Being a Social Entrepreneur

Today, I attended a panel discussion with CEO and founder of Ashoka, Bill Drayton, and a number of KSG students who are self-made "social entrepreneurs", each with some NGO of sorts under their belt. After spending some time going through what each of the students was involved in, Drayton asked, "What was the first thing you ever created?" That struck me as a rather intruiging question, so I tried to think of all the glorious things that I had "created" in my lifetime. I certainly was not prepared for some of the panelists to answer along the lines of "I started a computer consulting company at age 14" and "I made a nationally-televised documentary at age 22." Mind boggling!

I have a friend who set up an NGO when she was in high school to help the homeless in her hometown. When I first heard it, I was dumb-founded. I for one can honestly say that setting up an NGO was the last thing on my mind during my time in JC. What was I doing when I was 14? What have I achieved at age 24? I guess it was always my assumption that you can't achieve much as a kid (and my that I mean while you're still in school), but it seems that these people are clear counter-examples.

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young,
but set an example for the believers in speech, in life,
in love, in faith and in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12)

Wenwei's 2-day B'day Extravaganza

Here are some photos from Wenwei's Birthday festivities...

Pre-game ice-skating at the Law School ice rink

Surprise birthday cake

Dinner at Rod Dee's Thai restaurant the next day

俱乐部-ing at Avalon thereafter

Ash Wednesday

Yesterday I attended the first Ash Wednesday service (as far I can remember). Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a season of "giving up and giving out", during which, to put it in simple terms, you give up something that you value and enter into a period of repentence, kind've like doing spring cleaning on your soul. At the same time, you engage in charity work and be especially mindful of those in need around you. Unlike the Catholic interpretation, the Protestant Church tends to view Lent more of a choice, rather than an obligation.

This is the first year that I am attempting to engage in some form of abstinence during the Lenten season. I had initially thought about going vegetarian, but after careful consideration, I think it might be a little too ambitious given the circumstances. So after much thought, I've decided to give up "internet streaming video". That may sound rather anti-climatic, but if you knew my diet of youtube.com, ihaveanidea.org, i-am-bored.com, video.google.com, etc. etc., you will understand that this is a pretty big indulgence of mine. For me, giving up chocolate, desserts, tv, anime, shopping, korean dramas, etc. is pretty easy so we'll see how this goes. Hopefully I'll eventually work my way up to 40 days of vegetarianism (*gulp!*)

High on Listerine

Today I was reading the Spare Change newspaper and on the front page was an article about whether drinking Listerine is poisonous. Initially, I thought the article was going to be about the recent link made between cancer and alcohol-based mouthwash (oral hygiene fever has swept through the Singaporean grad students at Harvard after a bunch of us suddenly got struck by cavities and/or weak gums), but as I read on, I realized that when it said “drinking”, it really meant it in a literal sense.

The situation is as such (and I am lifting this from the article):

1) Alcohol is the only drug with potentially lethal withdrawal symptoms.

2) To combat the side-effects of alcohol withdrawal, when beverage alcohol and detoxification are not options, homeless alcoholics often turn to alternative means to ease their suffering, and the consumption of mouthwash to this ends is nothing new.

3) Most mouthwashes have one thing in common: they are comprised of 20-30% alcohol, making them approximately 50-proof alcoholic beverages when consumed as such.

4) Whether or not there are long term side-effects from ingesting mouthwash is debatable, but the pressing issue is the advanced degree of alcoholism in the person consuming them.

So what’s the point I’m trying to make? Many of us justify not giving money to people on the street by telling ourselves that these people will probably use the money to buy drugs or alcohol. Once upon a time, I asked John Donahue, the late executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, what our response to panhandlers should be. He said that one way you make a contribution and know where it’s going is by purchasing CTA cards (for Chicago) or MBTA tokens (for Boston). But there are times when the person just really needs a smoke, or a drink for that matter. Of course, there is no prescribed solution as to what to do in each situation, but the point he was trying to make was that we shouldn’t be too quick to judge what’s best for someone else, because we may very well not know what’s best.

Having said that, I am not advocating that you should usher an alcoholic into a bar, although this study suggests that that might not be as crazy as it sounds. All I’m trying to say is that the problem of homelessness is not as straight-forward as many of us like to think. Just try sleeping outside for a change. I tried that once as part of The Giving Tree’s “Sleepout on the Quads” a couple of years ago, and that experience certainly put things in perspective. Despite having a reasonably think coat, I was literally freezing… and this was in spring. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to be homeless during the winter.

p/s: If anyone does read the study, do let me know what you think.

Gbuy

So apparently Google is starting a new service to compete against Paypal and they've decided to name it "Gbuy". This name sounds innocuous enough unless you are familiar with Singlish vocabulary. Check out these commentaries by Tinker Tailor and Mr. Brown. For the uninitiated, you may want to check out the Urban Dictionary.

