North Korea

I have read the article of the countless ordeals suffered by those in North Korea, and the tale of three who managed to escape from the horrors in the North, to the seemingly paradise of South Korea. However interesting and supported this story is, there are still many unanswered questions and many assumptions made.

Why does China choose to side North Korea?

The article has somewhat cast China in a bad light, in siding with North Korea and aiding their neighboring country to arrest and send back any fugitives. However, we must also understand that China has to keep a close relation with North Korea for various reasons. One reason is actually because of the trade-relations between the 2 countries, and also because North Korea is one of the few countries to share the same ideology as China - Communism. It is not very easy for China to win a dependable ally and "business partner". So, it is very irresponsible to think that China can afford to strain its relationship with North Korea just for the sake of helping fugitives.

In fact, the fugitives are also wrong to be escaping like rats from North Korea. Looking at the statistics, if this carries on, North Korea will take a hard hit and continue to suffer from a state of poverty, as there will be hardly anyone else left to support and develop the country. Although the citizens have a right to leave the country, they cannot do it as and when they please, otherwise North Korea will suffer even more. Yes, North Korea should not be so authoritative as to make it illegal to even leave the country - which is to the extreme, but should still be allowed to control the number of people leaving the country.

Rather than using brute force, other measures can be used to discourage people from leaving the country, like setting up a high price for people to leave the country. North Korea, while possessing the power to convict and punish these people, should not torture or treat them ruthlessly, but maybe give them penalties like having to work for the country for a certain period of time. So, instead of necessarily slaughtering the fugitives, North Korea can efficiently put them to work to help develop the economy of the country.

In fact, life is not necessarily better for the North Koreans when they leave. They might not be able to find a job, and the fact that they were North Koreans will leave a mark on their lives and potentially ruin their lives. So, is it really right to encourage North Koreans to leave their country and escape to other neighboring countries? Are the missionaries right in aiding the refugees? The missionaries can help to aid any lost North Korean who fled from the country, in order to make life better for them, but should not encourage others to join in. This may sometimes lead to disastrous results. Not only will the surge of North Koreans pose as a burden to other countries, North Korea will also take a hit in losing its citizens who supports the country. So, is it really a win-win situation, or a lose-lose situation. The good intentions may actually harm everyone instead.

There is no perfection

In this world, as one grows up and experiences life around him, he will eventually learn that there is no such thing as "perfect" in this world. This hard truth came slowly to me, and only today have I really reflected on this fact and giving some thought about it.

In fact, from young there were already hints of such a lesson in life. When I was young, I loved it when the house looked neat and tidy, and always liked to arrange things nicely in the house, be it the table, chairs, books or my bed. Eventually, I start to realise: no matter how hard I try to make the place look clean and spotless, it will return back to its messy state sooner or later. There is no such thing as making a place look perfect forever, it will only last for a brief period, followed by a sense of disappointment when everything goes back to square one. Since then, I lost any motivation to clean up everything perfectly - to me, acceptable looking is already good enough.

Even now, I am reminded of this painful lesson in school. Recently, I have spent most of my time studying for my tests, giving up much of my "gaming" time and rest. However, one by one my results dropped despite all my efforts - Integrated Humanities, Language Arts, Chinese - all plunged like a lightning bolt right out of the sky. The several hours of hard work and sheer studying, was repaid with unsatisfactory results. I always believed in aiming to be a great academic achiever - aiming for perfect scores, but this never came to be. What's more, those who did not even bother to study even did better than me. Now to me, As mean nothing anymore, because now they seem so impossible to achieve. My motivation have dropped, academic aims left hopeless, and if matters were not bad enough - my position in my CCA also took a hard hit, because I spent most of my time studying and attempting to juggle all my activities at once.

Today, I have given up on trying to be a perfect person. I did not excel in everything - my studies, CCA, everything...but ended up performing badly instead. Now, everything seems so hopeless to me - my world is ruined in my efforts to strive to be perfect. I have failed utterly in my quest. I cannot please everyone. I cannot be perfect, and will no longer believe in perfection.

Shylock- the ultimate victim

After reading the Merchant of Venice, Shylock is portrayed as two different characters - one being prejudiced and the victim of the story, and another being the ruthless villain. However, Shylock is ultimately more of the victim of abuse rather than a heartless individual in the society. In fact, he is very much like "Frankenstein", having gone through a tragedy rather than starting out as the villain. He was needless prejudiced by the Christians in the city and ill-treated as a result. In act 3 scene 1 of the play, Shylock expressed his feelings as a human being and shows that he (too) is human.

Shylock had gone through the wrath of society, such as in act 1 scene 3 where the story shows a presence of ill-treatment towards Shylock by the Christians. As a result of growing up in a cruel and merciless environment, Shylock was but influenced and grew up only to be as ruthless and as heartless as others have treated him. It is not entirely his fault that he became a villain in the end, as society as a part to play in bringing out the evil side of him.

