Hurt Locker

There is always something to learn whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever situation you are in. Once, we were walking on the street and had to stop at a traffic junction awaiting the pedestrian man to turn green. At this point, a little boy ran towards us and attempted to cross the street. We stopped him. Very soon, his parents came by to take charge and instead of thanking us, made a remark that their child is a smart boy and know how to cross the street.

This is beyond reason. Do you agree with me that when walking on the streets, parents should be holding their children's hands until they are of a certain age? You can teach very young children to be aware of open windows without grills but when they are young even if very clever they are still children. When they are happily playing they can forget. Even adults get into freak accidents. There are children around the world who while jumping on their bed which were unfortunately placed near the window, cascaded out of it. The next question that immediately popped into my mind was: "What do we do given a similar situation the next time?"

Should we just ignore it or continue to do what is right. Some people felt embarrassed when they gave up a seat in the train or bus to an elderly person who then rejects it and they think they should stop doing such things just because of one incident. In this situation you should not be thinking about your own situation or how you feel. Think of how it would benefit other older folks who appreciates it. Think of that child or the ignorant parents as any untoward incident would be so destructive. There are still parents carrying their child in the front seat of a car zipping around quite quickly. Meantime, it sends me to the Hurt Locker.

Hurt Locker

Catch this movie if you had not already done so. Don't miss it. Directed and produced by Kathryn Bigelow (ex wife of James Cameron (Avatar) who has beaten him to the awards), written and produced by Mark Boal who as a free lance journalist spent two weeks with the bomb squad in Iraq.

Plot: Location: Iraq. It's a dangerous game like cat and mouse in the chaos of war. An elite army bomb squad must come together where everyone could be a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb. It's a riveting movie of great suspense about bomb technicians challenging the odds to save lives. They search and disarm waves of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad in order to make the city a safe place with a mission to protect and safe. The margin for error to diffuse a war-zone bomb or a cluster of it is well, zero. It screws the human psyche. Then there are snipers to contend with. If being a commando or diver is crazy, then this is truly mad. It is soldier-speak referring to explosions as sending you to the "Hurt Locker".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxSDZc8etg (Trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_OJQbaUl_U (Epic Explosion)

If you are a surgeon by profession, then your job is slightly better than these fellows. At least whatever you are operating on will not explode suddenly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEgYrjH_xNw (Sniper Duel)

It is also why writing is easier. Write wrongly, edit and write again. Just do not defame others. This is what I meant when I said that life is fragile and can be precarious. Sometimes, it may be good to imagine that our lives are like these bomb specialists where the last time you meet each other or the last time you went to work could well be your last. Quite often there is even no body to collect so you save on body bags. You live life on tenterhooks. You pull out a wire from the ground and you think it is a routine explosive but as you continue pulling it could lead you on to a cluster and then you find yourself standing right in the middle. It can send you straight face to face with your Creator. Cutting the wrong wire will send you there just as fast.

Tenterhooks

Living life on tenterhooks means living anxiously and tensely. It was an old phrase which may be hard to understand these days since tenterhooks are no longer in use. The usage of this phrase is metaphoric as being on tenterhooks refers to the cloth-making process and technique in the Middle-Ages when they have the cloths milled and washed and then it had to be dried. Cloth-makers faced a problem because the cloths will shrink when dried. This is not good as their profits would shrink since cloths were being sold by length so during the drying process the cloth was tented to prevent shrinking. Tenting is to stretch out the cloth and suspended like a tent and attached by hooks. These are simple types of nails which they called tenterhooks. This is achieved by using devices that look like wooden frames called tenter where the cloth would be attached to the hooks. Being on tenterhooks means being suspended and spread out to dry.

Locker Room

There is a locker room for many sports. Rugby, soccer and many other team sports. Before a match or during the intervals, you gather there and your manager and or coach will either give you a blast or some praises. Frequently, there will be pep talks. It's not so bad if you are winning or leading but it gets critical when the chips are down. There is limited time to discuss and talk and the coach needs to give a rousing speech to motivate and inspire to turn boys to men, losers to heroes from the jaws of defeat to overwhelming victory. No speech is good enough if the players are not together in spirit or have respect for the coach. Yet it is the locker room where the greatest things have happened. In golf, there is no such place. You go into the locker room when it is all over to shower and to change. The worst thing is you see old men before and after showers with sagging muscles and some with cluster of fats where the wire is buried even deeper than those explosives in a war zone and a few who choose to walk around naked. Once a guy was crawling on the floor looking and peering when his friend asked him why he was still looking for his putting line when the game was well over. He was looking for a dropped coin.

Pep Talk

What is Pep Talk? It is a speech of exhortation to a team meant to instill enthusiasm and confidence and to boost morale. It is aimed at heightening your sense of arousal. It is a ritual to exhort you to perform out of your skin. It is suppose to invigorate and cheer your spirit. It is a motivational strategy to raised your competitiveness to reach an optimal level but sometimes, some may get over aroused and suffer from anxiety leading to poorer performance. Sometimes, it gets too heated and arguments may ensue leading to fights which you read about on dressing room troubles. and commotion.

Sometimes, you may catch golfers talking to themselves "C'mon Tiger!"

But you don't have to be in sports to give/receive pep talks. We can give ourselves some when we are studying, working or in the different situation of life. You reinforce your belief, you exhort yourself to keep going, try harder, press on telling yourself that you can do it. 5 more laps to swim. 5 more pages to write. 10 more pages to read. One more week to hit your sales target. Your efforts and energy may be drained and your spirit is waning. You are about to give up the fight. You need something to cling to and to egg you on. You are on your own, between the devil and the deep blue sea. You have to survive the ordeal. You are going to make it. You are going to make the front page of the newspapers you tell yourself. You survive or gets blown away in a war zone. C'mon people, pep yourself up! Just as Albert Hammond have told you: "It Never Rains In Southern California". ...will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it. Please don't tell them how you found me, don't tell them how you found me.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyC7WnvLT4

I love this song! Hope you will too.