Gen Stanley McChrystal

I chanced upon a sole remaining copy of THE Rolling Stones magazine that featured the now infamous interview of the belaguered military general. Now, I have never bought the said magazine before and at $13.40 it seemed too expensive just for one story, although the cover page featured Lady Gaga.

Still, I bought the magazine and read the story on Stan the very night.

As a soldier and leader, he has joined his men in their missions, braving stray bullets and ruthless forces.

While he said things he should not have said, and Obama really have no choice but to remove Stan from command, reading the article in entirety, what came across to me was a frustrated General fighting a impossible war (started by an ex president), an enemy that is elusive and allies that do not always appear to be helpful. Against this backdrop, his was a voice calling for recognition of the problems that beset his mission.

Suicide

I remember one colleague mentioned that when a person chooses to end his life, he is already not himself. Because for one conscious mind to take the very first step to kill own self will take a great deal of "courage" and determination.

Recently, 2 suicidal news caught my attention. The news were on the Korean star and Ms Kerin Peh (I will call her the Bride). I realised how tough times can be, to cause such distress to human beings like us who are educated and "were taught how to handle things in life". Some of us learnt vicariously, while others have to go through the harder way, i.e. personal experience.

Saw some comments about the news about The Bride who took her life just yesterday. Some were sympathetic while others criticised and preached how precious life is. I am not here to judge but I think one has to go through a great deal of trauma to understand. For me, I took a sympathetic stand. Really felt sorry for her having to go through the pain and yet not able to "recover" from the heartache.

As for the Korean actor, it was said that the stress and guilt in juggling his career and his ill dad pushed him to choose this path. He said life was hard.

Indeed, life was very difficult for the 2 cases. Depression is a trap. To get out, you have to be willing to leave a part of you and free the rest of yourself. Some are lucky enough to pull themselves away while others need others to give them a thug. Of course, there are also some who "choose" to fall deeper and deeper.

What we have learnt in schools is somewhat "fairytale" and usually good things happen in life. We were taught the moral values and good behaviours. We were taught how to handle academic topics, how to solve problems in Maths, in Science. Real life experience is hard to teach, no doubt. Still, with the increasing pace and expectation of the society nowadays, the issues on handling extreme emotions cannot be undermined.

A Little Ambition

A colleague asked me what I thought of his impending transfer to a new appointment. I said I think it is good to which he replied I was the first to say something positive.

I said in life you must have minimally a little ambition to be useful and gain knowledge. Without this, then it is likely that every job or opportunity will be viewed negatively.

And one cannot overemphasise the importance of communication in the corporate world. While the ultimate objective is getting the desired message clearly understood, the form ie tone, language and style, do a play equally important roles particularly in your supervisor's comparison of you with your peers.

A good chat

There is a saying that discussion/talk about ideas is the highest form and discussion about people is the lowest. That is easily understood because the talk tends to become gossip, wild postulations, albeit just for a laugh.

I met my university professor at my office canteen and we had a good chat. It was one of the most fulfilling chats I had in a long while.

Whilst we talked about people, it was to update each other of people we know in common and how they are now. We also enquired about each other's family.

Largely, we shared our ideas and experiences. It helped that although we are both engineers by training, we have a healthy respect for culture and the arts.

We both agreed to task ourselves to meditate more often so that we can be better balanced to face the world.