Remembering My Good O Days! Part 2

Background: In the 70s, the Singapore Polytechnic Welfare Services Club was a hive of activities. We stayed back after lectures for meetings, sketch practices for old folks home, song practices for children, bamboo dance practices for lepers' Home, study sessions for the diploma, sports sessions for fun, discussions, more discussions, more singing...etc, till late at night.

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We were in our late teens with a common goal to serve the under-privileged. Also, at that age, romance easily fills the air.

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Then it came a time, when it became difficult to gather big groups together, as some were already pairing off somewhere and not joining the main group. A rather anti-social act, but they were in love and oblivious about anything outside their little world. :) This was particularly difficult during work camps, training camps and campus group activities, where group efforts were essential. So the Central Committee (CC) decided to make an announcement, that male and female volunteers were discouraged from 'pairing off' during Club activities. A rather draconian rule, but at the time somehow the guilty obliged and attempted to comply.

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So there on, all Club activities were planned in such a way that there were precautions to prevent girl-boy pairing off into the romantic sunsets. Similar announcements were made in the 'Welscope', the Club newsletter. Soon, everyone was talking about it.

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Mind you, we were still innocent teens and you probably won't bat an eyelid over the lame things we did, which were nowhere near the hotstuff we see today. During those ultra-conservative days in Singapore, it was still taboo for a guy even to hold a girl's hand, unless you are serious about being a couple together. So, those who were straying away in pairs were merely mesmerised, in love, indifferent and together. Sorry no juicy stories to tell even if I want to! :)
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Eventually, everyone was overly conscious about who is interested in who and who is going out with who secretly...etc. It became one of the Club's favourite gossips and hence dominant thoughts. The CC started off doing a good job, but realised that more and more members were 'pairing off' despite all the measures taken. More suprisingly and quite hilariously, all too soon, some in the CC found themselves pairing off within, or finding their boy friend/girlfriend within the Club. Now, no one was safe from Cupid's arrows. And of course, the problems which the Club had mobilising the whole group, became worse.

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The next year, a new CC came in and dropped the whole idea of enforcing anything. They just turned away from the problem, and guess what? The problem disappeared!

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Remembering My Good O Days!

I am blessed with a good memory, somehow better than many others. I drew this picture when I was in the Singapore Polytechnic Welfare Services Club. It is a nostalgic piece. I can remember vividly, the hive of activities then. Some will be typing letters on noisy typewriters seeking sponsors for our projects in the old folks home, children's outings, Christmas celebrations, Moon Cake festivals, etc; others hang around with their guitars singing 'welfare songs', ie. songs with motivational lyrics for welfare work; some rehearsing sketches for the celebrations; and yet others doing their homework and fallen asleep... etc. Our volunteers spent much of their student life there - in the club room. To me it WAS my life! Fond memories like these can easily mesmerise me for hours.

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Many years have now passed, we have all graduated, got jobs, raised families and take on different hobbies and lifestyles. Some are driven by events of chasing after more money, bigger houses, bigger cars, ...etc. I guess many are overtaken by events in post-graduation. Memories of those intense activities have faded for many. For me, it is as real as it had happened yesterday, but surprisingly, for many much is forgotten. To them, they cannot remember all the fun of spending the many hours there - cooking dinner, practising bamboo dance, studying together, and finally rushing for the last bus. As they have forgotten, so these activities did not happen to them.

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The conscious mind is an elusive instument. The past that is real to me, is totally non-existent to some of my friends.

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I have similar experiences with dreams. As I lay on my bed, I remember the dream to monumental detail and could even tell my conscious mind how to remember them. Yet, when I get out of bed, into the shower and then by breakfast, all is forgotten. By the end of the day, it "didn't happen"!

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Similar mismatches can happen with 'observations'. Sometimes, in a scenario, I can see something in it, but no matter how I describe and try to convince my friends, they cannot see that 'something'. To me I can see that 'something' and it is real, but to my friends, that 'something' does not exist. So I got on to argue that it exists, but my friends insist it does not. They just don't get it!

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Conversely, there are times when my friends will argue very strongly about something. They are certain that they are right. But then, they would wouldn't they? Otherwise they wouldn't be arguing so passionately about it. So don't get upset with them. Are they blinded? Are they seeing 'shadows'? Maybe, I don't know, but for sure whatever they see is true to them, and not true to me, unless they can lead me to see the same as they do.

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To be headstrong about something without considering what the other party sees, would lead to disharmony and fallacies. From these fundamental assumptions, a belief system is then constructed, and held as the unassailable truth. It is only upon one of the fundamental assumptions being disproved, that the entire collossal belief system collapses.

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Therefore, it is prudent to constantly listen to our inner-self to check if we are leading ourselves into a fallacy. In stillness, this will be revealed. It would be helpful to be patient and see what the other persons see. By looking at different angles can the blindspots be cleared.

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Religions often look at life solely from their own dogma. This create blindspots in their followers, since no matter how, we cannot cover all dimensions with a single dogma. By looking at life openly through the eyes of many religions, philosophies and cultures, likewise, many blindspots will be cleared.