I have been thinking lately about life,how fragile it is. One minute we could be happily living but the next minute we were gone. Some it is their time to go as they reached certain age or due to illness, but a lot died young unnecessarily. Some died because of fate but a lot also died because of bad choices they made.
As a Muslim we were taught to believe in Qadq and Qadr, a predestined life but depending on the choices we make. Confusing? I am not an expert on it so i cannot explain to you without making you more confused. But i believe that there are certain things that will surely happen along the way as the results of our right or wrong choices. As an example, if we get mixed up with the wrong hats despite our parents objections, and get caught breaking the law,and end up in a jail screwing up our lives in the process, then it is our own fault, we cannot blame it on fate. Fate is when no matter how hard we tried to be a good driver by following all the rules and driving carefully,suddenly we hit a pedestrian while trying to avoid a dog running across a street, and we end up in jail. It is cruel and unnecessary, and a life changing episode we wish never happened, but it did because it was fated.Then we started questioning GOD why? The problem is we never get a straight answers like in an E mail or sms. We are supposed to figure out ourselves. To some it is supposed to change some bad attitudes or behaviour that they have, while to others it could be to test their patience and beliefs.
Life is so fragile and when it is so fragile we would want to protect it and value it as much as we can. Like a piece of crystal glass so beautiful to look at but break to hundred of pieces if we drop it and all the beauty is gone in seconds! I see a lot of people especially some youths making the wrong choices by getting involved in dangerous illegal activities like illegal street racings on motorcycles and souped-up cars, and drug consumption during parties which could get them into trouble with the law. All of these in the name of fun and and to be accepted by their peers. But what if in a split second they lost control of their bikes and crashed against the barriers along the road injuring themselves in the process or worse end up dead? What if the drugs they took to get high end up bursting their blood arteries in their brains and caused instant death? All in the name of fun? Is it fun for the parents to find out that they lost their kids in this manner? Who are they going to blame? Are they going to blame themselves for giving too much freedom to their kids? Are they going to blame their kids' friends? The authority? Fate? Or is it the bad choices their kids made? To me it is better to be safe than sorry. There are tough decisions to be made in our lives but decisions made for the long term good are better than the short term gains.
In our lives we are blessed that we are given the opportunities to make the right choices so we can live a long and happy life. We have our parents to give advices based on their experiences in their lives so we do not make the same mistakes that they did. For those who do not have parents, they have friends to give them good advices and guidance. In schools and workplaces there are people who give counseling to help us make the right choices. Then there are public rules, regulations and laws that we have to abide by. There are NGOs out there formed to help the public like the Befrienders who can listen to their problems and give advice. There are columns in the newspapers which are devoted to give advices to anonymous people who are having problems in their lives. You can call Oprah? Well maybe not! Then there is the ultimate guidance on how to live our lives the right way given by the Supreme Judge - The Almighty.
However, despite all these available means to help us make the right decisions and live the the right way, we still incline to go the opposite way,and take the risks for the short term gain and fun, then we shall have no one to blame except ourselves when things go wrong in our lives, especially fate. I urge all of you out there to think of the implications to you and the ones you love before you start making decisions which can change your lives and the lives of others. Some bad decisions can end your life.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
HOT HOT HOT
Aaaaargghhhh!!! My head feels like exploding nowadays everytime i go out and about in town. It is not due to the traffic jams or ever increasing cost of living in this big city, but it is due to the one called C or F, or should i say the increase of C or F in the air. I cant remember the last time when the temperature got so hot almost everyday averaging around 38 degrees Celcius and sometime peaks near 40 Celcius! The highest temperature i have ever experienced was 42C in 1995 when i was in Perth, Australia. Breathing the dry air at 42C in Perth was like breathing in a sauna,you could feel the hot air slowly entering your airways and filling your lungs, it was very uncomfortable.
When i was in high school in the 70s the highest temperature never got past 35C i think. But then that was when Malaysia was a lot less developed and the green area coverage throughout the country was more than today. There were a lot less highrise buildings then and less roads too. The number of cars that burn diesel and petrol and release carbon dioxide and monoxide into the air by thousand of tonnes per day were less. There were less factories that release toxic gases into the air back then. We did not have regular occurance of haze as the result of open burning.
So what has happened to our country since the 70s that contributed to this heat or increase warming? I like to call it as collateral damage of a country going through rapid growth to become a developed nation. In my opinion we are trying very hard to achieve the status at the expense of our environment. Now trying to become a developed nation is not a bad thing, it is just trying to do everything in haste without proper planning, monitoring of policies and enforcement will lead to some screw ups now and then, and when we are dealing with mother nature it will somehow strike back at us in some form or another in the future.
In a material world that we live in today, maximum profit overrides everything else. While there are some responsible corporations operate within the by-laws to achieve their targets, there are equal numbers that do not follow the laws and try to bypass procedures and requirements if they could get away with it. Some would lobby the influential people in important positions to get instant approvals when certain requirements have not been met for their projects prior to commencing, i.e Environmental Impact Studies. Then there are those illegal operations that do whatever they like, like land clearing and stealing timbers in forest reserves and conduct open burning in the process. We hear cases like in Cameron Highlands where some farmers cleared the forest areas to expand their farms without approvals. Everyday we lost so many football field size green areas due to legal and illegal land clearings which contributes to the increase in the air temperature we experience today. Less greenery means less shaded areas, less absorption of solar heat and carbon dioxide, and less production of oxygen for us to breath.
