If you have been noticing, the style of this blog posts has changed within the last 3 months, perhaps. I feel guilty to this blog (well, this means to myself) by mixing up personal gloomy things into this blog, which supposed to be all about ideas.
So I made a separate blog, which serves as a intended place for all the meaningless scribble on the paper. I call it: The Tail.
By making the The Tail, I hope that I can keep writing my rational thoughts here.
Feel free to visit The Tail. Beware, don't get trapped.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Heartless Lolipop
They say I have no heart.
If that's so...
Why do you keep existing in my world, conciously and subconciously?
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Who says we are enemies?
I was waiting for my order to be done, when the cashier called me, "Miss?"
"Yes?"
"Indonesia?"
I smiled, "Yeah".
The cook was also there while cooking my prata, and said, "saya bisa lihat."
They were both Malaysians, and they were so happy to see that I'm from Indonesia. We chatted for awhile. Although they spoke Malay and I spoke Indonesian, we understand well what each was saying.
After my prata was done, the cook put it in my tray. I left with a simple terima kasih and a smile on my face.
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They say Indonesia and Malaysia are enemies. But I witnessed quite the opposite just now.
Both Indonesia and Malaysia came from the same root: Malay. We have this friendly culture that I don't find much here. For us, though, we are not enemies. We are family.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Externalities
Posted in Contemplation, Life
I am now reading Super Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The book introduced the term "externalities" which refers to a situation that unintentionally induces unpredictable effects.
I was a loyal music student to a particular music school for 14 years. Personally, I didn't think I was that good, but eventually I got to the top-most class in the nation (or perhaps above national level).
Being in the top-most class is not easy. I'm not talking about the effort, but... well, externalities.
The objective of top-most class is understandable: gathering the most brilliant students to make them more brilliant, as well as offering them career opportunities. Obviously, the school is happy to get its top students to demonstrate their abilities, which contributes to its good reputation (and eventually profits). Therefore, the objective of the top-most class has shifted. In contrast to regular class that pursue merely knowledge, top-most class rather pursue fame, respect, and money.
The other classes work in a similar way as a regular class in a regular school. The students attend such class to pursue knowledge (or for the sake of their parents, whatsoever). For the relationship within the students, the only challenge underlying is just the competition on pursuing knowledge: who is the smartest of all, who got a better marks than the others. This is okay. Although there might be some that are more ambitious than others, it is possible to build a healthy relationship this way.
What if we add money into the objective of the class?
Flawed my logic could be. I would say that money brings a sense of insecurity: what should I do to earn more, how do I get better career than him, what if he performs better that I might be losing my career. This insecurity is what keeps the gap. Not just the students can never have pure trust with each other, but also they are urged to step on one another.
It is ironic that, in my case, this class gave me friends that I want to have for a life time. Yet, along the way, the money-driven (and fame-driven) competitions broke our friendship.
This externalities may not be representative, or even may not be true at all. One thing I can say, now that I have left the school for 1,5 years, I realized that it was nothing personal. Our friendship is perfectly fine. It's just nearly impossible for us to build a healthy relationship in the money-competitive society.
I was a loyal music student to a particular music school for 14 years. Personally, I didn't think I was that good, but eventually I got to the top-most class in the nation (or perhaps above national level).
Being in the top-most class is not easy. I'm not talking about the effort, but... well, externalities.
The objective of top-most class is understandable: gathering the most brilliant students to make them more brilliant, as well as offering them career opportunities. Obviously, the school is happy to get its top students to demonstrate their abilities, which contributes to its good reputation (and eventually profits). Therefore, the objective of the top-most class has shifted. In contrast to regular class that pursue merely knowledge, top-most class rather pursue fame, respect, and money.
The other classes work in a similar way as a regular class in a regular school. The students attend such class to pursue knowledge (or for the sake of their parents, whatsoever). For the relationship within the students, the only challenge underlying is just the competition on pursuing knowledge: who is the smartest of all, who got a better marks than the others. This is okay. Although there might be some that are more ambitious than others, it is possible to build a healthy relationship this way.
What if we add money into the objective of the class?
Flawed my logic could be. I would say that money brings a sense of insecurity: what should I do to earn more, how do I get better career than him, what if he performs better that I might be losing my career. This insecurity is what keeps the gap. Not just the students can never have pure trust with each other, but also they are urged to step on one another.
It is ironic that, in my case, this class gave me friends that I want to have for a life time. Yet, along the way, the money-driven (and fame-driven) competitions broke our friendship.
This externalities may not be representative, or even may not be true at all. One thing I can say, now that I have left the school for 1,5 years, I realized that it was nothing personal. Our friendship is perfectly fine. It's just nearly impossible for us to build a healthy relationship in the money-competitive society.
