Crossroads

I am stuck. I have no idea which way to go. I am at the midway point in a cross country run. I know the way forward is kind of like the right way to go, where the fruits of your labour can be enjoyed at the destination. But the way back seems so much easier, and that is the way I have gone pretty much all my life when I need to make any decision. I need a sign to tell me it is possible, or whether I will have to stop eventually because the run will have taken everything out of me before I reach the end. Faced this problem so many times throughout my life, but I am no closer to finding the best solution, damn me.

On a lighter note, has anyone noticed how Mediacorp dramas have turned into *ahem* propaganda *ahem* avenues? Firstly it was all the talk about CPF in Xi Lin Men (Happy Fish) and now its flexi-wages and its benefits in the 9 pm show on Channel 8. Well nothing wrong with that I suppose, if it helps the country to move together in the right direction then so be it. But my main gripe is that the script is hopelessly one sided. Take today's episode of the 9pm show, it portrays all workers as lazy, unwilling to adapt and just wanting to complain about less pay and more work. The person who went to WDA to find work is portrayed as being unrealistic and realises his folly (having no work for 9 months) after just 1 minute of explanation by the official at WDA. Surely that is UNREALISTIC?? The script needs to be more BALANCED!!! More needs to be done to portray the hardships of those retrenched but still have reasons to not accept other low paying jobs? The plot makes the issue look stupid and simple when it actually isn't. Conclusion? Hire me as the script writer. I am the best.

Tried to renew my Man United membership through the phone today. Been rejected twice online already. The whole call took like 21 minutes, of which 16 minutes was spent listening to recorded commentaries of past United matches....terribly exciting :S And who did I hear when some human finally picked up? A lady with an Indian accent. Damn I hate outsourcing. If there is anything I hate more than an ang moh accent, it has to be an Indian/China accent. I WANT to speak to an ang moh!!! At least they give me the impression that they know what they are talking about. After going through the renewal process, I asked

" So has my application gone through? Has it been confirmed or do I have to wait and see if it has gone through?"

"Yes it has been CONFIRMED. You will receive a confirmation letter shortly."

Me: Great, so am I able to apply for the tickets to the Arsenal match this Friday?

Indian accent (sounded unsure): Yes you can apply for matches.

5 minutes later when I tried to apply tickets for another match through the net, it said there is no record of the number being renewed. Damn I hate Indian accents! I can only hope it goes through before Friday.

Selina sent something this morning, quite relevant to my first point I guess...

Follow Your Dream

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro.He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise moneyfor youth at risk programs.The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell youwhy I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young manwho was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable tostable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, traininghorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continuallyinterrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about whathe wanted to be and do when he grew up."That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of somedayowning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he evendrew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all thebuildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor planfor a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch."He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day hehanded it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. Onthe front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me afterclass.'"The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Whydid I receive an F?'"The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have noresources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buythe land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'llhave to pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.' Then theteacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal,I will reconsider your grade.'"The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his fatherwhat he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up yourown mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision foryou.'"Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the samepaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'llkeep my dream.'"Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, "I tell you this storybecause you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over thefireplace."He added, "The best part of the story is that two summers ago that sameschoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week." When theteacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When Iwas your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years Istole a lot of kids' dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not togive up on yours.'"Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

By Jack Canfieldfrom Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen