Ian On The Red Dot

Aiyo, why everyone so dulan with this Eric How?

He a little bit insensitive but his points have merit.

Just like God who causes rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous, the PAP’s policies applied to those who have been successful and those who have not been successful.

If you’re growing up now having to suffer, or rather suffer relatively to other people, then clearly your parents must not have been successful. So obviously they are the people to blame cos they cannot make it, not like Eric How’s parents. If your parents can make it, you will be driving car too. No?

Remember people, we live in a meritocratic country. A country which rewards the best people who play the game best.

Meritocracy does not mean everyone will have equal chance to win because not everyone will start with the same resources.

So if your resources are less, of course you have to blame your parents. Blame the genes they give you. Blame the nurturing they give you. Blame the financial backing they couldn’t give you.

Because,

Like God who causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, the PAP’s policies applied to Eric How’s parents and yours. The PAP’s policies apply to you and Eric How the same way. The big difference between Eric How and you is Eric How’s parents. His parents can make it. Yours can’t.

Blame Karma. Blame Lady Luck. Blame the crazy nurse Rebecca who switched the babies at birth (if you watch Korean drama, you will know this reference, and if you’re a guy, shame on you).

But seriously

Sure, our parents may not be as awesome as Eric How’s. But it would be a meaningless exercise to blame them for who they are not, ungrateful to fault them for what they have not given us. It would also make life very very sad.

Our parents like us are human (unless you a a demon spawn or the product of an immaculate conception).

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Best to be grateful for how far they have gotten us. It is up to ourselves to be wise and learn from the mistakes they have made, to be honest about our current resources, and be bold in forging our own paths.

And finally,

While I won’t consider myself exactly in the position of having been extremely blessed (but then again, how do you measure blessings*), I always remember something my spiritual mom focused on – to whom much is given, much is expected.

Luck, fate, God are capricious creatures. Best to have humility with what has been given to one, and in the time one has been blessed, one should help as many people as possible and not mock those who may not have been so lucky. And yes, while it might seem like the correct advice (or the morally superior thing to do from the extremely high ivory tower) to tell people to stop whining about the system and try to win within the system instead of trying to change it, sometimes it is best to keep one’s mouth shut if one has no heart to notice the despair of those who ‘whine’.

*Just to remind myself:

How do you measure blessings? I mean, how does one consider himself more or less blessed? If you have parents who love you even though they have ‘failed’ you, a sister who loves in her own way, a gf/wife who accepts you for who you are, friends who care for you, a spirit that can imagine possibilities, a mind to plan the turning of dreams into reality, health to work …