Punitive or Rehabilitory

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’ (Philippians 4:8)

Any justice system, in my opinion, should perform these three roles, i.e. carrying out justice, preserve law and order, and protect the public. In passing sentence, should the goal be punitive or rehabilitory.The recent trend around the world seems to be for the latter. Those who are for punitive think that it produces deterrence effect on the offenders, hopefully they learnt what they did was wrong and not to repeat it. It also has the effect on the general population who are deterred by the threat of punishment if they are caught. On the other hand, people who preferred rehabilitory feel that prison is a breeding ground for crimes and its social environment is detrimental to reform the offenders.

The danger of swinging towards rehabilitation is that it opens up a can of worms. Take for example, can a voyeur or shoplifter use psychiatric disorder as a defence in the court, and get away with probation instead of custodial sentence? In psychology, it is called ‘PFC dysfunction’. When a person’s prefrontal cortex (which regulates impulse behaviour) is not working properly, he may not be able to control his impulses. He is often oblivion to future consequences and focus only on immediate gratification. However, I think no one can abdicate responsibility from one’s deeds. If we allowed garbage to enter our minds, our actions will bear the result of that input.

Freudism, a study of human behaviours, breeds and encourages personal irresponsibility. Putting blame on someone else is easy, just like this interesting poem I came across:

“I went to my psychiatrist to be psycho-analysed
To see why I killed my cat & blacked my husband’s eyes
When I was one, I saw my mummy hit my dad with a trunk
That follows naturally I’m always drunk
When I was two, I saw my father kissed my maid one day
That’s why I suffer now from kleptomania
At three, I have the feeling of resentment against my brother
So it follows naturally I poisoned all my lovers
But now I’m happy here as I’m taught that
Everything that I do wrong is someone’s fault”

Liberty and Responsibility

‘In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.’ (Ephesians 4:26-27)

 

Recently a protest organiser threatened to deface poster of a senior office-bearer here. It was reported that on his Facebook posting, he wrote that a huge poster would be put up for protesters to vent their anger by ‘spitting, throw eggs, splash dog poo, draw graffiti and kick’. Such appalling thoughts, even though not eventually carried out in actions, warrants a concern by all. In fact, I noticed that there is an increasing number of netizens who have been warned and asked to retract their postings over the social media in the last few months.

 

Defacing can be carried out on different platforms such as posters, public possessions, religious buildings and currency notes. It is a deliberate attempt, not a sudden one under provocation. This is a wrong way of expressing anger or hate. There are other legitimate and lawful means people can choose to make their protests. Early this year a British father has been sentenced to six months in jail for spraying purple paint across a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. His defense was that he merely defaced the royal portrait with the word "help" to highlight the helplessness the divorced fathers faced, being denied access to their children. I was shocked by the comments made by the newspaper's readers.  Most of them do not see it is as a serious crime.

 

We have to treat every human being with respect and dignity, ascribed a sense of worth, being valued as who he is. This also include objects that carried symbolic significance. In fact, dignity and respect are the key principles of Human Rights Act. Everyone know them by human instincts, their inherent values, even in a most primitive society.

 

This society is slowly opening up for diverse, alternate views, and space for expressing them. We should treasure such trend and not to use this liberty irresponsibly. If we cannot do that, then we do not deserve such freedom and it may be taken away. The argument that total self-expression is the key to modern good living is absurd. It is a fact that our human nature is self-centred, inherently evil. We have to learn to be self-restraint in what we expressed, not more and more new legislations to censure us.

Mother's Day

‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honour your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."’(Ephesians 6:1-3)

This year’s most popular video clip for Mother’s Day is one from American Greetings Inc. The video is about a fake job been created and posted on internet and in newspapers. Real interviews were conducted online. The shortlisted applicants were told of the job’s requirements. It entailed high level of mobility (such as long hours of standing, bending, moving about). There would be no annual/sick leave, lunch break, medical benefits, pension, salary, bonus etc. The candidate must also have good interpersonal skills. After digesting these information, all these applicants came to the same conclusion, that is, it is utterly insane or inhuman that any person in this world would ever do such a job. However, they were told there is already one person doing such job - the mum!

