natural resources as we have a depleting supply of natural resources, with the only resources coming from imports.

Why then, are we asked to preform these 3 Rs. It is important to know the importance of these 3 Rs so that there is no wastage of materials in this world. For example, plastic is not biodegradable. This means it takes a very long time for plastic to be removed from the world, maybe a few thousand years. Therefore, instead of wasting our plastic by throwing them away time and time again, we can actually use the plastic for other uses by recycling or maybe reusing, unless you want a plastic filled world.

However, this is not the main focus of my topic today. My topic is about global warming. Global warming is when the world temperature is increasing, causing dire consequences, such as the melting of ice bergs and glaciers. How is this going to affect us then? Once the ice melts, it turns into water and soon, the Earth will be covered in nothing but water. Then, we will have nowhere to live. You might think that that will be in the future and we need not care about it now. But there is more to it.

Studies have further proven that in a few decades, the situation will worsen by a lot, and everything will turn for the worse, unless we take action now. And for those who think that global warming is in the future, can you live with this conscience? This is just irresponsibility on your part. This is an extremely selfish thinking! You should always think for your future generation because it is very important, your future generation carries your blood and maybe, your family name. You shouldn't be so heartless to leave them to die.

Hence, the main gist of this post is that, global warming is a pressing issue which can cause dire consequences in no time. If it isn't controlled, the world coming to an end will be within a few decades. The only method to solve this problem, to me, is global cooling. But as far as I know, technology and science have not proven this theory yet. Thus, I plead with all of you to start performing the 3 Rs, in order to slow down the process of global warming, so that there is still time for technology and science to think of ways to solve this problem, hopefully.

Smoking

This was the topic which I did for my Chinese current affairs session. Smoking. There are many smokers around the world. They do it for many reasons, despite the negative impacts smoking has on people.

Smoking causes many health problems. It may result in lung cancer. Smoking causes you not to be breathing in fresh air, but all the smoke and polluted air. Cigarettes contain tar, the substance which is present on the roads where cars drive over everyday. Can you imagine them breathing in tar? These people are actually smoking tar. Knowing this makes smoking seem disgusting, I know. But why then, do people still smoke?

People should have been educated that smoking causes many health problems, in the heart or in the lungs. Even if they don't know about the health problems about smoking, the cigarette packet is always there to deter people from smoking. It shows disgusting images of the result of smoking, dirtied teeth and many mouth ulcers, etc. However, why do they want to smoke? There are many reasons why they smoke.

First, cigarettes contain nicotine in them. Why is knowing this fact important? Nicotine is addictive. Many people have never tried smoking before and they want to try once, thinking that it would be harmless. But little do they know the nicotine inside is addictive. One puff is all it takes, one puff and you can be addicted. If you smoke and you don't know how to control, the addictive nicotine in it makes you addicted to smoking. And once addicted, you never stop and continue to smoke.

Next, people smoke because they think it's the "in" thing. They feel that the cool people smoke and therefore, they should learn from them and take up smoking as well. They want to be part of the cool clan, so that they have status, although they are aware of the dire consequences smoking might lead to. This can be categorised under peer pressure. People smoke because of the pressure they undergo from their friends. They also feel that smoking is a thrill. They can get to play with the smoke and they think it is cool, but little did they realise their health is actually at danger.

Smoking is an expensive activity. One packet can cost up to $10. However, when the youngsters realise in the adult years, it is already too late because they are already addicted to smoking. Others realise their health are deteriorating but it is just too addictive. One example would be my grandfather, smoking for many decades and in the end, suffering heart problems and had to be hospitalised. He did not take the initial warnings to quit smoking seriously because he did not expect one day, he would fall because of smoking. However, it was too late when he realised it as he had already fallen sick. Now, his illness would relapse from time to time.

My main point in writing this post is to say that smoking is bad. Smoking has many negative impacts on people and you should realise that from young. If you only realise that when you're old, it would be too late already and coming to regret it only when you fall ill would be a little too late as well.

Family Ties

Ok. So I was watching the Star Awards on television just now. I witnessed the many celebrities going up the stage, collecting their prizes, and making their "thank you" speech.

