Actions Vs Complains

I was watching a drama a few days ago and there was a part of the story in which the lead (who is a medical student) was attending a lecture on medical ethics. They were made to memorize a few famous phrases when he got fed up, quarreled with the lecturer and then stormed out of the class. He was upset because just a few days prior to that, a little girl who was sent to their hospital was rejected and transferred to another hospital due to a lack of beds. As a result of delayed treatment, the little girl died. However in actual fact, there were still available beds but were reserved for the VIPs.

So he was annoyed that they were memorizing a whole load of useless phrases when he thinks that what all the doctors needed was a heart that will overcome all difficulties to save the patients' lives.

 

A few years after that, he had to attend an interview for a very prestigious medical internship. The same lecturer was one of the interviewers and the guy was asked if he regretted his actions then. He answered he did and it was not because he wants to be on the good side of the lecturer. He realized he was wrong because a lot of spotlight was shed onto the little girl's case after that and it pressured the government and hospitals to deal with the problem of inadequate hospital beds and medical supplies. It eventually led to an increased in facilities for the general public. The girl couldn't be brought back to life for sure but at least improvements were made for rest of the people. At that point in time, he realized that when something is wrong, there is no point in just getting angry, there was more value in acting upon the situation and directing his energy to think of solutions.

 

Very good thought of a mature man.

 

Coincidentally, I was introduced to a young, 20-yr gentlemen last week by my church friends in Singapore. He is in Tokyo for a 1-month holiday.

 

He was a polite guy on the whole but sad to say, immature and spoilt. He was telling me that he wants come back to Japan to live after he has "earn big bucks" because he hates Singapore. So I asked him in return, what is that he hates about Singapore and his answer was, "The weather, the rude people, the government, the system…" Once again, I asked him, what about the government do you hate? His answer, "I hate PAP..."

 

If you haven't really got what I am trying to say… Sometimes the word "hate" is just over-used. As I begin to probe further, I realized that he hasn't really got anything substantial to hate about. The answer for hating the government shouldn't have been because you hate PAP, it is almost as what you say 答非所問。I ask you why you hate cheese, you tell me you hate ham. At the end of the day, I still cannot understand the reason for your hatred, but I know now just because of the dislike for your homeland, you want to escape to another place which you actually do not know well at all.

Where is our national pride and what has the comfortable life that our government and parents tried to provide us brought us to? I am sad to say it has bred some ingrates who think that it is their right to lead a good life and when problems crop up, they will think of taking flight instead of thinking of ways to overcome or improve the situation.

 

So anyway I asked him, ok so you are thinking of coming stay in Japan for good… Are you taking Japanese lessons now?

His answer: All the schools are just cheating money! You can learn Japanese just by talking to the locals out there… You can study all the hiragana and Katakana by yourself at home.

 

I didn't really bother refute him I just listened to what he said quietly. I guess for such people they will just have to go through the experiences themselves and learn with their "bodies" how things of the world work. But just a last note, Japanese is not just about Hiragana and Katakana. I wished too.