I went down to London last weekend!



twas great fun. and also really, really thought provoking.
it was my conversation with Zhi Wei which really got me rethinking about life.

in a nutshell, he was just saying how he'd been thinking recently bout how our world system is quite messed up, and i paraphrase:

capitalism's too money driven. everything is very materialistic and centered around making more money. in a university like LSE, where there's a really strong corporate culture, it's really easy to get sucked into the peer pressure and get hooked up on "paperage" -- the obsession of developing a cv that'll get you into a big firm, such that all your plans center around it.

but if we stop and ask ourselves Why we're doing all this, do we really know? is it just for the sake of it? is it just because everyone else is doing it?
or do we realy have a passion about what we do and the impact that it can make?

what really got me thinking was the folowing observation:
if in one part of the world someone's depressed about not being able to get a 400 dollar handbag, while somewhere else is just hoping for 2 dollars to help him get through one more day...
something must be wrong


i know these sound very basic. it was. and it really got be back to basic thinking.

back in Cambridge



last night at a Junjie's room in Queens' we were reading the bible together, on Mattew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

chatting with Ling Yah today, we decided: if you have an iPhone 4 today, it won't keep you happy until 3 years from now. but a relationship today, or something meaningful done this week will be just as valuable in 10 years. an iPhone anyone can steal from you anytime, but the treasures of love, hope and faith stay with you forever.

money isn't bad for me, but it's kinda better if my life centered around otehr things too =)
after all, as Ling Yah inadvertently quoted E.F. Schumacher (and Jesus actually), money (consumption/materialism) is just a means to an end: the good life.

and last night in Dhruva's room, a bunch of us were talking about Malaysia and about how needs abound there in so many areas. how beautiful if we could get our perspective realigned and start living for the good life =)