So, I am just an O-level guy ...

I would like to use the now famous “listen, listen, listen …(11 times)” incident to stress a point. I was quite disappointed especially when the president of a local NGO said (to a participant) … “the difference between you and me is a degree and an O-level”. Now, in my lowly “O-level” opinion … these insulting words coming from the president just shows that how shallow she (the president) can be. So what if she got a degree … does that makes her more superior or intelligent as she is implying? Well, to me … the years she spent getting that degree are all wasted when she said those words.

Many people are very proud of their high academic achievements. They should be … I am sure they worked very hard to get it. But then there is a bunch of those with Degrees, Masters or PhDs strapped to their chests, walking with an air of arrogance … who thinks that having tertiary education means that they are a better person than those lower qualified. These bullies may think that they are highly qualified … well, high is what they want to believe but shallow is really how they behave.

Really, I am not a clever person … I struggled academically. Just managed to squeeze through my MCE exams and did not even complete all the subjects … skipped the Add Math papers. So, I am just an O-level guy … now, does that make me any less of a person?

I am especially upset when I see people being bullied for lack of paper qualifications. I know how it feels to be demeaned … many times in my working years, I was belittled by those with higher paper qualifications ... they told me I won’t last in the corporate world.

Like me, there are many in the working sector who are being looked down upon, insulted and bullied by their peers, denied the chance of advancement by the company and suffered from favoritism simply because they don’t possess high paper qualifications. YES, they did not have tertiary education … that is why they work harder, try harder … many times harder than anyone. They deserve equal treatment, chances and opportunities. YES, they lack the paper qualifications … that does not mean they deserve any less respect.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to college or university … there are many people who simply cannot afford higher education or maybe they are just not the academically inclined type. They may not be a supervisor, a manager or a director in a company or they may not be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer in the professional field … maybe they are just an executive, a clerk, salesman, a baker, a tailor, a cook or a mechanic … ARE THEY ANY LESS RESPECTED?

More "RUBBISH" on the way

Since I started this blog several years ago, I received a couple of hundreds comments … some friends share their thoughts directly with me, other readers published their views in the blog and a few sent their opinions via email … telling me how they feel about the various articles I wrote.

Let me tell you about one comment I received by email quite recently … the comment has just one word in capital ... “RUBBISH”.

WOW!!! This person (identity unknown) must have been infuriated by what I wrote … not sure which particular article (no reference given) got to his or her nerves … or maybe he or she don’t like any of the articles at all.

I have this to say … to a lot of people, what I wrote may not be what they believe, may not be what they are practicing, may not be how they are living, may not be what they are seeing, may not be what they are doing and may not be what they are teaching ... so some (if not all) of the articles I wrote may not apply to them.

I am not some hot shot writer … I write uncomplicatedly using simple words to tell my stories. Whatever I wrote comes from the many influences of how I was taught, what I believed in, what I have experienced, what I have proven, what I have done and what I have seen. Call it coincidence or call it strange … what I wrote is pretty similar to the many articles written by many people all over the world … some very famous, some not so famous and others are just simple people like me. Though we did not write in the same words or language but we definitely wrote in the same context. So, all these people wrote RUBBISH too?

A lot of people know that I don’t always do the norm … maybe I stirred the hornet’s nest every now and then. To me … that’s the spice of life! Well, some may like it, others don’t … like they say, it is hard to please everyone.

Now, I won’t say my logic is rational nor will I say my beliefs are common. As a matter of fact, I have done many odd things, my logic has got me into many awkward situations and some of my beliefs are quite strange. Probably that is why many people find it a bit difficult to see things from my point of view.

I must admit that there are some articles I wrote that could have rubbed salt into a few sore spots … maybe because some people did not read with an open mind and maybe they did not realize that in many instances, there is no right or wrong.

When I wrote “The first rule …” I made reference to the first rule of photography (photographers will know this) … “Never shoot a photo at eye level” because everyone sees things at eye level. Step out of your comfort zone and see it from another level … you will definitely see a different (if not better) picture. I hope that people can apply this discipline when reading some of my articles … look at what I wrote from a different point … then maybe one can accept my way of thinking and understands it better.

Anyway, for a start of a new year, I would like to thank those who have spent time on my blog and shared their comments and views … I hope you continue to do so. I will be writing and sharing more of my thoughts and opinions. So, more “RUBBISH” on the way.