I mentioned last week that this year’s Deepavali is unbelievably quiet. And on Sunday, which is the eve of Deepavali – I made a rather incredible discovery when I dropped by at the One Utama mall, for there was a Halloween display at this popular shopping mall... Obviously, Deepavali has gone AWOL!Halloween is this Friday, and given my involvement with the American Degree Program students at HICT, there is the “Bloody Hell” show that is being scheduled on this day itself. I am told it will be a grand show, and much credit should be attributed to 3 special people: Pek Kuan, Toh and Brandon (a.k.a. Wee Han) who are the main movers and shakers! Like all these activities, proceeds from ticket sales go to clubs and deserving organizations (in this case, it is MAKNA this time around) – it is very heartening to know that students are indeed, a caring lot. I am really proud of them. My only complaint: HICT staff is not always supportive, although I recognize that there are those who do support the students generously. .Of course, it can also be said that there are students too who don’t give a damn. Sigh. Apathy lurks everywhere… Can I throw them out of the window? Tempting, kan?
As is now the norm, I go through blogs to read up on views expressed by different people on different issues. Today, when we consider the US Government’s bailout of the troubled financial institutions, we too, cannot but think of the Malaysian Government’s bailout antics – MAS and Proton are illuminating examples. Of course, like everybody else, it is easy to conjure up a long list of reasons to justify such foolhardiness, but as I always ask, At what cost?
A blog that caught my attention was one written by Steve Pavlina (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/10/financial-meltdown/), for I find his take on the financial meltdown, very refreshing. I reproduce only one paragraph from his October 02, 2008 posting: “In my opinion it’s best to let some companies crash and burn, even if it creates negative consequences for all of us. It’s better to deal with it now than to put it off to be dealt with another day. A company that bases its operations on something that doesn’t create sustainable value for people might as well crash and burn. It will be best for their employees and stakeholders to find more conscious, fulfilling work anyway. It’s too bad our leaders are such short-term thinkers. Pouring more money into operations that don’t create much value to begin with is a short-term fix that will only lead to a bigger crash later”. It does make sense, does it not?
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