Additionally, he is also rejected and abandoned by his own family - firstly by Launcelot Gobbo, and then by his precious daughter Jessica. Having lost everything dear to him, it is only natural for him to become very emotional and get into a rage (which is why he cursed his daughter). Even worse, the only back-up net to fall on for himself, was also taken away by his daughter and spent wastefully on useless items - which was his money.

Shylock also losses all those whom he love and is left "alone" in the world by the end of the play. When Antonio and the rest of the Christians forced Shylock to convert from a Jew to a Christian, he indirectly also losses his friends and all those he can trust. The Christians would shun him as he used to be a Jew, while the Jews would discriminate him as he is now a Christian. What was worse is that his blood kin - his daughter - also chose to abandon him and chose to betray him the hard way by turning to Christianity, and defying his religious beliefs and traditions. In this case, Shylock was left shunned by everyone, and was left standing alone in the cruel world.

Furthermore, at the end of the story, his plan of having someone (an enemy) to vent his anger on had backfired. He did not only lose everything that was precious and was dear to him, his situation was also made worse when he lost even more of his fortune. After that, another great blow was deal to him - taking away his religion. At the end, he lost his freedom, his human rights and his way of life, he would have lost the meaning of life and lived the rest of it in depression.

One might argue that Shylock deserved what he got, as he also ignored Antonio's plea for mercy and to give up his bond. However, at that time he was already rejected from society and had also lost everything precious to him. Thus, he was completely emotional and enraged, and the fact that Antonio was his long-time enemy only served to complicate matters. Anyone - in the shoes of Shylock- would have a mental breakdown by then and only wants something to vent their anguish and serve as a "stress ball" to get rid of his sadness. He was not really bloodthirsty and happy to receive Antonio's pound of flesh. In addition, his lack of mercy towards Antonio is just a result of Antonio's lack of respect and acceptance towards Shylock in his everyday life, so no one is to really blame Shylock if he chooses to "unto to others what others unto to him".

Therefore, Shylock is really the ultimate victim of the story, and "The Merchant of Venice" is actually more of a tragedy in disguise rather than a comedy.

Arranged marriages

Many argue that arranged marriages are wrong, and should be banned in certain parts of the world. For centuries, it has been quite traditional for families to create arranged marriages for their children, until recently. There have been many heated debates to whether arranged marriages are morally correct and whether they should be accepted in our current society. So one might question, what is really so bad about arranged marriages.

In arranged marriages, one would be denied of his or her rights, and would not be able to have the freedom to choose who the individual wants to spend the rest of his or her life with. The individual would be married off to some stranger whom they might not even have seen in their entire life. They would not know whether their spouse is really right for them, as one would not even know the character and nature of the other party. It makes one very uncomfortable to live and spend his or her life with someone they are not very familiar with. It also upsets the individual as they may not necessarily grow to love the other person, and if they already love someone else in their life, they will feel very depressed and emotional.

Additionally, if the other individual is a nice and understanding person, then it is fine. However, this is not the case in most arranged marriages. As the individual does not know the nature of the opposite party, he or she would be very much vulnerable to any ugly side of the other person. There have also been cases of abuse, as the other party may not necessary understand the individual and treat the other as if he or she were property. Some of these couples may not also be on friendly terms with each other, leading to frequent arguments and even have extreme fights between them.

There has been a recent article on Reader's Digest April 2011 which shows how one 10-year old girl was married off to another family in Yemen. She was only 10 but was married off to some 30 year-old adult whom she neither liked or was familiar with. In exchange, her father was given some money, as the opposite family was quite rich compared to them. However, the parents were so engrossed in money and "family status" that they neglected the feelings of the daughter and is totally ignorant of the ordeal she went through. She was not only denied of her rights in doing so, but was also needlessly put through abuse by her older husband. Being a child, she was easily subjected to torture in the house without anyone else really coming to her help. This is just another example in everyday life that shows how ugly certain arranged marriages can turn out, especially if it is child marriage.

At the end of the day, the family members may think that organizing the arranged marriage was for the good of their children, as they have married off properly and need not need to worry about having no one to support them in the later parts of their lives. However, another factor to this is also due to their greed, greed for upholding "honour" in the family and maintain the family status. For this, their children have to go through needless pain and to suffer. To them, their family have done more harm than good.

Is matrimony a matter of money?

We have covered the issue in class on whether money should be a deciding factor if one is to get married. However, wealth should only be but a factor in a marriage, and go together with other factors to determine whether one should marry. Marriage is for life, and it is crucial to ensure that both parties love and care each other in order to maintain life-long happiness, instead of just looking at money alone.

We can acknowledge that money is indeed a deciding factor in a marriage as it could be the root of future conflicts in the family, and is needed to ensure their basic needs are met. Yes, money can buy a lot of things to ensure that one leads a comfortable and peaceful life, but it cannot buy happiness. Having happiness does not necessarily means that one is rich, nor does being rich always brings one happiness. If the couples love each other and care for each other, money should not be a boundary between them. One example is the recent wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Kate is not exactly rich, in contrast to Prince Williams, but they still managed to fall in love with each other and did not money stand in their way.

