It’s so much simpler if it starts with you. And it’s got to start somewhere.
Being one of those people who enjoy discourse, I’ve come to realize that either fellow peers or interested peers sometimes do get carried away with the talking. This is a video, which I think is brilliant in terms of counter cynicism, perspective shift, personal reflection, self-belief, approach to change and taking action.
Video from Earthian – Sustainability Program for Schools and Colleges. Click here for their Facebook page.
Good stuff. Great learning. Relates to my thinking about the correlation of law and social sciences, and also professionalism and personal characteristics. Thanks Ashaari for sharing.
Andrew Faust is a Permaculture Designer and Teacher who teaches a Permaculture Certification Courses in NYC and in Ellenville NY at his Center for Bioregional Living. He is also a Permaculture Designer and offers regenerative design services applying permaculture and ecological principles.
‘”There is no ‘Clash of Civilizations’ between the Muslim World and the West. There is only a clash of ignorance.”
Out of Cordoba confronts these issues through an exploration of the lives and writings of the two most important thinkers to emerge from medieval Muslim Spain: Averroes the Muslim, and his Jewish counterpart,Rabbi Moses Maimonides. The 82-minute film explores the legacy of these two philosophers, as well as their contemporary importance for interfaith relations, and especially for Muslims, Jews, and Christians struggling against religious extremism.’
In relation to my previous post, I find this poem most apt by Taylor Mali. But it has more to do with a few of the inconclusive discussions I’ve initiated with friends recently.
That is this,
When somebody speaks loudly of what they have, they do, they know, it seems that the only category that person could belong to, is a negative. Boastful, arrogant, showoff, and other siblings of such verbs.
As oppose to, when somebody is asked, a question like, ‘how are things?’ or ‘how is business?’ there’s a cultural obligation to say something that negates reality, to the point that it becomes a negative, if not be quiet about it.
The point here is the conclusiveness of summarizing a display of character, that has led to people taking it one way, and no other way. Even if it is accepted as that, for example the question of ‘how is business?’ and it is replied with confident (not positivity but) good truth, the person asking will at some level get cheesed off. Either because of the response, or the non-conforming answer the other person gave in the context of how everyone else would usually say it.
Secondly, what I find is more alarming, is that such a widely accepted cultural practice, etiquette to some extent, leads to the imposition of not just not telling the truth, but giving a response that is the opposite.
But yet in a modern society where human values become more and more absent, (where a little gesture of kindness is celebrated beyond reciprocity by virtue of absence by others, disproportionate,) and the society that is more participatory in personal PR through channels like social media, that we demand sincerity more than before, the issue I raise above still looms like a never ending monsoon cloud.
I look forward to the drought, where though the air is dry, the sun is shining.
It doesn’t take a lot to get proper publicity, and push for tourism. Actually I’m wrong, it does take a lot. A lot of brains, not cost.
The Christ the Redeemer statue, top right, is lit in red light to commemorate World AIDS Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Dec. 1, 2011. Rio de Janeiro’s city government illuminated several urban monuments in red as part of its actions to commemorate World AIDS Day, from MSNBC photoblog.
Almost all great, big, developed cities, well-known cities, unfortunately need an iconic structure to solidify that status. To some extent it’s understandable and makes sense.
This thinking, was partly what drove the idea to build KLCC, which has to an extent delivered that part of its objective as an icon to KL/Malaysia and prop those two on the global platform, an indicator of progress and development. In terms of economy, this has quite a significant multiplier effect.
The second purpose, I assume, would be the tourism element which also relates to the purpose above.
Since it’s an icon, people take pictures of it, that later gets viewed by many others. But what I want to bring forth is that, such icons need not be as massive as the Kuala Lumpur’s KLCC or Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue.
Windy city Chicago did something much simpler. They gave the world the Cloud Gate, or what most people just call the Bean. Read up on articles of how much ‘returns’ did Chicago get from the Bean. While what Rio did recently was clever, Chicago takes the cake.
First it was Karmin. Now it’s Mac Lethal, and this is mental. Exciting to see creativity explored, and actioned, in this manner. By regular people, moving something from idea in mind, to something tangible. It sounds simple, but many don’t actually ‘make things happen.’
- Watch the video http://zainhd.com/2011/12/video-nerdy-white-kid-kills-look-at-me-now/
Since I moved out of my parents place late 2009, I’ve made it a point to avoid (almost completely), to call in extra help to clean y own place. It is imperative, I believe, that for as much as a person can be and remain independent and/or self-sufficient, he should.
Yes, there is the consideration of practicality and productivity, such as our expensive skilled time better invested elsewhere for better impact, if looked at in isolation. But that should not be veiled against formed complacency and harvested incompetency.
*Disclaimer: I too, struggle to schedule even random cleaning operations at home.
