This is kinda random. I was actually asked by my father to write this for my Hainanese Lim Clan Association magazine or something. At the same time, it reminds me to treasure our "roots" as well, as most people don't actually come back to help the clan when they get older and are working. Yes, "yin shui si yuan" in chinese. I admit its not very impressive but i just wanted to share these values (:
Roots
Our roots etched so deep,
like a tree, majestic and strong.
What our ancestors have sown, we reap
Tradition preserved for so long.
When drinking water,
Remember its source.
We must continue growing this tree; bring further
The clan’s traditions and cause.
Contribute to society,
Respect your elders,
Values meticulously imparted.
Our roots firmly planted, like a great raintree,
Reminiscence of our forefathers
We must continue the clan’s legacy; what our ancestors had started.
- Lim Mingxia
2O113
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
My Team
Hi. Today I will be blogging about a dimension of my life that I treasure most; That is my volleyball team. I have been with the team for about two years, and we have gone through many struggles together. However, through it all, we have forged strong, unbreakable bonds, and all of us are the best of friends with each other.
During the CCA trials last year, I did not manage to find the volleyball trials, which happenend to be far at the other end of the school, in the College section. I was thus posted to English Drama, which I had went for the trials. However, I really desired to be in volleyball, having played volleyball for 5 years in my primary school days. At the same time, my brothers were from sport CCAs as well and this influenced me to take up a sport as well to have fun and keep strong.
My burning desire to get into volleyball drove me to seek a way for a CCA transfer. I went all the way to find out who the teacher in charge of volleyball was, which led me to find Mr Tok, which referred me to Mr Sung, and then back to Mr Yeo, then back to Mr Tok again. This was far from an easy task, as the teachers were constantly not at their tables during lunch and recess periods, when I would race to their seats in the PE staff room everyday, most of the time only to find that they were not in. Many times, because of this i had to forgo lunch and recess. Eventually, even after my application into Volleyball was successful, I still had immense difficulty in finding the court, which was in the College section, where I was unfamilliar with. Fortunately, i met one of my good friends from my old primary school where I spent my first 3 years in, who happened to be in volleyball as well. I believe this to be fate, as this meeting did not occur in school, but in a popular bookstore in Toa Payoh. I got his number and subsequently he brought me to the court for my first training.
I remember, on the first training, Max, the senior captain from secondary 3 was "testing out" my abilities, while the rest of my batch team was watching me. They all agreed that i had a unstable foundation in volleyball, as I managed to recieve most of the balls he shot, but was largely unable to control the balls to fly in the direction that i wanted. However, I believe the reason to be that I had not touched a volleyball in almost a year, before that.
From then on, I never looked back. Volleyball was what I wanted. I had tried so hard to get there, there was no turning back. From there, me and my team got to know each other better. We endured all those tough trainings under the sun and outdoor court, although volleyball was an indoor game. Friendly matches organised by our coach made us even more bonded; beating many other schools gave us a sense of pride that our training together had paid off, and facing various stronger schools gave us challenges to face as a team. Match after match together, we pulled through and fought through. It was during one particularly tough match that we decided that we would be "brothers" in a metaphorical sense.
Then came the competitions, where we fought many tough battles. I remember one critical match that the seniors had during the zonals against Clementi Town. During the match, we cheered really loudly for the seniors to win, and in the end they won by a comeback victory, against the odds, for they were supposedly not as strong as the opposing team. I also remember the zonal finals that we played against Bukit Panjang Government High. We fought really hard to save every ball and win every point we could, and after each point was scored, we would cheer loudly, to boost our morale. When the last point was scored, we all ran wild on the court, jumping and cheering. This really brought us closer together, knowing that we were the batch, the team that had broken the 10 year zonals championship drought. The pride of being in this team made us even more bonded than before.
But it isn't all about the happy times that brings people closer. i still vividly remember our last match in the National Championships, where we went up against Victoria School, the East Zone champions. We lost the match, and many of us cried. We knew we had did what we could, but it just wasn't enough. However, although we had lost, it still made us even more bonded. We win together, we lose together.
That marked the end of our first season together.