On a separate, and less potentially offensive note, here's a peek into what Googleplex looks like on the inside.

Last Men's Group Meeting

Tonight, the men's bible study group that I've been attending since September completed the book that we have been studying -- John Piper's Desiring God. Since this group was set up as a 'covenant' group (i.e. a group with an expected 'expiry date'), the group will formally be disbanded starting next week, with the current bible study leaders pursuing other leadership positions in the church. Anyhow, I just wanted to say it's truly been a blessing for me to have been a part of this group for the past 5 months or so now. While we may not have always agreed on where Piper was coming from, the time spent sharing our questions and struggles with each other has certainly provided much insight into things that have been brewing in my mind as well.

Social Justice and the Church

Two nights ago, I attended a panel on “Passing the Buck: Confronting Poverty in America”, which was part of the Veritas forum. The first panelist, Richard Parker (who incidentally is teaching a class I’m auditing now called Religion, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School), gave a quick run-down of America’s experience with poverty and inequality since the Puritans. His main thesis was that while the Bible instructs us to “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s”, that command was given in an era where the government was external to the people, something that has fundamentally changed since the onset of democracy. Rather than view the government from a detached perspective, there is instead a need for citizens to engage the government in order to address the problem if inequality in society.

Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics, pointed out that when you asked people what they think about Jesus, they would probably say stuff like “he stood for the poor people,” or “he was compassionate and loving” or “he was for peace.” Unfortunately, when you ask them what Christians or the church stand for, you’ll probably get a different answer.

I reckon that these two views pretty much sum up the situation that Christians and the church are in today. There is no question about whether the God is concerned about social justice; the only problem is that we are unwilling to take that concern seriously. As part of the minority in the world that does not have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, and as part of the minority in our societies that can afford to think about taking an overseas trip, we often come up with fancy theories to justify the persistence of inequality. We blame the free market and proclaim that big government would disrupt productive efficiency. We may even start thinking that we somehow deserve to be in this economically superior position. In the midst of all this, we start to forget that it was not by virtue that we were born into the families that we were. We could very well have entered the world in the midst of one of the several ongoing wars throughout the world. So before we start feeling all benevolent when we give $5 to the guy with the Dunkin Doughnuts cup outside Walgreens, we should perhaps seriously reconsider our attitudes towards poverty and social marginalization.

During the forum, one member of the audience pointed out that when a woman poured an alabaster jar of expensive perfume on his head, the disciples saw it as a waste of money, but Jesus instead rebuked them saying, “The poor you will always have with you….” (Matthew 26:6-13) The question was whether this should affect our approach to poverty. Wallis immediately pointed out that many people have taken this verse to mean that no matter what one does, inequality will always exist, but a better interpretation is probably that his disciples will always be amongst the poor, because that is where the Church is needed most.

Ok, so what is the point of all this? A few summers ago, I wrote a short piece about community service in lieu of my brief time at Food from the Heart in Singapore. On hindsight, I am really glad that I wrote that short essay because it reminds me of my tendency to engage in NATO (no action, talk only). Wonderful ideas get you nowhere if they are not followed up with concrete service. I look back at these past couple of years and realize that despite being aware of the situation, I’ve spent more time looking out for my own needs as opposed to the needs of those around me. I have no illusions that after I post this write-up, I will suddenly become this mega-altruistic social worker, but I would invite any of you who feel this post makes any sense at all to begin thinking critically of the world in which we live, and not to take social injustice to be part and parcel of life.

Million Dollars Code

A friend of mine just set up this interesting website called Million Dollars Code. Basically the idea is kind've like wheel of fortune in that you are revealing "letters" one at a time, with the objective of trying to guess what the entire sequence is. The difference here is that you have to pay to reveal each piece of the puzzle. You may be asking yourself, "Why would anyone do that?" Well, the prize for correctly guessing the code is the pool of money accumulated from everyone who paid to reveal parts of the code, which would be quite a tidy sum if indeed alot of people participate. So the website is in its demo phase now, which means you can register for free and get a chance to guess at some point. The prize money for this phase stands at $100 out of my dear friend's pocket. Unfortunately, he is incorruptible as my proposal for him to tell me the answer and have us split the profits was rejected :P Anyhow, do check out the site and give him some feedback for improvements.

Online Networking

After resisting for the past couple of years, I recently succumbed to joining Facebook after recognizing that it is a really good way to keep in touch with friends in an age when e-mail addresses change every few years and the good 'ol address book is no longer what it used to be. Even if you leave your account dormant for a long time, at least a tenuous link still exists between you and your long lost friends. Of course, prevention is better than cure :P

Anyhow, here's a video from The Daily Show about the whole phenomenon of such online networks like Friendster and Facebook.

