What if you fxxxed up the end game?

Singapore's road and traffic management is one of the best in the world! Just travel to any 1st tier Asian cities and you can immediately see why we stand out - and that's a key competitive advantage in the mind-share of entrepreneurs and top company executives.

Now look at Changi Airport. Immediately we have a new terminal there are plans for the next terminal or runway. We are always building in anticipation of future demands. Big daddy did say they are willing to sacrifice SIA to retain Changi Airport's status as a regional hub. Now that's focus!

How about our PSA ports? Can anyone remember PSA were caught with their pants down with a bloated body after losing market share to our friendly northern neighbour some years back? Now with a lean and mean body, nobody in PSA will make the same mistake twice as they know heads will roll. Anyone been to Pasir Panjang recently? Big, bigger, more right? Try losing our status as the premier transshipment hub in South East Asia!


Now contrast the above with the challenges we have experienced in recent years:

1.  Public transport infrastructure as in MRT breakdowns and overcrowding of our buses.

2.  Public housing not keeping up with population growth and influx of foreign workers.

3.  Shortage of hospital beds in our public health care system. 


Use your imagination to figure out why some sectors are more prioritised and we are willing to plan for some redundancy in anticipation of future demand, while in some sectors, we rely on "crash got sound" - you cry we give you; no cry no milk.

Of course to be fair, big daddy made some remarkable recoveries once they realised that you can hit every economic KPIs all you want, but what's the use if you fxxxed up the end game by getting yourself booted out of office?


This post is not about politics - its all about you!

I used the above public examples so that Singaporean readers can verify for themselves and use them as a mirror.

Now look at yourself. The goals and plans you are pursuing today. 

Are you not acting in similar manner as big daddy?





P.S.  In case you are wondering, yup, I am using the same technique as my Zebra story for those who have heard my first public talk

For those who are confused or catch no ball, I highly recommend you read this excellent story by the Butterfly man: The Inattentive One.

We have used different vehicles to essentially say the same thing. Different readers; different vehicles. 

Palliative and Hospice care versus Curative treatments

I know. 3 big words on a Monday morning can be a bit early....


When discussing medical treatments for our love ones, it can be sensitive. You know why? One word - Guilt.

We don't have to be Buddhists to know that all of us will get old, get sick, and die one day. But we get all fluster up and emotional when we discover we or our love ones have contracted a "serious" illness.


Self
 
This wake-up call makes us guilty for the life we have lived up till now. Always making plans but never acting on them... It also forces us to re-examine the priorities in our lives; now that you are conscious of your mortality for the first time. No, we are not forever young. 


Loved ones

We know that early detection of stage 1 cancer is more likely to be treatable than stage 4 terminal stage. Yet we act and behave in a way that focuses on turning a blind eye to early signs... (My next post will elaborate more on this selective focus)

We let things drag and when the truth hits, we lash it out on everyone else. How doctors are blood suckers... Big daddy heartless... Why private hospital better because can get same day appointment or next day surgery... No long waiting like in public hospitals... We start throwing money at the problem.... As if the above will help when we discover we have stage 4 terminal cancer....Guilt gets in the way of rationality...
 
Deep down we know if the cancer was discovered earlier at stage 1 or 2, waiting 6 months for a medical appointment or surgery ain't going to make things worse. We can look on the bright side since it's now not a medical emergency!?


You die; I die; we all die

This post from CW provides a real life example:

You die. I die. Doctors also die???

Of course to be able to make such a decision may depend highly on our spirituality, how we have lived our lives till now, and most importantly, the wisdom to make choices.

Yes. There are choices. And its not all about curative treatments.


Prayer and Zen

Serenity prayer for the spiritual:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 
The courage to change the things I can, 
And the wisdom to know the difference.


Alternatively, there's this Western quotation that I find quite Zen:

For every ailment under the sun, 

There is a remedy, or there is none, 

If there be one, try to find it; 

If there be none, never mind it.

P.S.  You may have noticed I like to use the word "spirituality" instead of "religious". That's because atheist and agnostics can be spiritual too. I am inclusive.  

Why it's hard to be a Woman

Thank goodness I'm only a man.

"Mom! Got anything to eat? I'm hungry."