Recently, Volleyball won the "zi qiang bu xi" team award. i was really surprised to hear this, as our team did not actually achieve any outstanding results during the competition. However, i feel that it is really an honor to receive such an award, as it attests to all the blood, sweat and tears that we put into our training and matches. I believe that it has once again brought us closer, having our name etched onto the "zi qiang bu xi" trophy in our year. There is no doubt that we will continue to strive for better results and fight harder as a team. Personally, it doesn't matter if we win or lose. All that matters is that we play to the best of our abilities and face adversities together as a team.
HCVB Forever
MingX
During the CCA trials last year, I did not manage to find the volleyball trials, which happenend to be far at the other end of the school, in the College section. I was thus posted to English Drama, which I had went for the trials. However, I really desired to be in volleyball, having played volleyball for 5 years in my primary school days. At the same time, my brothers were from sport CCAs as well and this influenced me to take up a sport as well to have fun and keep strong.
My burning desire to get into volleyball drove me to seek a way for a CCA transfer. I went all the way to find out who the teacher in charge of volleyball was, which led me to find Mr Tok, which referred me to Mr Sung, and then back to Mr Yeo, then back to Mr Tok again. This was far from an easy task, as the teachers were constantly not at their tables during lunch and recess periods, when I would race to their seats in the PE staff room everyday, most of the time only to find that they were not in. Many times, because of this i had to forgo lunch and recess. Eventually, even after my application into Volleyball was successful, I still had immense difficulty in finding the court, which was in the College section, where I was unfamilliar with. Fortunately, i met one of my good friends from my old primary school where I spent my first 3 years in, who happened to be in volleyball as well. I believe this to be fate, as this meeting did not occur in school, but in a popular bookstore in Toa Payoh. I got his number and subsequently he brought me to the court for my first training.
I remember, on the first training, Max, the senior captain from secondary 3 was "testing out" my abilities, while the rest of my batch team was watching me. They all agreed that i had a unstable foundation in volleyball, as I managed to recieve most of the balls he shot, but was largely unable to control the balls to fly in the direction that i wanted. However, I believe the reason to be that I had not touched a volleyball in almost a year, before that.
From then on, I never looked back. Volleyball was what I wanted. I had tried so hard to get there, there was no turning back. From there, me and my team got to know each other better. We endured all those tough trainings under the sun and outdoor court, although volleyball was an indoor game. Friendly matches organised by our coach made us even more bonded; beating many other schools gave us a sense of pride that our training together had paid off, and facing various stronger schools gave us challenges to face as a team. Match after match together, we pulled through and fought through. It was during one particularly tough match that we decided that we would be "brothers" in a metaphorical sense.
Then came the competitions, where we fought many tough battles. I remember one critical match that the seniors had during the zonals against Clementi Town. During the match, we cheered really loudly for the seniors to win, and in the end they won by a comeback victory, against the odds, for they were supposedly not as strong as the opposing team. I also remember the zonal finals that we played against Bukit Panjang Government High. We fought really hard to save every ball and win every point we could, and after each point was scored, we would cheer loudly, to boost our morale. When the last point was scored, we all ran wild on the court, jumping and cheering. This really brought us closer together, knowing that we were the batch, the team that had broken the 10 year zonals championship drought. The pride of being in this team made us even more bonded than before.
But it isn't all about the happy times that brings people closer. i still vividly remember our last match in the National Championships, where we went up against Victoria School, the East Zone champions. We lost the match, and many of us cried. We knew we had did what we could, but it just wasn't enough. However, although we had lost, it still made us even more bonded. We win together, we lose together.
That marked the end of our first season together.
Recently, Volleyball won the "zi qiang bu xi" team award. i was really surprised to hear this, as our team did not actually achieve any outstanding results during the competition. However, i feel that it is really an honor to receive such an award, as it attests to all the blood, sweat and tears that we put into our training and matches. I believe that it has once again brought us closer, having our name etched onto the "zi qiang bu xi" trophy in our year. There is no doubt that we will continue to strive for better results and fight harder as a team. Personally, it doesn't matter if we win or lose. All that matters is that we play to the best of our abilities and face adversities together as a team.
