Yesterday night I was sitting outside a club, waiting to gather up enough soberness to be capable of driving home. As I was sitting there, this girl next to me glanced over to my side just as I glanced over to hers. So I smiled at her, she smiled back, and we started chatting.
We talked about all kinds of funny things, such as how people vomited in the club, how guys in my gang was fighting over girls, how her group was going crazy, etc etc. And everything just felt so normal. When her friends came out she smiled and said goodbye to me, and all her friends waved and smiled to me as well.
So the gap between people, normally so far and gaping, was narrowed just for that moment. And I hope we could all do that normally as well, to strangers who need a ride, to old people in the park, to passer-bys on the road, and everyone else.
The gap that day was bridged partially by alcohol I suppose. I do hope one day we will all be able to bridge the chasm between souls without it.
Or I will have to pass out vodka in the park.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
A Sample of Society
Recently there was a news piece that shocked the nation, or at least some sections of it. A old lady was accosted by robbers and was lying on the street, and five people passed by without extending a helping hand. When the sixth person called the police and help came it was too late to save her life already.
Now there is a lot of talk about prosecuting, or at least humiliating the five people who did not help.
To me this is ridiculous. Firstly, there is no law saying that anyone must help another. If there was, think what dreadful circumstances it could lead to - people might be sued on the grounds of not giving money to beggars, thus leading to their death from starvation. So the most that can be done is public naming.
Would this be fair to them. I think not. They could be worried that it was a scam, or that she was a drug addict, or something of the sort. Were they model citizens? Certainly not. Was their behavior somewhat normal. Certainly yes. All we can say is that in our society, 5 out of 6 people did not help, which reflects on our society as a whole, not those 5 people.
They are just a random sample.
To me, any form of humiliation of them would be a sort of guilt transfer: "we would never behave like that! I WOULD NEVER BEHAVE LIKE THAT! PUNISH THESE PEOPLE!"
But a random sample of society shows us that most of us act like that. So I say let our actions be to promote a better society, not to punish the sample that showed us how we are.
Now there is a lot of talk about prosecuting, or at least humiliating the five people who did not help.
To me this is ridiculous. Firstly, there is no law saying that anyone must help another. If there was, think what dreadful circumstances it could lead to - people might be sued on the grounds of not giving money to beggars, thus leading to their death from starvation. So the most that can be done is public naming.
Would this be fair to them. I think not. They could be worried that it was a scam, or that she was a drug addict, or something of the sort. Were they model citizens? Certainly not. Was their behavior somewhat normal. Certainly yes. All we can say is that in our society, 5 out of 6 people did not help, which reflects on our society as a whole, not those 5 people.
They are just a random sample.
To me, any form of humiliation of them would be a sort of guilt transfer: "we would never behave like that! I WOULD NEVER BEHAVE LIKE THAT! PUNISH THESE PEOPLE!"
But a random sample of society shows us that most of us act like that. So I say let our actions be to promote a better society, not to punish the sample that showed us how we are.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Price of Perfection
I just read an article about a Japanese postal worker who was honored as Employee of the Year in Japan. He was so honored for the fact that throughout his career, he had never missed a day of work due to leave or sickness, nor had he been late to work or left early. In other words, he had a perfect record.
I also hear that some companies pass out awards for such perfection. However, let us examine the other side of the coin. What does it take to achieve such perfection?
Lets think about it. Say a drive to the office in the morning takes 45 minutes under normal traffic conditions. If we left exactly 45 minutes before work, we might be late 20 percent of the time due to unusually heavy traffic, road conditions or other such things beyond our control. Obviously this is not acceptable.
So lets leave 55 minutes early, giving ourselves a buffer of 10 minutes. This may cut the lateness percentage down to 10 percent. If we leave 65 minutes early the percentage may go down to 5 percent; 75 minutes may cut it to 1 percent, 85 minutes to 0.1 percent.
0.1 percent of lateness is pretty good I would say, that would mean an employee is only late once in 1000 days, close to 3 years. That would be good enough for me already.
But to not be late in one's whole career? Say one works from the age of 25 to 60, 35 years. One would have to be late less than 0.01 percent to achieve that. This may mean that one has to leave 115 minutes early. All that extra time wasted in the office.
As for not taking leave, if everyone had that as an aim, wouldn't that induce them to come to work when sick? It's pretty hard to expect people to not get a flu over the course of thirty-odd years. Coming to work when sick would be worse for the workplace I think, germs would be spread and productivity would be low anyway. Might spread an epidemic too.