One example to show that money does not really lead to happiness in a marriage is the divorce of Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse on 14 July. In fact, using money as a deciding factor in a marriage will only lead to a lose-win situation. The one who marries into the family and inherits the money gets the benefits, while his or her spouse is left in peril. In the case given above, Cecilia demands that her ex-husband fork out enormous sums of money as part of negotiations, while turning a blind eye to their relationship and their precious sons, caring only about the mere sum of money. It is very pathetic and also quite heart-breaking to see people turning their life and marriage upside down for money.

So in a nutshell, matrimony is not necessary a matter of money but it could be in certain parts of the world. However, doing so will only lead to dire consequences and unfavorable outcomes for everyone, except the selfish whose only aim is the money.

The Murdoch phone hacking scandal

Recently, the news have been abuzz with the Murdoch phone hacking scandal, and the "News of the World" is accused of hacking into countless hand phones. This has caused much outrage and has aroused the disgust of millions around the globe, as the newspaper was already reported to have hacked into the phones of families of a deceased girl. Many have questioned the allegations, and millions are already demanding that action be taken against those responsible for the hacking. However, why have this caused an uproar?

Firstly, they have committed the act of intruding on one's privacy. Th e "News of the World" has shamelessly hacked into countless of phones over the years, and intruding onto other's private space. This is made worse when they did not spare the family of a deceased girl, showing how heartless and without compassion they are, not rubbing salt onto the wounds of the girl's family, worsening an already tragic experience. This act has definitely aroused the disgust of millions around the globe. Thus, people would generally be unhappy with the actions of the company and are outraged.

Additionally, being the "News of the World", they have to accept responsibility for doing these things even when they know it is against their morals. Many have found it an irony - after years of reporting the wrong doings of others, those responsible for the scandal are own-self as guilty for their actions. It is their right to report wrong-doings and uphold justice in the world, instead of doing it the opposite way round. As such, they should accept the serious consequences coming their way.

Furthermore, it is normal for one to err and make mistakes, but the "News of the World" had turned to bribing and tried various means to escape from punishment. If they had come out clean and had promised to work more carefully and avoid making the same mistakes again, the world would most likely be more lenient against them. However, they attempt repeatedly to escape from the punishment they face, using unscrupulous methods, further worsening the situation and cause even more damage. In fact, they have conspired with various high officials to keep the matter silent, which only served to cause even more outcry and make everyone all the more unhappy with their actions. Thus, their further attempt to avoid the punishment they rightfully received also lead to their own downfall.

Altogether, there is no question that their actions are in the wrong, and they should accept punishment for it. Hopefully there is a more severe punishment meted out, to prevent such cases from occurring again in the society.

Should US have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan?

On 6 August 1945, Hiroshima was engulfed in a thick cloud of black smoke. The Japanese city was hit by the atomic weapon code-named "Little Boy", during World War 2. The bomb indeed caused casualties and much destruction as well, and up to at least a hundred thousand lives were lost. However, it was indeed the right thing to do for the US to have dropped the bomb on Japan.
This is because dropping the atomic bomb can end the war promptly, and is the only last resort that the US has in forcing Japan to surrender.

Without the use of the atomic bomb, one wonders whether the war would have ended so abruptly. The single use of the atomic bomb forced Japan to surrender, and let the war end immediately. This enabled the Allied Forces to put an end to the conflict without having to storm into Japan. Although the atomic bomb cost close to 300 000 deaths, it was a far cry from the estimated millions of death which would incur if the Allies were to carry out a full-scale attack on Japan. The atomic bomb also showed Japan the great amount of firepower the Allies possessed, pressuring the country to surrender unconditionally. This immediately put an end to the war and enabled the rest of the countries to re-establish peace in the world. Otherwise, expert claimed that the war would have dragged on for another couple of years, leading to even more casualties and destruction. Thus, the atomic bomb helped to end the war abruptly.

Additionally, this was almost the last resort America had to force Japan to surrender. Previously, America had carried out bombing runs on Japan as a sign to pressure the Japanese to surrender. However, the Japanese were still undeterred in their objective to continue fighting the war. In fact, several Japanese commanders and high officials decided that the country should fight to the death, until the last man standing. The Japanese also has a very high spirit of never giving up, and are so desperate to win the war that they have also conducted suicidal attacks. As a result, America found that it would be very difficult to end the war, and had to drop the nuclear war on Japan in order to force them to surrender.

However, one also has to acknowledge the innocent lives lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the dropping of the atomic bombs. However, the atomic bomb also prevented even more lives from being lost. During the dropping of the atomic bomb, only the Japanese side suffered casualties of up to 300 000 people. The war would have dragged on if not for the dropping of the atomic bomb, resulting in millions of death from around the world. This is not to mentioned the several Asian countries Japan had captured, and the Japanese would have carried out even more massacres in these areas. The continued conflict between the two sides will also lead to heavy losses on both sides.

At the end of the day, one have to ultimately consider whether the war would have ended so soon if not for the atomic bomb, or if Japan would even surrender at all. The bomb prevented the war from dragging on and prevented much more casualties from taking place, and also successfully pressured Japan into surrendering. Thus, America should have indeed dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.