Sorry for the late post, I wanted to post another earlier to update on why I am only posting this now, but I thought I should not since this would be the online portfolio for ES2007S. Here's why I decided to have this blog post rescheduled:
1. I was participating in the Liberty Challenge 2012 (in short, Liberty Hunt), which essentially was an amazing race that took place throughout the entire month around the Park Connector Network (PCN) in Singapore. This leads me to point number 2 below.
2. I was conducting several intercultural experiments throughout the race and during the past couple of weeks in order to see how I differentiate or blend into the current societal norms and human relations. I believe this reason would sufficiently grant me the grounds to leave a "late" entry.
Throughout my life, I have been constantly questioning and unravelling my cultural identity; there are of course, a couple of incidents where I knew where the exact boundaries were, and I had marked them out clearly so that I could remember how different I was. The thing is, most of us are not exactly sure of their own cultural identity just like how a fish is being unaware that it actually lives in water (except the flying fish, mudskipper and a couple of other fishes that occasionally jump out of water).
Here is my first observation from the Liberty Hunt - "Humans are visual creatures".
Humans love to use their vision to identify and relate incidences, tell stories, tackle problems (and clues), last but not least, to ogle at things that might be of their interest. For instance, how would you solve this clue:
"Twin to the jeweled horseshoe, the convergence of two waters also brings forth the first light."
The first thing that entered my mind was not the word "sunrise" (from first light) but an image of a beautiful sunrise. I am sure that the reader of this post would form a similar image in his/her mind upon reading the clue. Regardless, humans attach meaning to visual images but not many are able to do so without the visual component; this applies to me too, although I am currently trying to kick that habit as it does not leave room for creativity.
My second observation goes here - "Humans are naturally lazy and social creatures".
The truth is somewhere in us; we know we are lazy, we know we have to complete a certain task, and we'll stop at nothing to get information from others who have already completed the task. Participants for the Liberty Hunt have been posting on the forums, trying to form collaborative teams so as to win the race (particularly with those who have already solved a considerable number of clues or have a convenient mode of transportation). For myself, I went about solving the clues alone as I wanted to experience the adrenaline that rushes through me while I am tackling the clues to win the race. I mean, why join the race when you are merely leeching off the efforts of other participants? This clearly shows that I am differentiated from the rest.
Many people were "beginning with the end in mind but not enjoying to process" of the hunt.
It is evident in most participants that winning is of the highest priority in this competition. Participants were whizzing around in cars and buses so frequently that they actually fail to notice the 16 different species of butterflies that can be found along the Pang Sua PCN. Indeed, $50,000 is a large sum of money, but the hunt actually allows mindful participants to know more about Singapore's green landscape. The hunt was essentially meant as an educational tool but most participants seem to have neglected that fact. This culture was something that I had augmented so that I could not only increase my chances in winning the race but also enjoy the process of learning something from the green landscape. During the bulk of the hunt, I was roller blading through the PCN around Singapore (occasional bus rides to inaccessible PCNs allowed me to save on travelling time). This allowed me to explore and appreciate everything that the PCN has to provide while still granting me a shot at winning the hunt.
On a side note, I did not win $50,000. I was contender number 57 out of 1000+ participants. Not too shabby for a hunter on roller blades (and some bus rides) around Singapore.
Notice that I did not write about the Singaporean culture, my family culture, the NUS culture, or even my company's culture. I feel that while culture and social norms are important in our lives, it must not be the plane of restriction that binds how one should behave or interact. Culture should be created and augmented, so that one can become a better person for this ecosphere. Adaptation and code-switching would be a useful tool in the quest of "culture-augmentation" and we innately possess that tool; so why not use it to create a better you?
With that, thank you all for reading my rambles. If anyone wants to know more about anything written in this post, do leave a comment below (I believe it will mostly be regarding the Liberty Hunt).
Perhaps you could have informed me about the reason for the delay in posting before making the decision to do so rather than after:))
ReplyDelete"For myself, I went about solving the clues alone as I wanted to experience the adrenaline that rushes through me while I am tackling the clues to win the race. I mean, why join the race when you are merely leeching off the efforts of other participants? This clearly shows that I am differentiated from the rest."
Team work is also about individual accountability and the result (when executed properly) is often much larger and better than the sum of individual parts and individual efforts.
"I feel that while culture and social norms are important in our lives, it must not be the plane of restriction that binds how one should behave or interact. Culture should be created and augmented, so that one can become a better person for this ecosphere. Adaptation and code-switching would be a useful tool in the quest of "culture-augmentation" and we innately possess that tool; so why not use it to create a better you?"
Someone this message dosen't come through in your post. Perhaps you could have explained it better.
Yes, sorry for the delay in that aspect. I followed your instructions: Blog about it, analyze your culture thoroughly; you don't have to complete it by Sunday, but do not take too long to complete it. Although the "too long" was rather vague at first =P
ReplyDeleteAs for the part on teamwork, the race had a flaw which allowed one team member to solve all 10 preliminary clues first, then he or she can choose to give out answers to the rest of the people that were invited. This may seem like teamwork to the rest of the team, but I empathize with that one participant who was tasked to do everything, all for the sake of getting 10 tries at $50000.
Culture augmentation is evident in our daily lives. The fact that one is able to survive in Singapore harmoniously shows that. I understand that I had written it in a rather abstract manner, so it wouldn't make much sense upon reading it for the first time. I meant to write it such that I could invoke certain thoughts in the reader rather than merely reporting on who I am and what I do. I question the mere fabric of society and I want people to understand that by questioning themselves first before they question the system that is already in place.