____T.H.E. .P.A.S.S.

____Yes or No?

I'll start this post by commenting that Rio Ferdinand is an utter disgrace to the footballing fratenity. Being a Manchester United supporter for almost 10 years, hardly have I seen a player from the club who repays kindness, tolerance and absolute trust with a greedy demand for an over-the-top weekly wage of 120 thousand pounds. Even Liverpool's influential skipper could only command a 100 thousand pound per week wage. Rio Ferdinand, in my opinion, isn't amongst the top 3 performers for the club over the past 2 seasons, he should repay Fergie's faith by signing the already over-decent contract that is offered to him.

Moving on, blog entries I've read recently tend to bore and lack ideas. (I'd probably get lotsa stick for that particular comment because people write blogs for different reasons.) On the other hand, the good ones I've been recommended tend to be those that belong to the society's non-conformists. "Non-conformist" is quite a harsh and bold term but with my limited vocabulary, I can't think of a more suitable term in this context. They are the people who dare to be different, question the taken-for-granteds and provide radical ideas that could solve the problems faced by many today. Which is the reason for their blogs to tend to be read-worthy.

It is great to witness that more of us are stepping forward and voicing out. I remember once when I was waiting for my bus at Tampines Interchange after long day in camp together with campmate, Weng. There was this couple who were chasing after this bus that was already moving off the queuing line. The bus driver spotted the couple and kindly halted the bus, but as the bus was 1 full lane off the kerb, the couple had to run some distance on the road itself to reach their bus. The reckless girl was about to dash out when I saw this incoming bus, I proceeded to literally voice out to stop her - which fortunately she heeded to the warning. Should she step out onto the road, the possibilities of outcomes would be limitless because nobody else reacted to the situation, but I was grateful for what I did. Not a very big way of stepping forward, but it was stepping forward nonetheless.

What I am trying to say is that the advantages of voicing out are plentiful such that it is quite time consuming to categorize all of them.

However, it is dangerous to say that everyone should become non-conformists. Non-conformists are at times full of themselves and if someone else, is just like any other - an egoistic bastard, what would become of the society? Imagine the amount of chaos that it would bring - too many "outstanding people" would make a mess out of situations.

Take for example the blogs of "non-conformists". These blogs often come with negativities such as bringing forth a tinge of egoism of the writer as well as arguments that are extreme in nature. Sometimes, expletives are excessively used too. The quality of the blog thus becomes compromised when comments posted by annoyed readers are hardly constructive and the writers proceed to defend themselves painfully - the site becomes a place for blasting and personal attacks.

"You are a filthy whore!"
"I dun give a damn to what you ppl say. I'm just being myself!"

Above are just some of the less vulgar comments I've read. A Canadian teacher during my time in ZHSS once preached that if one couldn't help but include profanities in his/her writing, that person probably didn't have any substance to begin with. Not entirely correct, but it holds some truth. Afterall, if ideas could be conveyed without parties getting annoyed, that would probably be top level convincing.

On hingsight, while it is important that people step forward and acknowledge the fact that "hey, there is a problem, if somebody has to deal with it, then that somebody will have to be me.", there must also be a balance of the traditional thinkers as well as the innovative ones. Balance - many aspects of today's world depends much on it. Balancing occurs in work and play, friends and spouse, speed and endurance, power and control. "Find a balance" is a simple conclusive statement but a difficult process. It is like the gunshot signalling the start of a gruelling 21 km race - 1 command would result in the outcome of many tired runners.

Yet, I'm in the midst of finding mine.

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