The week went fine. I think I conquered econs, socio work and bbfin, but major screwed up at sales, unstable at gender, and totally gave up on socio ageing. Today’s post should be quite dry, as I start to discuss some of my viewpoints on comments and issues.

The first came was “If Longevity is a gift to mankind, Ageism is the curse.” This was taken from my exam paper. I wrote 2 pages for this, I really had much to vomit about. I wrote that Ageism could be defined as, from internet source, the tendency to assume all members of society is young based on negative stereotypes the society has, and thereby neglected or fails to address the needs of older persons appropriately.

Next, I start giving examples such as infantilization of elders, overaccomdating and the image of industries for the young by the use of sports and war metaphors. I followed by ageism in profession (the reluctance to treat elder persons), and elder abuse.

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Everyone changes with time, on the inside and outside. You can almost see them change from a young child into an average teen, then to a matured adult, prettier/more handsome than what they were just awhile ago. When you observe this change, you will tell yourself "why didn't i know that person better before? – Quoted from a facebook friend.

It not only takes time, but an embracing spirit to know more about a person underneath the mask he might be putting on, a concerned attitude to understand the societal forces affecting them, a sensitive heart to detect the slightest shift before it is obvious..... It just takes too much that it's rather impossible to do these for everyone we know..... Esp for parents to their children.....

Yes, especially when there are rumours and news on the person you know, your image of the person just changes constantly. Then, with our actions and behaviours, we shatter and deform our image in others too. But after all, it is really incredible how human changes over the time. What is the motivation or trigger that made the change? Simple stuffs like pace of walking within a crowed place. You could see certain awkwardness when someone fails to understand the pace and flow, then tried to “squeeze” through it, causing lots of misfocus and disruption, that at times could effect the whole structure for a certain period of time. How do people respond to a trigger, that could have changed their pace, or the failed confidence a person might have, wrongly gauging the pace of the crowd.

Human mind is the most complex study in life. Sometimes I really would take a 3^rd person view on me, I wished I could have honest feedback from people that observed me. Similarly, I love observing how people interact to each other too. Was playing with some kids at playground, when I was not in the mood to play, but I acted along. The kids was enjoying the company. Well, sometimes I feel like being child is a blessing, their world is rather small, and the ability to detect mood isn’t too strong yet.  These few days I have been really financing and devoting time to few groups of people. I really enjoyed to see them enjoying themselves, however, the fear of the fading memories kept haunting me as I archive some of the photos I took. Why couldn’t our eye be a camera to absorb every details in life? Every genuine smiles, every delighted face, every blissful joy. This is really important to me, because as time pass by, I could only remember the scenario, which silhouettes in it other than me, then got to slowly fish back the image and memories.

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Life is short. 
Live it to the fullest(:

If living to the fullest means taking risks, would it be wise to make a short life shorter?

Good thought. I would say that depends how do you define risk, in a symbolic interactionist perspective, and what is the ultimate aim in your life, the motivation for you to get up the bed every morning, be it from maslows HON or some other goals. Or we can use economist perspective to see the opportunity costs that you have to forgo and the reward that you could get for taking certain risk...... Life is short, it might become shorter, but with more quality. =)

I often wonder about the opportunity cost I forgo for going out every day. I feel bad if mum or dad is alone whole day, I really prefer them to have fun outside too. Then, as I watch the new drama, Yours Fatefully, more fears came into me, I fear of my night blindness, that I will be a burden to my loved ones, I fear of being alone in old age, I fear of responsibilities I have yet to face, I fear of leaving my mum alone, since she have a tendency to over react at many times. I feel bad in ditching her. I do ask her dinner out, and talked with her during drama time, but that’s it. Yet, looking back, my parents are the only ones that could hear my horrible voice all day long without uttering a word of complain. The only ones that could hear me talking all the crap I know, that bothered to listen to me talking about Work, Alienation, Sociology, Philosophy, Econs, etc etc. Though they probably don’t remember, they do give feedbacks as they are listening, they indeed responded. And these, are the only pillars of life that I can be sure that it is worth putting my efforts in them, that will always be there for me, that embraces me for who I am. 

Life is really short, I feel I could have done better. Ive heard many stories of others' families, I do think mine is the best so far, excluding extended family. At least there is a certian kind of humour in my household. =) Then again, isnt Yours Fatefully portraying negative stereotypes of elderly being dependent, troublesome, burden, etc?? Thinking back in the old days, if I were the elder, i would suicide to ease the burden of younger generations like how the odlen tribes of hunterers and gatherers do. Fear of mortality, fear of not being there to witness the growth of the society around you. Sigh. Do men have that much fear?

Yet the feeling is not right, I do still prefer to have someone of my age to assume that role. Not even a brother. Oh, I might say I have a “brother” now, after the efforts, finance, time and care I invested in him. Perhaps it might be in vain, but at least it allowed me to have a feel of what is it like to have a younger brother not too wide in age gap. Really thankful for him. Anyway, so why isnt the feeling right? Ageism?