In short, I feel that never being late or taking leave is not a good thing for us to aim towards, as the hidden costs of trying to achieve it far outweigh its benefits.
I also hear that some companies pass out awards for such perfection. However, let us examine the other side of the coin. What does it take to achieve such perfection?
Lets think about it. Say a drive to the office in the morning takes 45 minutes under normal traffic conditions. If we left exactly 45 minutes before work, we might be late 20 percent of the time due to unusually heavy traffic, road conditions or other such things beyond our control. Obviously this is not acceptable.
So lets leave 55 minutes early, giving ourselves a buffer of 10 minutes. This may cut the lateness percentage down to 10 percent. If we leave 65 minutes early the percentage may go down to 5 percent; 75 minutes may cut it to 1 percent, 85 minutes to 0.1 percent.
0.1 percent of lateness is pretty good I would say, that would mean an employee is only late once in 1000 days, close to 3 years. That would be good enough for me already.
But to not be late in one's whole career? Say one works from the age of 25 to 60, 35 years. One would have to be late less than 0.01 percent to achieve that. This may mean that one has to leave 115 minutes early. All that extra time wasted in the office.
As for not taking leave, if everyone had that as an aim, wouldn't that induce them to come to work when sick? It's pretty hard to expect people to not get a flu over the course of thirty-odd years. Coming to work when sick would be worse for the workplace I think, germs would be spread and productivity would be low anyway. Might spread an epidemic too.
In short, I feel that never being late or taking leave is not a good thing for us to aim towards, as the hidden costs of trying to achieve it far outweigh its benefits.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The speed of life
As you get older and older, time passes faster and faster. I find this to be definitely true for myself. When I was a kid, waiting in a queue for something was pure torture, if I was caught in a supermarket line or stuck waiting in a government office I would feel like digging my eyes out with a spoon.
But now if you ask me to wait in line, I can actually close my eyes and relax for awhile. For some reason it doesn't seem as much like hell as before. Perhaps time really does slow down. But why should time slow down as we get older? Some say that we measure time by how much we have lived; a one year-old measures a year as his whole life, practically an eternity, a ten-year old measures it as one-tenth of his life, still a long time, while for a fifty year old it passes in the blink of an eye as it is merely a fiftieth.
Now I know why my dad is fine with boring television shows, they go by much faster for him than for me.
The thought of life running by faster and faster does comfort me when I'm standing in line or doing boring documentation work... yet when I think of being pushed to the grave faster and faster the thought does seem a little disturbing. Doesn't that mean that I won't have much time with my grandkids from my perspective?
So now I know why my dad is asking me when am I going to find a girl, he's worrying about time spent with his grandkids too.
However perhaps the accelerating passage of time for us humans may be a good thing. If we think of life as a movie, wouldn't the fact that the last 5 minutes pass faster than the first 5 mean that the movie was, generally speaking, an interesting one? If the last 5 minutes passed slower than the first 5, that would indicate a pretty boring movie.
So in this brief flight of time between cradle and heaven, we all enjoy a decent ride at least.
And maybe that is all that matters.
But now if you ask me to wait in line, I can actually close my eyes and relax for awhile. For some reason it doesn't seem as much like hell as before. Perhaps time really does slow down. But why should time slow down as we get older? Some say that we measure time by how much we have lived; a one year-old measures a year as his whole life, practically an eternity, a ten-year old measures it as one-tenth of his life, still a long time, while for a fifty year old it passes in the blink of an eye as it is merely a fiftieth.
Now I know why my dad is fine with boring television shows, they go by much faster for him than for me.
The thought of life running by faster and faster does comfort me when I'm standing in line or doing boring documentation work... yet when I think of being pushed to the grave faster and faster the thought does seem a little disturbing. Doesn't that mean that I won't have much time with my grandkids from my perspective?
So now I know why my dad is asking me when am I going to find a girl, he's worrying about time spent with his grandkids too.
However perhaps the accelerating passage of time for us humans may be a good thing. If we think of life as a movie, wouldn't the fact that the last 5 minutes pass faster than the first 5 mean that the movie was, generally speaking, an interesting one? If the last 5 minutes passed slower than the first 5, that would indicate a pretty boring movie.
So in this brief flight of time between cradle and heaven, we all enjoy a decent ride at least.
And maybe that is all that matters.
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