Human Beings

Human beings are complicated. Very often we do not even understand one another. There was a Japanese who once told me that the blind man was coming to his home which led me to think of a man with a white cane but what he actually meant was the contractor was going to fix his blinds.

Another time, a Japanese expatriate came to my younger colleague and asked for information which everyone heard was "passport", "which is the passport?" So that colleague shot back "what passport are you talking about". What he actually asked was "which is the first port?" They don't say coffee but cohhee making their "f" sounds like "h". Say one person's "f" word is another person's "h" word.

I wonder what would happen if a senior VIP in your office comes over to the shredding machine and pass you some important documents and point to the machine. As you slot them into the shredding machine and you could see the documents getting shredded halfway he says: "Can I have 3 copies each please". Lol. Who is wrong. It is a real test for your boss as this guy is your boss's boss.

When some of you read my articles and saw pictures of me punching off candle lights and showing off a high kick, it was intentional. I also knew too that the moment you saw it some would have actually tried it especially when no one was watching. If you have a room in your office you would have stood up and tried it almost immediately. I have made people do all kinds of things on a voluntary basis. They love a challenge. You see, I know the child inside the man. Talking about challenges, look at the new world challenge. DO not miss these two presentations.

What about West versus East? Listen to Martin Jacques, author of "When China Rules The World": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhUmLtlZpw, golf my friend was invented in China.

And this from Neil Ferguson at a Mining Forum: http://tv.afr.com/video/61713 to understand how far we understood one another.

All sort of problems happened because most of us focus on our doings rather than beings. Society conditions us to work hard and to achieve. All of us admires successful people and the success you see and use to evaluate and compare are based on what you see i.e. status and material things such as cars, homes, job titles. We start to give ourselves a long list of goals and to do lists. Any one who spread themselves thin will have zero emotion sooner or later and people with zero emotion can't really respond to those around them.

Only by "being" can we slow down, take a deep breath or maintain some semblance of balance in our very own ecosystem. Let's face it, most if not all of us are slaves to our own goals. Generally, some folks may regard talks that you are a mother of two or about spirituality or family stuffs mundane and boring while talking about the latest killing in the stock market, property transactions, the hottest KTV or latest pub exciting. One group is "being" and the other is "doing".

Are we human beings or human doings? We are always being bombarded with adverts to go out and buy the latest gadgets, watches, cars, etc. We can reduced some misery with money but we can't buy happiness. If we want freedom then we have to decide if we are to be human beings or doings. Or do we let a system or a society tells us what to be?

The advantage of "being" is that you are more inspirational and can become and is comfortable to be who you are and never worry about how others see you. You do not need to be seen hanging out with certain people or to impress other folks. You do not need to scheme against others, practise one-upmanship and always have time to be with people close to you like your love ones.

The only certainties in life are death and taxes. If everything is so certain we will be bored to death don't you think? Uncertainties keeps us feeling alive and on our toes yet certainties are needed for assurance and security. Humans need to grow. When we feel stagnant, you may not be happy. We need to improve if not evolve and have a constant need for self-development and self-fulfillment even in other areas like a hobby. You need to go out there to reach out to and help someone or society at large. It makes you feel great.

Everybody have a need to feel important, loved, appreciated and respected and the greatest of all is love. No man can live by bread alone. You need love. You need to belong somewhere that is where family and friends come in. For no man is an island. A person's upbringing and sense of honour will be expressed in his thanks and gratitude.

Can you get bliss doing absolutely nothing? Absolutely. Being is in the present. Doing is a distraction and a self-absorption enslaving ourselves in a certain realm. How many of us can let go? Let go of things? A business that you have built up painstakingly, a career that spanned many years to where you are now, the habits that consumed us, the things we think we can't do without.

Human beings and being human. Or human doings? You decide.