HCVB Forever
MingX
The Job of a Lawyer
Recently, I have been playing this game on the Nintendo DS named "Ace Attorney Investigations"
Some of you may have heard of it, but it is actually a game in a series of "law games" which requires one to use logical deduction and reasoning, along with evidence, to solve a series of murder cases. I really enjoy playing this game, as it really requires one to think of all the possibilities, and most of the time, the murderer turns out to be someone you never thought possible. There are points in the game where one has to cross examine another character to get more information regarding the case. In these cross examinations, one must think hard and scrutinize the other character's testimony to find loopholes or contradictions with the evidence.
Just for your information, the person you see in the picture above is actually a prosecutor, although the title of the game is "Ace Attorney". Well, the reason is that the "Ace Attorney" series had always been producing games from the perspective of a defence lawyer, until the developers decided that they should create a game from the perspective of the main character's rival, which was a prosecutor. I am currently playing the version from that of a prosecutor.
But to the point now. One of the main themes in this game is about the role of lawyers, and it is a theme i find to be especially interesting, if not thought provoking.
One of the characters in the game is a "prodigy" prosecutor who had never lost a single case in 40 years. his mottos were always to have the "perfect" argument for everything and he always strived for perfection, just like his perfect 40 year record. However, he also believed that his duty as a prosecutor was to "convict all defendants at the stand". Is this really what it means to be a prosecutor? in the end, because of his desire for "perfection" and to "convict all defendants at the stand", he was found out to have been forging evidence for all his cases which he prosecuted.
In another case, the defence lawyer from the main series was faced with defending the murderer. The murderer in this case pleaded not guilty, and the defence lawyer had no choice but to take his case and fight for his innocence. However, in the end, believing that the role of the lawyer is to seek the truth, and fight for justice he turned against his client and announced that he was guilty of murder, eventually proving it with evidence and facts.
Another vital theme in the game is the truth, which is quite closely related to the earlier theme of the meaning of being a lawyer. In the game, there is an interesting entity named the Yatagarasu, whose motto was to "steal the truth" this entity often broke into places to steal incriminating evidence, then send it to the police. This was done so as to expose the crimes of the criminals.
So the question is, what exactly is the job of a lawyer? Is it to defend your client to the end, even though he is the actual culprit of the crime? Is it to make sure the defendant at the stand is punished by the law, even though there is this possibility that he might be innocent? In my opinion, a lawyer is one who fights for the truth, so that he finds the true culprit and brings him to justice. Imagine the number of innocent people convicted, should prosecutors only blindly prosecute the defendant in the trial, and imagine the number of criminals getting away scot-free, if attorneys blindly defend their clients. This certainly does not serve the purpose of lawyers, which is to make sure the correct justice is served. I believe that there are many lawyers in this society that defend or prosecute blindly just to increase their credibility or case winning records, so that they can earn more money. This is rather disturbing, as justice will not be upheld correctly under these lawyers.
So, if you want to be a lawyer in the future, reconsider. What is your incentive for wanting this job. Is it the sky high monthly pay that attracts you? Or is it the truth that you seek; that you wish to make sure justice is served to the person who deserves it?
MX
Friday, August 6, 2010
Animal Farm Saved/ Ruined my exciting life
Yes! National Day is just round the corner!
Just think of the awesome display of fireworks and air performances during the parade!
And this year's National Day song sounds great!
...Pardon me but i just can't help but not feel excited at all.
Well, I had just recently read through Animal Farm, (which we did last year for literature) and all of Squealer's propaganda tactics and stuff. And I thought that Squealer must be the smartest animal in the world, or the animals must be the dumbest.
Then I took a look at the National Day Slogan for this year:
"Live our Dreams, Fly our flag"
Think Propaganda.
To me it sounded more like: "Live your dreams by flying our(Singapore's) flag"
Is Singapore that desperate to keep in our local talents?
Then I remember our National Day Parades every year.
Performances, live shows, National day rally and a goodie bag.
And I immediately thought of.... Spontaneous Demonstrations!
If you guys forgot already, Spontaneous demonstrations were parades held by Napoleon every Sunday on Animal Farm. These were held to increase the morale of the Animals. Similar to our beloved NDPs, Speeches, performances and and extra ration was given.
So... is our NDP actually just to give its people illusions that we are doing very well when we are not? To boost our morale?