 

Most of us take mother’s work for granted. It has been estimated that the average stay-at-home mum’s “salary” for 94-hour work week is estimated to worth US$113K a year. However, no country in the world so far take mum’s work into account when computing its GNP. Mother is the most undervalued person one can think of. It’s no wonder that more married women would rather work outside their homes, helped by the availability of child care facilities and family-friendly policies. With the passing of my mother’s generation, my generation of mothers belongs mostly to working- mother category. There are pros and cons to such trend.

 

On the positive side, we are able to contribute financially to the family, so our children have access to better healthcare, nutrition, education and opportunities. Studies have also shown that working mother’s children exhibit higher level of confidence and independence.

 

One of the drawbacks of being a working mother is that it is utterly tough (almost impossible) to balance work and family commitments. We are stressed out, fatigue, and too tired to interact with our children. They therefore received less discipline and less support from us. It can be a case of our kids being cared for by different people and received different types of discipline, which lead to confusion and behavioural problems later on. I feel that we are beginning to pay the price of being a working mum- our children are more rebellious and disobedient. Our bonding is also not as close as the previous generations. A meal out on Mother’s Day may not carry as much meaning as before as time goes by.

Post-medical Recovery Journey

"Do not let them (God's Words) depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their body" (Proverbs 4:21-22)

 

A close friend forwarded to me a video about how a Taiwanese brain surgeon overcame his colon cancer some years back. He went for the chemo treatment as usual but refused to have the operation to remove the tumour. The subsequent scan showed that the tumour was gone, and he has been well since then.

 

Although there is no such thing as one formula fits all, I think some of his ideas are very helpful in the recovery journey for any cancer patient:

 

(1) Overcome fear- This helps one to stay positive and be pro-active in pursuing recovery. This is the most difficult thing to conquer. It is tough not to have negative thoughts when we are in troubles. Most cancer patients faced this the first two years upon diagnosis.

(2)Cultivate peaceful mind -Get rid of temperament that impedes recovery such as unforgiving spirit, bad temper.

(3)Plenty of rest, learn to relax, enjoy food, live comfortably. Enough sleep is important.

(4) Build up strong immune system by eating well, have balanced diet. Don’t have to go for any special diet.

(5)Exercise- go for those that promote relaxation such as qigong. Avoid sudden strenuous exercise.

(6)Food- eat more veggie, less meat. Go for fresh food rather than everything organic. Avoid canned food, oily/fried/BBQ food and milk.

(7)Healthy bowel movement everyday- prevents toxins from forming in our body.

MH370 -the anomaly of anomaly?

‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9)

 

The recent MH370 tragedy has captured the whole world attention. What actually happened to the flight is still a mystery with almost one month has gone by (since 8th of March), no wreckage has yet been found. People started to come up with all sorts of theories to explain away the possibility, and one expert in fact described the whole episode as an anomaly of anomaly. Is it? Can we ignore the human aspect of it?

 

I see this whole incident reflects the depravity of human nature. A visit to Cambodia Genocide Museum or the Holocaust Memorial Center will testify to that. Any person is capable of devising a diabolic scheme to achieve his goal whilst inflicts maximum pain upon his fellowmen. The person behind this tragedy is one such being, who deliberately shutdown all radar signals to evade the detection of its diverted flight path so as to fly far off course to somewhere unknown. Experts have come up with many suggestions to improve the technical aspects of the plane, tighten aviation procedures and airport security. However, at the end of the day, none of these measures can beat the power of human mind when it is used in the wrong way.

 

Can we fully comprehend what these passengers (including babies) went through during the whole journey? Are we able to adequately describe the anguish and turmoil faced by their families? The possibility of no closure or answers on their loved ones is a very painful thing to live with. My heart really goes to them.

'Buck-passer'

There was this little boy who offered to help his busy mother cleaning up the basement of the house. While he was down there sweeping the floor, a mouse came out from beneath the sofa. Unfortunately it ran the wrong way. The boy smashed it against the wall with the broom. The mouse ran again and this time he beat it hard about ten rounds. When he got through with it, the whole thing was awesome. It was bloody and horrible looking.

 

The boy was so proud of what he had done that he grabbed the mouse by the tail, ran up the stair and went to look for his mother. He rushed straight to the living room without realised that a pastor happened to visit his mother. The pastor was sitting right behind the door so the boy couldn’t see him. The boy shouted,” Mother…mother, when I was down the basement, this mouse crept out from the sofa. So I took the broom and hit it once but it didn’t die. So I hit it again and again until it stopped running…….”, then he saw the pastor and was horrified. He continued,“Then….and....then the Lord called it home."