Light Saber Trial

BAN '06

It's Valentine's Day and also Brothers' Appreciation Night at Highrock. Last year, the brothers of the Young Adults' Ministry put on what I heard was an elaborate event in honor of the sisters. This year, the sisters did the same for the brothers. As for me, I get a sweet deal :)

雨过天晴

It's a Blizzard!

You know things are bad when they start using construction equipment to clear snow.

Suicide Prevention Weekend

In lieu of the random long holiday at Chicago, a bunch of friends from the Windy City came down to Boston for the weekend! :)

Alex, Irene, Sonia

Samurai Champloo

At the recommendation of Tianyu, the man who introduced me to Bleach and Naruto, this is my latest anime endeavor. It's hip-hop, samurai action, and dubious Japanese history all rolled into one. I'm on episode 8 right now, and so far the story is pretty pointless, but the characters are nonetheless pretty interesting. :P

Derren Brown

As you can see from the immense frequency of posts these past 2 days. I am procrastinating from actual work. Anyhow, I just watched a video called "The Heist" hosted by this guy called Derren Brown who is based in the UK. In the program, he essentially manages to somehow psyche a bunch of middle management executives into commiting armed robbery without them even being aware of it. It's nuts! He's the same guy who managed to make this guy think that he was fighting zombies in a real-life arcade game.

You can download the full "Heist" video here. It's a 300+ MB so it'll take a while if you have cable or forever if you have dial-up, but it's worth the wait!

Thai Commercials

A bunch of Thai ads recommended by Bless, a fellow student in the RSEA program...

1) Slimming
2) Yellow Pages
3) Suicidal Dog
4) Bank
5) Eyesight
6) Workaholic
7) Visa

Also, I was recently introduced to this streaming website which is based in China and gives you access to a ridiculous number of Chinese TV channels (3 channels dedicated to the great Stephen Chow!), as well as stuff from the US that is available there. I was stuck watching Prison Break (filmed in Chicago!) for some 3+ hrs yesterday! They even have some shady stuff like continuous streaming of a bootlegged Syriana!

Chinese New Year Dinners

Last night I went to this massive gathering of Harvard Singaporeans in lieu of Chinese New Year. It was one of the most claustrophobic meals I've ever had as we occupied pretty much 1/3 of this rather small Chinese restaurant. The picture on the left depicts one of two tables at the dinner. Below is a photo from a CNY dinner with some people from my church.

Eugene On the Way to South Africa

On a lighter note, Eugene Seah arrived from Colorado yesterday enroute to South Africa where he's going to be spending a week vonlunteering at an orphanage before starting work. So a bunch of us met up last night for Korean BBQ followed by ice-cream at Christina's. I am still somewhat shocked by the ability of 2 (maybe 3) guys in this group to finish a pint of ice-cream by themselves. I once thought this talent was only present in certain extraordinary girls, but I guess I have been proven wrong.

Yesterday night, under the tutelage of Daryl Lim and Nokia, I also kind've figured out how to play Mahjong. Now it's time to try it out on a PC before being eaten alive by real people.

On a side note, I played Risk from beginning to end for the first 2 times in my life over the past weekend during a Church retreat. I never knew that Risk was such a high-commitment game. Each game lasted almost 4 hrs! No wonder I never completed a game before. Quite exiciting, but probably not worth invest in a set coz it'll be hard to find people willing to burn 4hrs rolling dice.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

This post is somewhat delayed (a week to be precise), but nonetheless, I thought it was interesting enough to pen down. So about a week ago, I went to watch Munich with Wenwei. For those unacquainted, Munich is about the alleged Israeli retaliation to the massacre of Israeli atheletes by Palestinians during the 1972 Olympics. I thought the movie was one of the best that I had seen in quite a while. With the exception of a rather awkward sex scene that is interspersed with flashbacks of the Munich incident, the film effectively presents a somewhat balanced account of the dilemmas facing both the Palestinians and Israelis as they use violence in pursuit of peace.

The following day, I had my wisdom teeth extracted, after which I went home and watched Kingdom of Heaven. I've had it lying around for quite some time now but never really got down to watching it, so it was really coincidental that it was also essentially about the Arab-Israeli conflict, albeit almost 900 years earlier. While the storyline is pretty unbelievable, the action is nonetheless engaging with an enormous siege battle ala The Messenger. Anyhow, again the question of violent means for peaceful ends was raised.

Amazingly, that very night I was watching BBC and there was a report that Hamas had just swept the Palestinian elections, much to the surprise of observers around the world. Now, I'm not going to give some stunning commentary on the implications Hamas' new-found political power since I know next to nothing on the issue save remnants of knowledge from History 7. However, this chain of events (2 movies + news report) certainly highlights the complicated issues surround peace in the Middle East and the frustration experienced on all sides of the conflict.