Diversity

I have just read a book by Carolee Dean, by the title of "Comfort".

It is about a high school boy from a town in US called Comfort, whose ex-con-father had just left the prison, intending to start afresh, but very much a coward, trying to avoid facing the reality. The boy's mother seemed like a very mean woman who ill-treated him, and making him work excessively without paying him any dime. Their little cafe wasn't making money, his mum hoped that her husband would one day become a very popular country singer, realising his dream (in fact that's her dream) ...

The boy tried to find comfort at school, in poetry. He wanted to run away from home, at the end, decided that there's a better way of escaping, towards real freedom, going face-to-face with his own life, the reality. Towards the end of the book, something was mentioned which I thought is very meaningful, also similar to a short prose I wrote some times ago about "Colours of the Universe". Here's how it goes:

What do any of us have in common? Diverse, yet all the same. We breathe the same air. We bleed the same red blood. We dream the same dreams of freedom and of hope. And in the end we are all saved by simple acts of kindness."

The boy in the story then went on to recite a poem by Naomi Shibab Nye - "Kindness".
A very simple story, yet moving!

The 'Shows' in Reality Shows

I used to hate watching any reality show. I thought they were all just a means of money making, hitting the highest viewing rate, and perhaps also earning lots of money if there were any mobile phone voting system involved: Survivor, American Idol, American Next Top Model, Runway Project, Singapore Idol, Malaysian Idol, Super Star Project, just to name a few.

Well...I still think it's business tactic, maybe not quite a tactic, but technique or idea. Yes sure, generating revenues is important, and suspecting oftentimes those 'real' people (participants) might have been guilty of putting up some sort of actings to make the whole show looks more 'saleable'.

Somehow, some times, somewhere...I started watching one out of boredom, and my stereotype has changed. I started to watch those shows from a different perspective. I am not a fanatic of reality show, well...not yet, at least. I think the participants have got so much for me to learn from.

I don't think I am qualified to make any judgement of these people, neither do I have the rights to criticize their doings or acts. However, I totally admire them.

First, for their bravery to stand up in the public, putting themselves in front of so many people, the 'them' in 'reality'. Of course I have to admit that some people might really go out there to put up a show, while others have more 'sacred' ambitions.
Secondly, they all have decided to give themselves a chance to prove that they are capable of dreaming, competent to be who they want to me.
Last but not least, they are continuously so determined and persistant in what they do. They have faith in themselves, they are all out for their dreams, dreams that they wouldn't have known could be realised, if they had not given themselves the very first step to get started. They believe in themselves, when many others have mocked them down. They have to go through a long, yet not easy journey in those competitions, and for this, I think they deserve our respects :)