Sometimes the things we do pisses the hell out of me. It's damn tempting to become a Swiftesque misanthrope. I watched this documentary today. It's a BBC production - Planet Earth. You should try watching it too, the footage is really amazing. There was this particular scene, where they showed a male polar bear making it's way through the swiftly melting Arctic ice with great difficulty. It could barely even stand on the ice. Then it got so bad, it started to swim. And swim it did; towards the open sea. It swam for days before it reached land, for there was nothing in the water for it. If it had not found land by then, it would certainly have drowned. In that stretch of land - lived a walrus colony. Polar bears do not normally hunt adult walruses - they are simply too big. But desperate times called for desperate measures - since the ice had begun to melt faster than previous seasons due to global warming, and this prevented the bear from gathering enough food to last it the coming winter. It vainly tried to bite through the walruses' thick layer of blubber and skin - its claws and teeth hardly made a mark. The walruses with their long, sharp tusks managed to severely wound the bear. And as they began to retreat into the safety of the water, the bear grew increasingly more desperate after seeing its vital source of food slip away. It began to attack various smaller walruses, but all it got was more gashes. And finally, they were all gone. Weak and severely wounded, the polar bear just flopped down - awaiting the slow death following starvation.

After witnessing this scene, I was really saddened. I might sound like a f-ing tree-hugger . But if you saw that scene, you would agree with me. The world was a pristine place before we arrived. There was a natural order of checks and balances. Now, the whole eco-system is kinda screwed. Being selfish bastards, we screw around with everything. Show me something that has been untouched by filthy, greedy, money-grubbing hands and I will tell you that, that "something" will be gone sooner or later. We indiscriminately fell trees, cause forest fires, hunt anything that moves, trade rare species like commodities, pollute the oceans, pollute the air, topple entire food chains, eliminate viable ecosystems and basically f***-up our planet. So what?! As long as Man has something to gain, why the f*** bother?! Eh? If you were thinking along those lines, stop. Everything in this planet has as much a right to live in this planet as we do. We ourselves are nothing great - merely dignified hairless apes. What many don't realise is that these activities only serve to squeeze the trigger of the cataclysmic gun ever so slightly. Eventually, it is all going to blow up in our faces. And then we have assholes like Rush Limbaugh. I quote. "Animals have no fundamental rights; only people do."

The following passage is from Wikipedia.
"Limbaugh is highly critical of environmentalism and has disputed human-caused global warming and the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, saying the scientific evidence does not support them. Limbaugh has argued against the scientific opinion on climate change by stating that scientific consensus "is just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition. You can't have consensus in science... they think consensus is the way to sell it because, 'Oh, but all these wonderful people agree."

Nice. How real smart. I wonder how many self-centered like-minded asses in this world. To all of you bozos, a big F*** YOU. Thanks for f***ing dooming our descendants to a toxic barren wasteland of catastrophic proportions.

It seems that I have not posted for some time. I am currently spending my time doing some actual revision and studying (surprisingly) . I'm beginning to worry that I may not be able to complete my revision by the end of next week and so have resorted to mugging more than I have in Secondary 4. I hope I can at least scrape through the CTs with OK marks, and not fail all my subjects. 15 % at stake here. So I guess whatever posts that I may put up, in the coming days will be sporadic at best. I will be back to posting regularly once this whole sordid ordeal is over.

On Thursday, a certain incident set me thinking (as usual) Now it's regarding the matter of religious/racial tolerance and understanding.

I shan't name names here, but if you were reading this now, you should know it refers to you. There was a conversation regarding the public holiday on 31st May - Vesak Day. An individual as me why I didn't go to the temple to pray. There's nothing wrong in this - as he was just curious. So I explained to him that Vesak Day was a Buddhist event and had nothing to do with me since I was a Hindu. Then this smart-aleck said - "All the same lah. All also Indian...got fire coming out of their heads and all." in a rather insulting tone. And somehow others found it funny, and started to laugh. I was sorely tempted to add in a few remarks regarding his religion but chose not to do so, as I felt that it was rather immature. Besides, you can't fault the ignorant can you. I mean, if you don't know what you are talking about and are just trying to act smart - just shut it. That, and listen when someone who knows better tries to explain.

FYI, according to a census survey conducted in 2000, a vast majority of Buddhists were actually Chinese while Indians formed a small minority. Also, it should be noted that true Buddhism focuses on the teachings of Buddha, unlike in Singapore where it is intertwined with folk traditions (though this is decreasing currently.) Thus, it follows that the practice is not exactly a theistic one, but one which focuses on principles and values.

My point is that religious understanding - especially among youths - is not exactly on the level that most of us would like to believe it is. I feel that there has been a decline with regards to said understanding. Just to clarify - I'm not basing this on an isolated incident, but on a prolonged observation. We youth have not experienced the tumultuous times (e.g: the Maria Hertogh riots) that our parents and grandparents have undergone. So possibly, it could mean that we may not actually understand the consequences that a lack of understanding and tolerance could create. But as an educated and rational society, do we actually need such events to foster closer inter-religious bonds?

A more important idea is that, for a harmonious society to exist in Singapore, acceptance of others' religions and customs has to be achieved and not merely tolerance. Competitive comparisons should not occur, i.e my-religion-is-better-than-yours attitudes should be eliminated. Instead, one should be able to say - "That he is a follower of this belief is his own personal right. It doesn't make a difference to me - I still treat him all the same"

Before this can occur, religious understanding has to act as a foundation. This can be attained if we are willing to set aside our misconceptions and prejudices we may have regarding other religions, and try to learn with an open mind about those religions. This can be done through various sources, whether through print/no-print sources or simply by talking to friends of different races and religions. Once we know better, we would then be able to slowly progress to the vaunted acceptance stage. It is then that a true tension-free environment can be achived in our country.

P.S: I am not saying that there is no religious understanding and such in Singapore but that we could do better in this aspect.