Looking at them and listening to some of their thank you speeches, I noticed that the speeches were mostly talking about spending a lot of time and effort in filming. For the celebrities with kids, they will say that they have spent so much time filming that they have no time for their families and kids. For the married couples, I really take my hat off them for being able to be both celebrities and have a child at home. I feel that many of them have no time for their families and this might cause a strain in their relationship ties. I really wonder how they cope with such a busy schedule but still have to spend time with their kids. This brings me to my topic about family ties today.

There are many celebrities who are couples and they spend most of their lives filming and being in our television screen for our entertainment. Some of them spend so much time filming and performing for us that they actually even forget to spend that time with their children. As a result, they neglect their children. This has become an increasingly important problem in our society nowadays. Many people spend time working and working. They leave the house early in the morning and come home in the wee hours, like many celebrities, having to go out and film or record, even going for interviews. Some children don't even get to see their parents everyday. As a result, when the parents are with the children, it becomes awkward and the atmosphere would be very tense.

What parents nowadays are not able to see is that children need their attention. They crave for their parents' care and attention, because they need it. They want their parents to cane them or scold them, but not parents who don't even see them or talk to them often. They become neglected children who just need the love showered on them. Parents become workaholics and they think that by providing well for their children, they are doing their role as parents and their children will be happy. But obviously, they are wrong. As a child, I know that what children crave most is their parents' support and care. They need guidance so as to determine the direction of their path. Without the direction, chances are more likely that they will take the wrong path and mix around with the bad company.

Because children want the attention so much, they commit crimes like vandalising or robbery just because they want the thrill out of it and the attention from their parents. It is always then, that the parents realise their children are taking the wrong path and are mixing around with the bad company. However, it is too late as their children will be given a record. Parents should realise as soon as possible, even better before they become parents themselves, what children really want, not wealth, but the care and love. This way, they will be able to satisfy their children's needs better.

What I am trying to say here is, parents should not be too preoccupied with their work and neglect their own children. Once their children are neglected and if they take the wrong step, everything would go wrong and the consequences would be dire. Therefore, I want to tell parents that they should always show care and concern for their children because these are what their children really want. But of course, it should not be overdone too. What do you think, readers from all over the world?

Smiles

Today I witnessed a usual sight every week. I was in the MRT station because I was on my way to tuition. As I walked out of the MRT, I saw a man making a living just by playing his guitar and singing songs in the MRT station. Every week, I would see him. He would be diligently playing the music. A week without him there would feel weird to me. As usual, I asked myself the same few questions.

I looked at the man. Why would he want to make a living this way. I saw the many commuters of the MRT walking past him, although enjoying his music, but did not make the effort to reach out into their pockets to retrieve just a dollar to donate to him. Since this man could not earn so much, why would he want to do this? Why did he want to do something which could not earn much? Is it because this is something he enjoys? Is it because he is trying to earn just a bit of money to help his family? Or is this just because he has no other choice or path to take? I looked at him again. He was perfectly normal, and could sing. However, why was he here. What is he doing here all day long just playing his music and getting money? Was this his only job? Or is this just a scam beggar? I asked myself time and time again, what is this beggar's main aim? What was his background? Many question marks filled my head, but they all faded away when I saw what unfolded next.

A girl, about 6 years old, took a dollar from her dad and donated into his donation box. The man smiled and said thank you to her. She smiled and I could tell that made her day and she was extremely thrilled by the fact. She skipped off to her father and was jubilant to tell her father that the man smiled and said thank you to her. I was extremely shocked at that moment that such a thing could actually make people's days. Then, I could have a better guess why he wanted to choose this path although he seemed such a normal person.

It was not because he was poor. It was not because he had nothing to do. He did this with a purpose. I believe that one of the minor reasons which could be possible is that he wanted some side money. But this could not be possible because he didn't look too poor. I believe the main aim of him being here is to bring joy to people. It is to bring smiles to the public. And by doing so, it can make people's days. He doesn't want the money, but if he didn't take the money, he had no reason in being there and he couldn't tell if he was bringing joy to others. I believe this was just a side income. He couldn't possibly be living on this because I believe he doesn't earn a lot from this. Many people do not donate, including me, because we are selfish and too simple-minded to go into the further step to try to comprehend the goodness of this, that is to bring joy to our lives with music, and not because he wants to earn money from this, not because he wanted the money so easily. I was extremely touched by this and donated a dollar.

