Stress

Heard of the phrase- stress can kill? Well there's actually scientific proof about that one. Fishes have stress levels. They can die from over-stress.

We human beings are stressed to a certain extent too. Each and every one of us are made up of a different construct of society. Some of us are among the higher end of the income level in Singapore. Some of us belong to the poverty cycle. In many ways, you can't compare the two side by side. Lets look at some examples.

The latter, the people without the immense amount of money, survive with their problems. Eg: They have to work hard, two jobs a day, just to barely scrape and support the family. With that, comes the stress of worrying if they can provide for their family's next meal; whether or not their members are starving at home.

Now, the former, the people with the money of which influence probably is used to wield influence, has another different set of problems. After achieving sustainability, they are confident of raising their family; or are they? They are just confident of providing their family with the basic necessities. Now, how about raising a family? Does having the capability, the assets to support a family equate to having the capability of raising one? I beg to differ. A successful businessman may have all the money in the world, but does not know a single thing about raising a family.

Thus, I feel that a poorer family would have a stronger familial bond, rather than that of a rich family. After reaching basic sustainability, the rich move on to achieve their higher goals. Let us talk about their problems, shall we? They have their social life to worry about; interactions between our upper class in Singapore are very important. Social stress, emotional stress when their children turn spoilt, and refuse to accept "no" for an answer. Expecting everything to be done for them, the children of the rich families are like bombs waiting to explode; wait until they reach adulthood. Who's going to take care of them?

The poor have another set of problems. The basic necessities. But are these problems bigger than that of the problems of a rich family? Or are the rich's problems bigger than that of the poorer one. On a relative scale, we can compare this to a model of one of Singapore's leaders, and to that of a middle-income family. I'm starting to touch on a controversial topic here, and I hope that everyone just takes this for light reading. I need to type- destress method. (:

Singapore's leaders have the weight of the entire society upon their shoulders. One mess-up, and the governmental system in Singapore could be thrown off balance. What happens then? Is that a big problem? When the entire system gets thrown off balance, how are the citizens of Singapore able to earn their money? One change in the government can affect so many people below it. Yet some of us argue that the basic problems, are the biggest ones. I agree to a minimal extent, if we have no food, how do we have life itself? Are we able to survive? But the issue now is not whether we can survive or not. The issue now is whether the rich have a more heavy set of problems, than the poor does. When the rich/more influential people make a decision, does it affect the poorer/less influential people?

This debate could go on forever, the reason being the rich have different problems from the poor. When this occurs, it is hard to compare both their set of problems and weigh the significance of both. Some say that the significance of your life weighs more than anything, but mostly people rebuke this by saying that if there was no proper system of government in the modern context, would there be life in the first place?

It's like saying- I have more pimples than you do. And you argue back, but I have a bigger nose than you do! Now, how do we judge and compare? It's all a matter of personal judgement. Whether or not the person takes the nose into a bigger consideration, or the pimples. There would be people supporting both sides. This relates back to the issue on stress. Does more problems equate to more stress? Some people are stressed that they have no problems. Talk about me! I'm paranoid when I have nothing to do.

Now, who's who in this society? The building blocks, the citizens themselves? Or the constructors, the government. One can't do without the either in the modern context. How is it possible to strike a conclusion then? We can't conclude who's more essential to the society, whether it is the Singaporean society, or the Singapore Government's society. But we can conclude that both need to work together to construct this beautiful society. Help one another in time of need, not blame the government when they do something bad, but provide POSITIVE CRITICISM so as for the government to improve. And when the citizens do not understand the government's intentions, be patient and understand that the government is ultimately working for the better good of the people.

Let us humble ourselves, and respect those who are not as well off as we are. When Jesus came down to Earth, He came to serve us. Mankind. I have a totally different topic on that which I will not bring up. But the government is similar- it is there to serve us. We thus see an example of a more powerful, a more influential body at the feet of the less influential and the less powerful. We must understand that it is hard to make everyone happy.

The next time you meet a street worker, a road cleaner, don't shun them; call them dirty of any sort. Useless? How would you do without him? We survive on a very delicate balance. Take away garbage disposal companies, where would all your rubbish go? Who is going to dispose of them for you? This doesn't mean that we must learn to live without the rubbish collectors, this means that we must learn to appreciate and thank the rubbish collectors.

Hint: Link the lower half of this post, and put it in the context of a relationship. Think about it for some time.


*This blog post is SO Language Arts. I wonder if Mr Tan will read this? I'm doing my best to correct all gramatical errors in preparation for my essay exam on monday. This is one good way of writing, and reflecting on my ideas here. But yeah, take what I've said into view, see if it's any good at all. Some comments on this post would be appreciated, let me just get my entire commenting system up first!