Lessons in Life ( Part 2 )

As we go through life's long journey we realize that we not only learn the good things from people but also how to avoid doing what should not be done.Look around you and you will see so many things which helps in self improvement and self realization. People who shout and yell,people who discuss and end with"That's the way I am",people who are never punctual,people who are self centred ,people who are shallow and possess the wrong set of values all will come your way. They say just because you have paper qualification it does not necessarily mean that you are educated.It takes more than paper qualification to make you educated.Teachers play a dominant role in our lives and its good to recall that during our time we had teachers who were charismatic ,knowledgeable and who took the trouble to ensure that we learnt .They were teachers by choice and represented a rare breed of humanity.Today ,looking at one picture of a teachers photograph in one secondary school it struck me that almost all the teachers were of one race and I'm quite sure this is the norm in many of our govt. schools.Does this mean that the teaching service attracts only one group of people or does it mean that the other races are not interested or are they excluded?Can we entrust our children's education and development to this group of people ? Gone are the days when teachers were made up of diversified people from all over the world.We had teachers from Ireland,USA, Arabia,other than our own and they were all united by the common goal of educating the young irrespective of race ,religion or colour.Today's education has sadly produced a generation of young materialistic kiasu characters. We led simple lives during our time and had very simple needs and easily satisfied.Today's generation lead such a hectic lifestyle that you cannot imagine how the y could ever appreciate and enjoy the good things in life.I pity the poor souls who in the midst of playing golf have to entertain business calls.How can you allow yourself to be disturbed when you have a little free time for yourself? Or rushing over a meal to catch up with some work? We have to determine whether all this is worth it.Some will say its dollars and cents ..I would say money is not everything.If you have only 1 hour to spend would you give it to your dear ones or use it to make money? Something to learn about life. If you keep your mind and eyes open there are many things to learn.The other day a friend of mine who runs a security company was complaining about one of his guards who could not find his way to a certain spot in KL and he complained about the 'stupidity ' of the guard.I told him simply "if he's smart he would not be a guard' or have you considered that you may know KL well but maybe your guard comes from the kampong so be reasonable.There is no harm in listening to others whoever they may be and pride should not make us egocentric snobs to think that just because we are in such a position people below us cannot tell us anything. In life we have to learn to be humble and always appreciate what we have and never forget especially to appreciate those who are closest to us.Sadly ,all too often this is forgotten!!