CT scan and blood tests

‘The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.’ (Psalm 41:3)

 

I went for my medical appointment last Wednesday to collect the medical reports. It has been a year since I last done my scan. The left gastric node is still there (1.4mm x 10mm) but stable since it was first discovered in March 2012 scan. The CA 125 reading is 9. I have now passed the 5-year survival mark.

 

To recap, I went for my first operation (my CA 125 marker was about 2,100 then) to remove one tumour (10cm) in late October 2008, and commenced the chemo program in December. In February 2009 I had the other big tumour removed by another surgeon and was in ICU for several days. Thereafter my chemo treatment resumed and ended in early May 2009, after 7 rounds’ (21- weekly) of treatment. By then my marker has dropped down to about 13. Two months later I went for my TCM consultation and has been on the Chinese concoction till now.

 

The journey has been a tough one as I was very feeble in the first two years, experienced the severe side effects of the chemotherapy and removal of ovaries. My doctor gives a very poor prognosis of my condition and I can understand why. I felt utterly despair and was prepared to face the worst. My only hope is to look up - to God. Never once I become bitter with God as He gave me many warning signs but I failed to slow down to care for myself. It has been a life-transforming experience for me. It has impacted every aspect of my being. This is a miracle from God. I realised often I have been taking God’s mercy and grace for granted. Like Job, I can now say that “when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” (Job 23:10). I am now more ready to battle storms of life than before.

Internet hoax

Information has been expanding exponentially in this internet age. In the past it used to double every ten years. We were already found ourselves unable to catch up then. Now things have become worst. People tend not to process the information they received by carrying out fact finding, too eager to pass it over to their contacts. Of course, nowadays with the help of technology, it has become faster and easier to do such than by word-of-mouth. Hence, we ended up receiving lot of junk stuffs and many of them are ‘hoax’ in nature.

 

The most common types of Internet hoax are those related to internet viruses and health tips from the ‘experts’. Here are some that I received recently:

(1) Internet virus alert message (Update Window live) – It has been circulating over the years, resurfaced from time to time. It claims that it will burn your whole hard disk and render your computer irreparable. It says that this is the worst virus announced by CNN and has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive one, and discovered by McAfee. You can’t find any such announcement on any of these companies’ websites!

(2) All European new born babies will be micro chipped from May 2014 – The news says that his chip will also be an impressive GPS sensor that will task with a micro- disposable battery every 2 years. It will be linked straight to a satellite, which will guide the networks. Interestingly, this article attracted 180 comments from readers who believed this news is true!

(3) On Dec 31st and 1st Jan 2014, the popular Whatsapp will become chargeable. It will cost 1 cent (euro) per message. However if one sends this message to 10 people, it will show that he is an avid user and his logo will become blue, otherwise, whatsapp will activate the billing!

(4) A FB user received information from someone that FB has changed its privacy configuration that any person on FB anywhere in the world has accessed to someone else’s photos posted, the “likes” and “comments”, unless he asks all his contacts in FB to do these steps. First, place the cursor over his photo that appears in the box (without clicking) and a window will open. Now move the cursor to the word “Friends”, again without clicking and then go to “Settings”. Un-check “Life Events” and “Comments” and “Like” and “photos”. This way, his activities with his family and friends will no longer be made public. Fortunately he was told shortly by a friend that this is an old scam. None of his contacts wasted their time by following his weird and ludicrous ‘instructions’!

 

Health tips by ‘experts’ are the most proliferated ones as everyone wants to stay healthy. I learnt not to take anonymous health advice seriously as many are contradictory. You can end up confuse, and do more harm to your body by following these tips blindly. The ways they explained how our body works are utterly ridiculous, for examples:

 

(1) ‘Why do people need to urinate so much at night time? Answer from the Cardiac Doctor, Dr Stephen Mak (is there such a person?) - Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc.) seeks level with the kidneys, it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. Correct time to drink water is very important. Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body: 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs ;1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion; 1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure; 1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack.’

(2) ‘It's important to know how and when to eat fruit. It means not eating fruit after a meal! Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil. Eat your fruit on an empty stomach, or before your meal! Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas. Hence, you bloat! Grey hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes -all of these will NOT happen if you eat fruit on an empty stomach.’

(3) ‘Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! The cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you've just consumed, which slows digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It may even be your own life!’