It is these small things that bring joy to the world. These small things bring happiness. You guys might call me stupid, call me and idiot, why would I be thinking this way. Why would I donate to some guy who might just be a scam, that he was not actually very pitiful. But do beggars really have to be defined in that way, that they can only do this for money because they are pitiful and poor? This is being unfair to such people as they want to bring joy to our lives as well. It is very unfair to say that beggars can be defined as a scam or not. A scam where the beggar is already rich and want to earn easy money. Actually, such people are just like singers. Singers also earn our money through concerts. This man, for example, would be a form of a concert, but a small scale one in the MRT station. And you can choose whether you want to give them money, but their main aim is to bring smiles to you. If you say that rich people who do this are swindlers because they want to earn easy money, then you might as well say that the singers are all swindlers as well.

In conclusion, I feel that smiles and joy can be brought to this world just by such small things. And I believe in the goodness of people, that they want to bring happiness to the world. What are your views on such people who get money from singing or playing the guitar?

Rugby Match Gone Bad

If you guys have been reading the papers, this piece of news shouldn't be new to you at all. At the B Division finals of the rugby competition, ACSI and SAS athletes from the rugby team were found to be fighting on the pitch right after the final whistle. Many people then became involved in the fight, including parents, etc. In the end, many players were found to be injured badly by the fight. For example, Leonard Wee, a player from ACSI, suffered facial injuries after being punched.

Now, you might seem to be showing pity for Leonard Wee. However, if you looked at the full picture, you must know that it was Leonard Wee who started the fight, insulting one of the SAS players.

Leonard, calling one of the SAS players a loser, should be blamed and rather, not pitied at all. He insulted the SAS player at such a horrible time, right after the match when the SAS player must have been feeling dejected and depressed. It was really stupid of him to be doing that at that time when the SAS player was already so emotionally-distressed. By insulting him further and even insulting his mother, he only made things worse as the SAS player would be infuriated and filled with rage, wanting revenge and therefore, starting such a violent scene. Leonard should really have thought twice before he spoke because what he spoke really caused a great impact to the whole situation and dragged so many other people down with him, resulting in a large scale brawl and so many people suffering injuries.

However, I also feel that the SAS player should be partly blamed for this. I understand how one would feel right after losing a competition in the finals, sad and disappointed. What's more is that you have to bear the emotional hurt from the other school when he insults you and your mother. The SAS player should have controlled himself and found other ways to try and report the ACSI guy instead of losing his cool and starting to beat up Leonard. I know how hard it is to control your temper at such a time but even so, you have to. Or else, if you start the fight, bad things will follow and the incident here is a perfect example. If the SAS player was just able to control himself during that split second and not act rashly, maybe this brawl would not have broken out and this would not result in the sheer bitter rivalry between both schools' rugby teams.

For me, I have been hurled at with verbal abuse before, sometimes, I know it is really hard to control. But still, you have to control. I understand that if you just so happen to make that false move and start out with a fist, a brawl will happen, a street fight will unfold and only bad things will happen.

In conclusion, I feel that people should watch their words before they say anything. Even if they say anything, you should always control yourself and don't fall into their trap by getting angry, if not you have lost the battle against yourself.

Friendship

Friendship. It is defined as the state where two people are friends. But this brings us to another issue. What are friends? To me, friends are seen as two people communicating with each other, recognising each other and acknowledging their presence. However, friendship is not as simple as it seems. There are two sides to friendship, one being positive while the other, negative. There are true friends and bad friends. These two different types of friends are really extremely different and worlds apart.

