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There's a saying that the world is bitter, that no one really takes care of you, and I guess that would be quite true. Sometimes, or perhaps most of the times, being nice bring about hideous consequences, for example, being taken advantage of. We are always be trapped in this kaleidiscope of life where mirrors are dominant features. Mirrors that reflect the good and bad sides of people, making one's emotions flow - be it in a good way or in a bad way.
Being nice have always been what was taught during moral education lessons, which in fact has not exactly paid off. People who are nice usually don't stand out, some being crushed by the scheming nature of others, but if you are lucky and get noticed, rise into immense fame. However, this kind of immediate power has been known to change a person's character, making one cocky or perhaps boastful. Although it is hard to realise the beauty of this truth, many leaders have already fallen into this trap. Yet, if one don't change somehow to accomodate the world, he or she would somehow be thrown back into the oblivion (where its back to square one again).
Of course, being nice has its great effects too for example good inter-relationships and such which perhaps can rise one to fame as well. But most of the people who are nice don't exactly care about what they get in return. Indeed, seeing the happiness on someone else's face is already in fact rewarding.
Yet still, I am locked within the double-edged sword - to be or not to be nice. At times, all of us would have to choose to lend a helping hand or just watch the someone suffer. What confuses me actually regarding this is that, some people who just watch others suffer (be it on a minor level or perhaps a large scale) gets the advantage. The advantage being that he or she can just watch the world go by, yet gets well-liked or perhaps even reap better results (like be at a higher level) that those who choose to care. On the other hand, people who lend their helping hand might not even rise to a great level, but perhaps to a humble position. Yet they usually get taken advantage of being taken for granted that they are there to always help.
So, to help or not to help? After being provoked by this question upon numerous encounters, and after some thought, I believe that setting one's priorities would tell us the answer if it is indeed worth it and if we should indeed do it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
I guess its not everyday where one gets to attend a camp that is very luxurious in a way that pampers you to the food that you get. Well, this is one of those camps and to add on, this is the first one that I attended that takes cares of all the details. To top it all off, the Student Leaders that we got were passionate and extremely enthusiastic in teaching us what they know. Thus, the whole vibe of the camp really had me into it. Firstly, there was the rooms that literally blown us off, next, came the explosive speaker followed by the halloween night and lastly the camp finale.Usually, when one attends a camp, he or she would probably not be given great treatment, let alone amazing hotel-like rooms, or even perhaps, beds to sleep in. This camp however was the first that let us sink into the luxury mode. To start off, there was no keys to the apartments. Instead, there was a key-pad to type in our 'password' into the apartment. Moving inside, what greeted us was the warm lighting and goodie bags set perfectly serene on the coffee table (there was one, seriously!!). Next to the table were sofa-beds which were rather soft I must say. At the same time, the floor for my room was bleached white wooden boards, that were extremely smooth. The walls were also free of stains. Further more, when we continued in, we saw the kitchen which had numerous bottled water set at the side on the table at the entrance of the kitchen. Once we entered the rooms, there was also soft unused beds complete with a pillow and blankets and a side-table next to it. There was also a cupboard which was set at the side. After exploring for a while, I was literally blown away, it was a five-star hotel (considering the usual camping standard). The whole contemporary feel in the home was wondrous and the fact it was fully air-conditioned made it even more spectacular to live in. After we had 'checked in', we continued towards the school compound of Ngee Ann Polytechnic for the first workshop. Personally, I have attended a few of workshops that dealt with leadership but never once was there a speaker who really believed in a message and brought it across with such great passion and humor. This would be most understandable, considering that humor would be one of the hardest portion of a speech one could add in, or perhaps come up with it impromptu. However, I guess Candice really changed the standard mindset of people, being able to explore different 'strategies' to reach out to different personalities. Then on the second night, there was the Halloween Party where our SLs dressed up as scary acts like the joker, over-stressed students and stuff. It was really exciting since there were fillers like beauty pageants, and catwalks and things as such. Even the decoration was themed to halloween, creating the feel for example like the tables were decorated even to the MCs who were dressed as a vampire and a witch. Furthermore, even to the detail putting pictures of bloodstains right from the lift towards the dining area. The lights were also off to give the spooky feel, which I felt overall projected the effort from our leaders who did put their heart and soul into the dinner, hoping to give the best experience to us, for that, I felt, was really touching. Finally came the time of goodbye. I shall just quickly skim through the camp finale (not because its bad, but because the real great time lies in the farewells). So the farewells party. It was not what I probably had really in mind and they blew us away again, but this time was with photo cards. Or should I say personally made photo cards? Yes, its true. Our apartment Student Leaders specially designed the cards for us. That is why I said it was so special, so different. And because we had sang a song from our unpresented skit, our seniors cried, making it even more emotional. Cheers also flew and everyone was crying, bonding us somehow emotionally, making the hour past as though it was minutes. It was so fast, so fast, it disappeared. We were quickly rushed and whisked into the bus after that, literally ending the camp abruptly. Some were still crying when we were 'forced' onto the bus... T_T Then we went home after that. It was quite abrupt I must say, however the overall experience was really a grave new exposure to us, or at least to me. The effort that they put in or that single event to the design and feel of luxury for the rooms, really gave us one extreme taste of life I have never really indulge from a camp before. The friendliness of our Student Leaders also topped it up a notch!! Well I guess maybe now its our turn to show what we have learned, or what I have learned... so lets re-create and present the experience again!! (P.S. Sry for the cheesy ending, did not really know what to write, after what I have experienced, it seems hard to create a bombastic ending to top the first few parts!!)