A reason why I take issue on this is two clear examples that are evident to me, the idea that:
a middle class home today cannot function without a domestic worker doing the house certain, most or all chores,
a child is expected to be primarily educated (in an encompassing context), by school teachers, and not the able adults in his reach.
Those two are only an example of what it brings us to. What is between the lines in essence, that makes it damaging, is the distorted outlook and paradigm that we have upon everything beyond ourselves, and worst still, upon ourselves, without actually realizing it. And then, the self-believe that it could be otherwise.
The video is an area of my recent interest. But that aside, at two parts it relates to my point above. What she calls inner-dependancy, and following that the consumerist mindset (for me, that which affects our lives overall, and not just materially).
*Thanks Yasmin for sharing this video with me. A pot of earl gray with some darjeeling, is owed.
- click to watch video http://zainhd.com/2011/11/ted-why-zain-doesnt-call-in-domestic-help
Some months ago I started reducing speaking engagements because I felt, if I was in the audience, listening to me, I’d be upset with how the speaker just wasted the time in my life, albeit brief. This was indeed how I felt most of the time for the talks I’ve been going to for the past year. That self reflection made me improve in some areas and recently I put it to test.
Few weeks ago I gave a talk at Monash university on entrepreneurship. I wrote about it in my column last week in The Star, and reproduced it below. Last weekend, the Malaysian Students Association in Australia organized a summit that included MAP (Malaysian Aspration Program), their version of TED Talks. I couldn’t go to Melbourne, so I recorded my part on youtube (below) for them to screen and did the Q&A live via Twitter from KL.
For both, I tried to focus on the reality as well as substance and not style. Either way, I thank both organizers for having me and hope I did not disappoint you and the audience. If I did, don’t expect a card and some flowers. Just let me know and I’ll work on it.
Video Part 1 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfo42ezZ0k
Video Part 2 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky0dxz_64UE
Video Part 3 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuhOPPPenTw
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Business Minded
MANY people I know do not actually have a clear idea of what they did in the past that had gotten them to where they are today. I was asked recently to speak to Monash University students on entrepreneurship. Until that point, I was not actually conscious of being an entrepreneur, nor was I aware of how I got “there” in the first place.
In 1995, my father brought home football magazines from an overseas trip, which I photocopied (without legal consent, of course) and sold to my friends at school. That’s a “pirate”, not entrepreneur right?
Years later, I was a performer, getting paid as a rapper and moving with it business-wise such as booking shows and recording with other people. After awhile, when it was not as fun anymore, I left. But that too is being a musician right? Not an entrepreneur I think.
Today, I run a startup company, a business that thinks of, sells and executes ideas. If I have no clients to do business with, there’d be no money. The excitement is fascinating but the risk does make me lose sleep sometimes.
“A person who organises and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” That was how my laptop dictionary defined entrepreneurship.
So I suppose yes, I’m an entrepreneur although I’m not too sure how I got here. I sure didn’t make any plans, or a conscious choice to be an entrepreneur. I just did what I felt like doing, but let’s set a few things straight.
I don’t mean to discourage anyone but I feel from what little I know so far, certain things about entrepreneurship must be made clear.
First of all, not all entrepreneurs are successful. It’s not always like the stories we hear, where it’s glittered with positive words, romantic elements, big money and at most a difficult beginning. We know this is not true but not many people are that consciously aware of it. For some people the risk they have to take is immense, and when the flowers don’t bloom as they’d hope, the pretty garden they planned for their life can fall apart horribly.
Besides that, there are some who choose entrepreneurship as a way out of something they were unhappy about and not because they wanted it or because they had the characteristics of being one. To illustrate, if you don’t like rock music, that doesn’t mean you might not like another genre.
There are also some people who choose entrepreneurship for the supposed “cool” factor. Your career is also your livelihood and there’s nothing cool about not having enough money to make a living or paying the salary of the people who work for you. It’s a very serious circumstance to be in.
Finally, there’s often a tendency to be inspired when reading the journey of an entrepreneur, but don’t let that devalue your perception of other professions out there.
There are many people out there who hold on to their conventional job while being involved in a business venture.
My company actually started out as a side business while I had a full-time job that eventually didn’t work out for me. At first, the company didn’t work out either, but many lessons learned during my job helped me start the business and subsequently, continue to grow it.
It’s not just about me, myself and I. Apart from the experiences I got at my old job, I also had a business partner who helped make the work smoother by bringing in lessons he learned from his previous work.
On top of that, a supportive staff also made things easier.
So, should you consider going down this path of entrepreneurship, do take into account all the little things you’ve learned along the way. At the end of the day, whatever you choose, make the best out of it.
* Zain runs Random Alphabets (randomalphabets.com), and tweets at @ZainHD.
