Bucky Group 15 - Thankful

Probably the most intellectual hair dresser shop in Singapore.
.

This week we have three new faces joining us. Welcome Mano, Leela and Ema.
.
In this session, we sang the song "Thankful". As we were singing, I was wondering if Joo Hock is trying to start a church! :)
.
See the Youtube video and lyrics below.
.

.
Lyrics for "Thankful"
.
Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.
.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
.
Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue
.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.
.
Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light
.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
.
There's so much to be thankful for

.
Discussions
.

It was a beautiful song, but as it has some high pitches, some of us felt that they can't sing the song. But why should we think we can't sing? Why do we have to define singing to such a narrow definition? Just open our mouths and sing.

.

In the song, we are reminded to be thankful for what we have, but Ema also mentioned that we should be thankful for what we don't have.

.

Joo Hock was particularly impressed with the part,
"...Even with our differences There is a place we're all connected ..."

.
I personally find that very difficult, especially with people who are lazy to think. By that, I mean they are not attentive when you are speaking to them, they don't pause to allow themselves to reason, and then blasting something totally tangent to what was spoken. I know I have to be more tolerant, but I am still learning to be how with such people.
.

Hin Lan shared with us her experience when she got her class to thank the 'auntie' who was cleaning the premises, and because she was so happy that the class was so appreciative, she even went on to take care of the tea and coffee, which was not actually her job. So if we are thankful, others are more happy and they return it by serving us more.

.

I have experiences in coffeeshops in Singapore where the 'aunties' collecting my plates are so down and shut off that they do not even hear what I say. And even if they do, they will give a miserable nod and move on. In other words, they are not grateful of my gratitude. Or are they? Many of them are sixty years old and still have to work for a living as a cleaner in a coffeeshop, and for a miserable salary of about $300 to $400 a month. *sigh* I seriously think there is something amiss in Singapore. The system is not functioning well somewhere.

.

I usually connect with those 'aunties' by talking a lot of nonsense with them. It is not so much the content that matters. It is that they feel good acknowledged by us. I find this to work quite well.

.

Clinton got a reverse experience with one cleaner apologising to him with a wide smile for having to clean the place where he was to walk over.

.

One of the participants mentioned that his mother connects with him by picking up a quarrel. To her, quarreling seems to be a way to connect to her son. Perhaps he should tell his mum he loves her. Perhaps this is just what she needed to hear. Love has to be expressed. Well, the girls in the group sugggested this, but I got the feeling that it will be quite a task to reverse 30 odd years of habit and conditioning! :)

.

Yes, we ought to learn to be a more gracious society. One of us say that we will never be a gracious society. Lee Kuan Yew say it will take Singapore another 50 years. "But, never say 'never'", says Annabelle. In the song, it says that we should still hope for, what we still can't see.

.

Post mortem

Usually, we gather for coffee after the session, for more informal and more unstructured discussions.

.

The Bucky Group is evolving more and more to be a University of Life. We come from different walks of life, racial groups, religions and educational level. One of them whom I spoke to didn't even have 'O' Level qualifications (Year 10), but I would not know if he hadn't told me. He left school when he was 16 and since then has embarked on lots of self-learning. I would like to watch him engaged in intellectual discussions with some university graduates and give the latter a run for their money. I find graduates these days are no longer really educated worldly wise. They seem to have let school get in the way of their education, as Mark Twain said.

.

Now the Bucky University that we have in mind should focus on the non-mainstream people, as the mainstream is already well catered for. Soon, there will be four universities in Singapore, plus many other universities with representative private schools. Perhaps we should cater for late bloomers that didn't like school when they were 16 or 'aunties' who eventually retire as cleaners because their kids want them to retire and enjoy their old age.

.

And learning need not be classroom style. Futurist and author Alvin Toffler says that we cannot assume that only teachers teach, as we learn most of our stuff outside school. Bucky says that the future university will be documentary movie production studios, where therafter, students from different geographic locations can assess these documentaries to learn. Actually, YouTube is fast becoming one.

.

In Singapore, Republic Polytechnic is a tertiary institution that does not conduct lectures. Instead, assignments are issued every morning by email and students are to do their own research and hand them in before the deadline, which is usually by the end of the day. There are also no exams, so it is continuous assessment with occassional presentations in a class.

.

Most of all, the Bucky University must keep the spontaneous spirit of the Bucky Group. Future funding which bring in full-time premises and administrative staff, must not dampen or change such spirits. Costs should also be kept to the minimum, so that we don't have to focus on fund raising.

.

We can exploit the Internet fuller. Using email mailing list, is really passe. While we have a Facebook account, not many people are actively using it. Future dissemination of information should happen via Facebook (click here) and not conventional emails. In facebook, discussions can happen not only with Bucky Group Singapore, but anyone around the world. What more we can exploit the power of pictures, text and sound. In future Bucky Group sessions, we can even assess YouTube Clips or relevant blogs directly via the Internet. For that, we have to be thankful for the millions of volunteer bloggers and YouTube posters out there, preparing the learning materials for us. Such is the rise of the 'prosumer', as what Toffler said. Thank you!