Damian Ng

I have seen videos of those who are against mask wearing in the US asking others to take off their masks.

Isn’t it freedom of choice they are preaching? If so, it is the person’s choice to mask up as much as it is his/her right not to mask up.

Anyway, the recent years have been marred by violence and instability in many countries, including US. This is truly unfortunate.

However, it is understandable as we are all humans and we are flawed. Our biases blind us and our stubbornness and egos exacerbate our downfall. Instead of agreeing to disagree and finding common grounds, we argue and push our own narratives upon others and hate it when others do it back to us.

How do you discern facts from myth when people are getting information overload, especially in this Information Age?

In regards to Covid-19 and vaccination, at the time of writing this, I can only think of two – common sense and trust.

Common sense:
It is true that the vaccine is new and while there are efficacy studies, I can understand one’s hesitance towards it. However, personally, the alternative is the chance of Covid and the sickness, or even death, that it may bring. Thus, for me, I decided to go for the vaccine and to mask up as a personal choice.

Trust:
While I do not support the ruling party blindly, I trust that, generally, they are doing their part to ensure that Singapore continues to grow albeit working through challenges as to what kind of Singapore we want to grow towards, eg. a more compassionate one or one that promotes elitism, these are topics for debate at another time. Thus, I believe their narrative that our process to ensure vaccines are safe is sound.

As a Libra, I always try to stay neutral because I understand there are two sides of a coin. Not taking any sides but always hoping that logic would prevail and that we will evolve out of our flaws sooner than later.

Stay safe my friends and we will get through Covid-19 as we have with many other pandemics.

We are flawed but definitely resilient.

PS: Just a random ranting and I respect if you have other views. Feel free to comment but I will not be debating. 😊

I spent my Lunar New Year holiday watching criminal documentaries – “American Murder: The Family Next Door”, “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” and “Trial 4”.

The two latter documentaries were intriguing and well made but the first one really touched me the most.

It is about the story of a husband and a dad murdering his pregnant wife and 2 beautiful daughters, so that he could, hopefully, moved on into a “happier” relationship with his new girlfriend.

The documentary showed very personal texts between the couple and also conversations his wife had with her friends about her suspicion about his cheating. The struggles that were shown in the documentary is very real, especially in this day and age where both parties are less dependent on each other and any lack of effort can very quickly lead to straying by a party and/or other unfortunate events.

I watched the documentary with my wife and we both wondered why can’t the killer just go for a divorce since he is unhappy in this marriage, even though he has 2 kids. That’s better than where he is right now, incarcerated and with no possibility of even leaving the prison.

That’s when I told her that when we reach a stage where we lose ourselves, our logical mind starts to become silent. The other mind then starts to “problem solve” and sometimes, the route towards the resolution charted out by this mind may not be logical and is most probably irrational.

How do I know? I know because I have been at the edge before. The step out of the edge is direct and tempting. But I am lucky that I did not cross that line.

It is truly sad to see that two beautiful girls were killed because he lost it. It is unfortunate that his pregnant wife had to lose her life too because she also most probably under-estimated his capacity to act so viciously. He had been a mild mannered guy and it did not helped that he had this new green pasture that was so ready to move on to – towards a new chapter with the love of his life.

I am writing this to remind us all that it is really so easy to lose yourself. Stress over money and family are very slippery slope down the scary path. It is imperative that we stay positive and hopeful and not allow ourselves to lose our compass. No matter how big a problem is, some boundaries have to hold.

I am all over the place with this writing because I am so deeply touched by the story and saddened by it. But I also understand that a sane person would not have done what he has done. I also believe that if given a chance, he would have chosen differently. But life is not a game, there are no save or reload points. It is easy for someone who is not in his situation to judge, and I am not saying that it is not his fault. It was his fault but I also understand that when we are so overwhelmed, it is easy to lose ourselves.

That’s why it is important, so very important, to be emphatic, to be vigilant to watch over your loved ones and friends, to be there when they are down and to hold their hands when they need help. We truly never know when one of them or even us would lose footing on this earth. Be less critical, embrace and be genuinely concerned towards people. And for ourselves, remember that it is so easy to lose yourself, so please always reach out early before it gets too late.

Author: Damian Ng

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