True friendship are those that include friends who are of no negative influence to you, but only positive. They influence you only in positive manners. For example, a true friend would actually help you in areas they are better than you. They will find all ways to help you whenever they can and are do not mind sharing all of their knowledge with you. They are of positive influence to you. And you reciprocate their kind intentions by helping them whenever you can as well. With this, you friends are helping each other constantly and influencing each other positively. True friends are also friends who are really honest with you, giving you their true comments. They are not shy to tell you that your way of doing things is wrong. However, when doing so, they take into consideration your pride as well, applying the most tactful manner to tell you so that they do not hurt your feelings. This, to me, is what true friendship is, influencing each other positively.

On the other hand, there is an artificial type of friendship. This type of friendship is seen almost everywhere among many people. These friends take advantage of you and use you to commit crimes. They are the givers of the ideas while you are the strength to fulfill their wishes, without you even knowing that they are using you to do the wrong things. Artificial friendship are those that gives you a negative influence on your life. Many people even tell you the wrong things, in hoping that they mess up your life while theirs would be successful. This type, is what I call artificial friendship.

In life, you never know when the friendship you have with your friend is true or artificial. It is by the instinct that tells you so. You can choose to trust your friend, but you can also choose not to. It is all up to you to how you want to view your friend, whether they are reliable or not. It is up to you to view your friend, whether they look truthful to you and whether you want to trust them or not.

My purpose of writing this is because in life, there are many friends you can have, but having a true friendship is very rare. So, whenever you have a friend, you must always be wary of them, but of course, being too suspicious is also not healthy for your friendship. Take me for example, I have friends too. But I don't know which ones are true friends. Some "backstab" you while others truly mean well. However, you never know what they are thinking. The only way to make a friendship true is to choose to trust them. But on the other hand, being too gullible is not good as well.

In conclusion, true friendship does not come by easily. If you have a friend who treats you and is better than others, accept them as your true friend and get close to them, because if you lose him or her, you will regret it for the rest of your life as no replicas of them will ever appear in your life again.

P.S. Maybe you could tell me about your experience with your friends?

Risks -- Unavoidable Part of Your Life

Everyone takes risks in their lives, whether they want to or not. Risks are not very appealing to many people, however, they take them at many instances. Some risks taken have dire consequences, while others have positive ones. Risks are unavoidable in everyday life and nobody can possibly evade them. Many times, people understand the risks involved in whatever they do, the repercussions, the possibility of something backfiring, but they still do them when they have the confidence in succeeding.

For instance, risks are taken in academical instances. Everyone takes risks in their daily homework without even knowing them. When they do their homework, they will think of the possible answers to the question and answer them. At this point of time, they have inevitably taken a risk. Risk in the sense that they do not know the answer to the question, so they are in a sense taking a risk by answering it, since they might make a mistake. However, this type of risks are necessary to take because if they don't, they will also take the risk of getting scolded. At this instance, you are faced with two risks you need to take. Therefore, people will definitely go for the risk which causes less dire consequences, that is answering the question and take the risk. This type of example is an uncontrollable type of risk that everyone has to take in their lives.

Another type of risk is one where you get a choice whether or not to take a risk. An example would be in class. When the teacher asks a question, you have the choice whether or not to answer it. By answering it, you are actually taking a risk. I feel this way because when I answer a question, I am constantly under the pressure that my answer would be considered stupid and my classmates would laugh at me, giving me peer pressure. But if you choose not to answer, you are actually not taking a risk. Another example would be when you are choosing a CCA. When choosing a CCA, you know that every one of them consists risks in them. For example, my CCA, water polo, has risks in it. I am aware of them and it is a decision made. I am constantly at the risk of getting scratches or being hurt when playing the game. However, I made this decision.

These are just minor instances of risk taking activities. Major ones would be those which include life and death. Everyone would have at least taken a risk in their lives. Some might be major ones which could affect them drastically while some will be minor ones which do not affect them much. Nonetheless, whether the risks taken are major or minor, there will always be something to motivate you to take the risk. For me, I took the risk and joined water polo because I had the burning passion in that sport. I enjoy playing water polo and this motivated me greatly to take the risk and join water polo.

In conclusion, what my main point is, is that everyone would have to take risks in their lives. And whether the risks taken would be able to be overcome is all up to them. Risks are normally taken when they are motivated by something. With this, I end this post and by posting this, I am actually also taking a risk because what I say may not be appealing to everyone and I might be condemned for an illogical post, if you feel this is one...