So now that I think of it, Is the government really really smart, or are we the little farm animals? Too stupid to realise that we are being fed with Propaganda everyday! o.o
MX
Just think of the awesome display of fireworks and air performances during the parade!
And this year's National Day song sounds great!
...Pardon me but i just can't help but not feel excited at all.
Well, I had just recently read through Animal Farm, (which we did last year for literature) and all of Squealer's propaganda tactics and stuff. And I thought that Squealer must be the smartest animal in the world, or the animals must be the dumbest.
Then I took a look at the National Day Slogan for this year:
"Live our Dreams, Fly our flag"
Think Propaganda.
To me it sounded more like: "Live your dreams by flying our(Singapore's) flag"
Is Singapore that desperate to keep in our local talents?
Then I remember our National Day Parades every year.
Performances, live shows, National day rally and a goodie bag.
And I immediately thought of.... Spontaneous Demonstrations!
If you guys forgot already, Spontaneous demonstrations were parades held by Napoleon every Sunday on Animal Farm. These were held to increase the morale of the Animals. Similar to our beloved NDPs, Speeches, performances and and extra ration was given.
So... is our NDP actually just to give its people illusions that we are doing very well when we are not? To boost our morale?
So now that I think of it, Is the government really really smart, or are we the little farm animals? Too stupid to realise that we are being fed with Propaganda everyday! o.o
MX
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Justice vs Mercy
So we had this debate in class before
Which is higher/ more important?
Justice or Mercy?
This depends on various factors
Firstly I believe that it really depends on the situation.
If the situation is really minor, e.g. someone accidently bumped into you, then I believe we have to be gracious and have mercy on them. If we go by the theory of Justice of "an eye for an eye", it would be rather calculative if we wanted to use justice to punish them.
However, If the situation is especially major, such as murder or kidnap, then that's where the law comes in. Justice will exact the right and fair punishment to the offender, depending on the circumstances.
Secondly, I believe that it also depends on the victim as well. If the victim feels that mercy should be granted to the offender, and is gracious enough to let the matter rest and let go, it is, as Portia puts it "twice blest/ it blesseth him that gives and him that takes". However, it is really up to the victim whether he is willing to forgive and forget, as he does not really stand to gain in any way whether the offender is punished or not.
In my opinion, Justice is more important than mercy, as it helps to maintain law and order in the world. Without Justice, the world will be in chaos, and crimes will be rampant as there will not be a perpetrating force to stop these crimes from happening. If people have too much mercy, there will longer be any justice done, as the punishment will not be fair, and this may lead to a recurrence of the offence committed, as the punishment meted out is not harsh enough to deter the offender from doing it again. Although mercy is important as a virtue, it must not get into the way of Justice, so as not to obstruct the course of a fair verdict being passed.
Do you agree with my views on Justice and Mercy?
Yours Sincerely
Lim MX
Which is higher/ more important?
Justice or Mercy?
This depends on various factors
Firstly I believe that it really depends on the situation.
If the situation is really minor, e.g. someone accidently bumped into you, then I believe we have to be gracious and have mercy on them. If we go by the theory of Justice of "an eye for an eye", it would be rather calculative if we wanted to use justice to punish them.
However, If the situation is especially major, such as murder or kidnap, then that's where the law comes in. Justice will exact the right and fair punishment to the offender, depending on the circumstances.
Secondly, I believe that it also depends on the victim as well. If the victim feels that mercy should be granted to the offender, and is gracious enough to let the matter rest and let go, it is, as Portia puts it "twice blest/ it blesseth him that gives and him that takes". However, it is really up to the victim whether he is willing to forgive and forget, as he does not really stand to gain in any way whether the offender is punished or not.
In my opinion, Justice is more important than mercy, as it helps to maintain law and order in the world. Without Justice, the world will be in chaos, and crimes will be rampant as there will not be a perpetrating force to stop these crimes from happening. If people have too much mercy, there will longer be any justice done, as the punishment will not be fair, and this may lead to a recurrence of the offence committed, as the punishment meted out is not harsh enough to deter the offender from doing it again. Although mercy is important as a virtue, it must not get into the way of Justice, so as not to obstruct the course of a fair verdict being passed.
Do you agree with my views on Justice and Mercy?
Yours Sincerely
Lim MX
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