Mercedes Benz vs. Public Transport

Which one is Faster?

A very interesting read that will put your conviction to the test:

A Neurosurgeon and an Operating Theater (OT) Nurse lives in the same neighborhood with their houses within one block away from each other. Both of them worked together and has a scheduled brain surgery at 10:30AM at Queen Elizabeth Hospital which is a mere 10 miles away from the neighborhood. The surgeon drove a brand new Mercedes Benz to work at 9AM while the OT nurse took the faithful public bus at the same time. She reached Queen Elizabeth Hospital around 9:30AM with ample time to enjoy a cup of coffee and had a chatter with the other nurses who had arrived earlier while he reached at 9:50AM. Why is that so? 

Take some time to think about the reasons before you scroll down further.

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Choice? What choice?

How many of you have woken up on a monday and think to yourself "What? I have to work today?" then reluctantly dragged your body out of bed leaving the mind sleeping on that oh-so-cozy bed? Well, it seemed like a regular routine to me but nevertheless, today, I actually sleep past the hour by 15 minutes and that will definitely causes me to be late! So then, I would have to take a cab to work, which I did and cost me S$10, not that I have a choice.

However, the ride somewhat was enjoyable and the can driver was nothing short of entertaining. We were talking about the economy and the taxi market & players when I suddenly popped out a phrase "NO CHOICE" and the cab driver retorted me saying that there are always choices. Now let me put this forward to you, if you are in a situation whereby a thug with a knife on your belly saying "Give me your money or I stuck this knife into your belly!", what would you have thought? Notice that I ask you what would you have THOUGHT and not DO. I personally would not think much but have my mind automatically command my hand to reach out towards my wallet and give the thug the money. There is really nothing much to think of right?

The cab driver almost instantaneously said "NO!". You still have a choice in a situation like that. "WHAT CHOICE?!" you may ask and here is what the cab driver said. "Well, in a situation like that, you could ask the thug the following:

1 - Do you really wanted to stick that knife into my belly if I don't give you my wallet?

2 - Sticking a knife into my belly will do you any good?

3 - IF I won't give you my wallet, does it means that you will have no other choices?

...basically, YOU can choose to give the thug doubt and that IS your CHOICE."

Well, sounds a lil bit unorthodox but it does have its own kinda wisdom. However, I guess I would still give the thug the money EVEN if after all those questions. The reason is simple, I don't carry much cash in my wallet and my ATM card does not have that much money anyway. I usually transfer all the dough to my savings account without an ATM card and the money available in my ATM account is only good enough for my monthly basic expenditure e.g. transport card money and meals, which only works out to be a minimal sum. ;)

Dream vs Greed

GREED

"An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth".

Many of us are taught to not be greedy since we are young. Remember the last time your parents scolded you for hoarding and hogging your favourite food on the dining table? Well, I do. During my childhood time (Not really that long), chicken are kinda like a luxury food and to have Kentucky Fried Chicken (That's what they called KFC in old days) is like having delicacies such as Abalone and Lobsters in modern terms.

I lo~~~ve KFC even till today and naturally, I will try to take as many as possible without having any thoughts that I have another 3 siblings to share it with. That was when the word greedy being labelled on my forehead. My wife used to tease (and still does) me whenever she browse through my childhood album because there are plenty of evidence of my greediness in my photo. I have a few photos showing me blowing the candle off my birthday cake (I will upload the photos later) and my brother, Samuel would beat me to it and in the photo, you can see that I am really pissed! So, to cut the article short, I am taught not to be greedy since young.

DREAM / AMBITION
"A condition or achievement that is longed for" / "An eager or strong desire to achieve something".
I am also taught to have dreams and ambition by both my parents and teachers in school. My mum always wanted me to be a "professional" when I grew up. When she said "professional", she meant profession such as doctor, pilot, scientist, lawyer and the like. She can be fickle as I grew up because she changed her mind on my ambition from being a doctor to a pilot, from a pilot to a lawyer and on it goes. In school, my teacher would ask the class to aim as high as possible because the sky is the limit. Well, eventually, when I grew up, I became an accountant and this naturally is largely due to my mother as she is an accounting person. Seeing her single-handedly brought us all up with the income she earned from being an accounts executive and all the assets she has massed up, I salute her for that and mind you, she started working only in her early 40's.

DREAM vs GREED

Now enough of greed, dreams and ambition. I was thinking in the morning on my way to work, what is the correlation and distinction between greed and dreams/ambition? Dreams and ambition are supposed to be something really BIG because if something is not really that great in proportion, then it will not qualify to be called a dream. When Martin Luther Kings Jr (MLK) said "I have a dream...", it is something that is feasible albeit difficult and near impossible. Would someone actually called MLK a greedy person? The answer is a straight and prompt "NO", because greediness is a situation when someone is the only person benefiting. Well, if everything is so easily defined as the only person benefitting or otherwise, life would be a lot easier, aye?

Supposed that a kid aims to be a doctor when he/she grew up one day, would we call it greed? I guess we needed more information to be able to establish a judgement because it can be a different story altogether. Given that the kid was told by the parents that "You have to study hard, ah boy/girl and becomes a doctor when you grew up so that you can earn a lot of money and buy a big house for daddy and mummy". So is it greed if the boy/girl grew up having that mentality? Sounds like a "No" right? What if we change the scenario to the boy seeing another kid, Ah Meng, having a toy robot and thinks to himself "I want to be a doctor so that I can earn a lot of money to buy more and better robots than Ah Meng!". Now, without knowledge of these, when the boy said "My ambition is to be a doctor" or "My dream is to become a doctor", no one can really tell right?

I guess the thin line that separates Greed from Dream/Ambition is notion and yes, it is hard to distinct between a good notion and an evil notion and everything in between. My take is that greed and dream/ambition ARE related to a certain extend be it the notion good or bad. So what then? Should I teach my children (If I have any) that they should not have a dream/ambition because by doing so, they are greedy? Certainly not! But one should have dreams/ambitions so that one can be a blessing to others be it family, neighbours or aliens and if having dreams/ambition is to be greed, then let my children thirst and greed to be a blessings to others.