Spirit Like No Other

Today marks the day of the end of the high school Water Polo Championship. I saw what true water polo is today and it really gave me a complex understanding to water polo. Water polo is not about the technique or the swimming, oh well guess it might be, but today, I finally understood what my seniors always meant when they say, "Go down there and play like there's no tomorrow."

I went to watch the B Division water polo championship today between HCI and ACSI. At the preliminary round, HCI lost to ACSI 6-2. With this result, it seemed as though ACSI were the favourites to beat HCI in the finals, already proving their mettle. ACSI were all extremely fit swimmers and there was no doubt their team was one of the best in Singapore. With all these factors, ACSI were extremely confident of winning.

However, HCI, not being wavered by the preliminary performance, went to CCAB with high spirits, knowing that if they worked doubly hard, they had a chance, and that chance wasn't a small one, that they could just well walk away with the gold. Furthermore, with the fact that HCI has had a drought of the B Division gold, my seniors really wanted to place their names in history to be the batch to break the drought. In addition, the supporters for HCI was really awesome, cheering their hearts out, not minding to break their vocal chords. They were really great, supporting as best as they could, and with their vocal support, it overwhelmed ACSI till ACSI's drums and props which were used for support instead of voices, was nothing compared to us. With these great motivations, there was really a urge and a craving in them to snatch the gold.

ACSI, with their victory over HCI in the preliminary round, thought that this would be an easy fight, but they were proven wrong, when HCI took the lead over ACSI with 2-1 in the first half. It was really a very tough fight, with ACSI taking the lead several times, but HCI really wanted the gold and fought really hard, when the centre back did his best to snatch as many balls as possible, fighting so hard, but unfortunately got a permanent sack, having collected three sacks. HCI did not back down without a fight, they persevered, defended and attacked. They equalised many many times and the score was finally tied at 4-4 in the last quarter. Heartrendingly, with about a minute or so left, ACSI put in a shot and made the score 5-4. And that was the final score, with ACSI grabbing the gold. At this moment, everyone in HCI were heartbroken, inside all of us, we knew we emerged the better team, but were unlucky that we lost. The entire water polo team was in low spirits, but we still congratulated the ACSI team. This sportsmanship was something every athlete should equip themselves with no matter what sport you play.

When I saw the rough fights in the pool, the sweat, the pain from the tough match and the scratches they endured, I was really emotionally moved by this scene. It seemed as though all the blood they bled, all the perspiration they sweated out, they all went down the drain, but in our hearts, we know who was the better side.

In particular, I noticed the B Division vice-captain. He had a medical history, and almost had to stop water polo. However, he persevered, with the support of his teammates, and he came back to play. He could well be said the man of the match, playing extremely hard for the team and snatching many balls from the opponent. The effort he put in although he almost could not play water polo anymore. I saw his chest, with scratches on it, and blood oozing out, but I could tell he didn't mind all this anymore, he was only heartbroken about the loss, because he really gave it his best and felt that they should have won the match. But at this time, it was all over and what's done was done. They accepted it and moved on, although it would be etched in their minds for eternity. At that time, I could really feel that sense of being in a team, that in a team, there was no blaming each other. You rise as a team, and you fall as a team. This time, they fell as a team, but they were able to pick themselves up and present themselves in front of their supporters to thank them. It was really a true spirit of athletes.

I really felt sad at that time and comforted them. Although they lost, I have never seen a fighting spirit like theirs before. It was extremely impressive and I aspired to be like them when I become a senior myself. Since they couldn't break the drought, it would be up to us to demonstrate and see if we can break it.

Lastly, I would like to talk about the purpose of this post. The purpose is to show that no matter what happens, whether the odds are stacked against you or not, you must never feel demoralised and should go all the way, not backing down a single bit at all. You should have the fighting spirit and determination to fight all the way. Because, you never know the result of a match till it's played, everyone has an equal 50/50 chance of winning the match. So, can you'll discuss with me what feelings have you'll felt when you lost or won a competition?