While in the cities where population grows at an alarming rate due to the economic factors, land would become scarce and expensive. The demand for housing for a bigger population would force the authorities to improve the increase in density per acre and lead to highrise apartments boom. The concentration of highrise blocks which house thousands of unit of apartment in a small area become the norm in big city like Kuala Lumpur. Just imagine if an apartment has five air conditioning condenser units blowing hot air into the surrounding, what would thousands of units of apartments will do to the temperature of the air in the city? Take this fact with the thousands of office blocks, factories and at least a million vehicles releasing heat everyday so the occupants can be comfortable inside, we will have a city which behave like an oven,baking itself slowly. The hotter it gets outside the more the usage of air-conditioning increase and the more the release of heat into the air, it is a vicious cycle, almost close to insanity.
So what do we do and how do we escape this heat? I am afraid the damage done is quite extensive already in Malaysia but still we could slow down the process if the government of the day have the political will to re-examine certain policies to balance growth of development with environmental conservation. God created trees for the good of mankind. The trees in so many forms give us food,oxygen for us to breath, shade us when it is hot, protect the slopes and from strong winds, they even protect the beach from erosion and tsunamis. But some human failed to see the importance of the trees and replaced them with concrete jungle due to greed and in the name of progress. Well, mother nature has a way to remind us of our mistakes and is telling us to give her a helping hand to help her recover. It will take time but if we ignore the signs we will face bigger danger when the temperature rises higher. As it is now the polar ice caps is slowly melting, the glaciers are melting and the sea level slowly increasing and in the near future a lot of land will slowly be inundated with water.
When i was in high school in the 70s the highest temperature never got past 35C i think. But then that was when Malaysia was a lot less developed and the green area coverage throughout the country was more than today. There were a lot less highrise buildings then and less roads too. The number of cars that burn diesel and petrol and release carbon dioxide and monoxide into the air by thousand of tonnes per day were less. There were less factories that release toxic gases into the air back then. We did not have regular occurance of haze as the result of open burning.
So what has happened to our country since the 70s that contributed to this heat or increase warming? I like to call it as collateral damage of a country going through rapid growth to become a developed nation. In my opinion we are trying very hard to achieve the status at the expense of our environment. Now trying to become a developed nation is not a bad thing, it is just trying to do everything in haste without proper planning, monitoring of policies and enforcement will lead to some screw ups now and then, and when we are dealing with mother nature it will somehow strike back at us in some form or another in the future.
In a material world that we live in today, maximum profit overrides everything else. While there are some responsible corporations operate within the by-laws to achieve their targets, there are equal numbers that do not follow the laws and try to bypass procedures and requirements if they could get away with it. Some would lobby the influential people in important positions to get instant approvals when certain requirements have not been met for their projects prior to commencing, i.e Environmental Impact Studies. Then there are those illegal operations that do whatever they like, like land clearing and stealing timbers in forest reserves and conduct open burning in the process. We hear cases like in Cameron Highlands where some farmers cleared the forest areas to expand their farms without approvals. Everyday we lost so many football field size green areas due to legal and illegal land clearings which contributes to the increase in the air temperature we experience today. Less greenery means less shaded areas, less absorption of solar heat and carbon dioxide, and less production of oxygen for us to breath.
While in the cities where population grows at an alarming rate due to the economic factors, land would become scarce and expensive. The demand for housing for a bigger population would force the authorities to improve the increase in density per acre and lead to highrise apartments boom. The concentration of highrise blocks which house thousands of unit of apartment in a small area become the norm in big city like Kuala Lumpur. Just imagine if an apartment has five air conditioning condenser units blowing hot air into the surrounding, what would thousands of units of apartments will do to the temperature of the air in the city? Take this fact with the thousands of office blocks, factories and at least a million vehicles releasing heat everyday so the occupants can be comfortable inside, we will have a city which behave like an oven,baking itself slowly. The hotter it gets outside the more the usage of air-conditioning increase and the more the release of heat into the air, it is a vicious cycle, almost close to insanity.
So what do we do and how do we escape this heat? I am afraid the damage done is quite extensive already in Malaysia but still we could slow down the process if the government of the day have the political will to re-examine certain policies to balance growth of development with environmental conservation. God created trees for the good of mankind. The trees in so many forms give us food,oxygen for us to breath, shade us when it is hot, protect the slopes and from strong winds, they even protect the beach from erosion and tsunamis. But some human failed to see the importance of the trees and replaced them with concrete jungle due to greed and in the name of progress. Well, mother nature has a way to remind us of our mistakes and is telling us to give her a helping hand to help her recover. It will take time but if we ignore the signs we will face bigger danger when the temperature rises higher. As it is now the polar ice caps is slowly melting, the glaciers are melting and the sea level slowly increasing and in the near future a lot of land will slowly be inundated with water.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
