Faith in Humanity

I was taking a walk along Orchard Road outside Takashimaya with my mum at around 9pm on Sunday night when an elderly man and an even more elderly lady who had difficulty walking approached us and asked us whether we could buy them dinner.

We brought them to the side and asked them to sit down and wait for us while we went downstairs to buy them dinner. We took probably around 10-15 minutes. When we went up, they were not there anymore.

I said a prayer at that instant, praying that hopefully some kind soul brought them somewhere else for dinner. I guess the elderly pair thought that we were insincere in helping them and had no intention of buying them food, but were just trying to run away. On hindsight, one of us should have stayed to accompany the couple, while the other one of us went down to buy food. But it begs the question, has the pair been disappointed and rejected so many times by the endless passer-bys streaming past them the entire evening, that they have no more faith left in humanity?

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极吸引 (Yeah Show 2010 主题曲)
曲词：西伯
主唱：关心妍

凭信我祷告 奉靠主的名
奇妙救恩 驱走黑暗 光照了內心
让我心学会知足安份
至高的神 成為我指引

神赐我救恩 令人心內兴奋
前我会费心地上的珍宝 今我再无牽引
今天我靠着神 虛空苦涩尽变感恩
唯独祢恩典永在永吸引

此刻发现祢的恩典更深 重投入祢的怜悯
看祢十架所伤过伤痕 为我死 更新我心
此心跃动 这生已沒遺憾 神同在擦干泪印
任世间再多称得上福份 难以相比主爱极吸引

Breasts

And after a dismal afternoon waiting for an opportunity to observe how a mammography is performed, it makes me question, why are breasts considered private parts? It is the one big reason why it is so difficult for male medical students to observe the procedure.

Well, I always wondered why females should have an 'additional' part to be considered private part. It is fair that both the female and male genitals are considered private; my guess would be it probably originating from the first sin in Genesis 3. I read through Genesis 3 again to look for any evidence.

"He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.""(Gen 3:10)
"The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." (Gen 3:22)

Actually there is no mention of the extent God clothed Adam and Eve, so all that we picture about leafs covering both their privates were probably an influence of European Renaissance art, which also happen to feature breasts in full view, most of the time.



Back to the question: So why are breasts 'private'? My guess is now probably because breasts can be viewed as sexual 'objects', to be desired by men.

"May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer -
may her breasts satisfy you always
may you ever be captivated be her love." (Proverbs 5:18-19)

In the context of Proverbs 5 warning against adultery, the 'satisfaction' derived from a wife's breasts should refer to a pure intimacy and desire of a wife's total being within the union of marriage. But as we all know very well, with news articles of rape every other day, man is not born pure and this desire has been perversed (if there's such a word). And so probably, breasts may be best kept private to protect women from being victims of crime and to protect men from being tempted to sin (or does it really?)

But still, calling to all females out there, if 'exposing' your breasts can facilitate a medical student's learning, I would appeal to you to consent. Not that I'm saying observing a mammography will make a student the best breast surgeon in Singapore, but it is part of the learning of the entire process of how the imaging is done before the report gets back to the surgeon. And it is not like medical students camp in the mammography clinic everyday to observe 1000 mammographies. We've got better things to do and spend our time on. My last point is, God gave you breasts, so protect them well, but be proud of it. 'Feeling uncomfortable' is not the best reason to reject a student when we are not even asking consent to touch your breasts, but to observe the procedure of a mammography - not even to observe your breasts per se. And it's not like there are 100 medical students observing your mammography. It's usually 1, at most 2, so what's there to be embarrased about? But this point probably has the least credance, simply because I'm not a woman.

For all you know, the next GP who sees you in the clinic may miss a lump in your breast while doing a clinical breast examination for you, because he has simply laid his hands on and palpated less than 3 breasts in his entire medical school training. Yea there are models and everything, but they hardly come close to what breast lumps in reality may feel like. And if you ask, "Why should I be the one to consent?" Then think about the consequence if every single woman thinks this way.

We Sing Praises To Your Name

One of my favourite songs I listen to while running.

There's so much I want to do after I graduate with a medical degree. Theology. Law. Music. Will I ever get to complete all of them?

I want to conduct an orchestra someday.

Do Not Resuscitate

Well. Not really. DNR = Diagnostic Radiology.

And so ends my 1 week break and begins my 1 week posting to Changi, standing on the MRT from Clementi to Simei every morning. I try to make use of my time by reading. Newspapers are a nuisance on a packed train so I tried The Confessions of St. Augustine. It probably wouldn't be an easy read, but perhaps I was just too tired (I fell asleep 3 times in a span of less than 3 minutes while working on a Sudoku puzzle the previous night), I took 20 minutes just to get through the foreword and introduction while fighting to keep awake.

BSF intro class left me with quite a bit of expectations for the study on Isaiah next year. Really looking forward to it.

Time for a run to train for my first day marathon. And to lose some of those pounds.

God Knows My Way

Be still my soul, God knows your way
And He will guide, for His namesake
Plunge in the rivers of His grace
Rest in the arms of His embrace

爱，转动

爱，转动
张信哲，庾澄庆



送一束鲜花想很久　不知道她会不会接受
猜想女人心思　凭运气不够　追求真爱就要勇敢行动
只有爱让世界不停转动
鼓起勇气把爱说出口　却总学不会察言观色
拿捏女人情绪　凭热情不够
追求真爱就要勇敢行动　只有爱让世界不停转动
真情流露也要体贴温柔　只有爱让世界不停转动
总是把仅有（的）骄傲　轻易的交在她的手中
凭什么理由　我也说不出口
总是对感情（太）沉默　到现在我还是没把握
付出　等待　收获
爱人或被爱很难抉择　我只想勇敢大步走
面对两人生活　凭爱够不够
追求真爱就要勇敢行动　只有爱让世界不停转动
真情流露也要体贴温柔　只有爱让世界不停转动

失去、遗憾、珍惜

Perhaps the recent spate of deaths have caused many people to think. Just to share a few quotes which I picked out from my friends' Facebook statuses. I apologise for not seeking permission and consent before sharing it here, but I figure since it's on Facebook anyway, the owners of these quotes will not mind. (:

"Many a times we take things for granted, thinking it will be there for eternity next to us. Only when it's gone, do we then miss it and in some cases wished we treasured it more. Treasure the present, if not history will treasure it for life."

" 那天看电视剧听到的。。。每个人的一生，总会有机会，认识到很相似的三胞胎，首先多数是遇到“失去”，然后就知道“愦憾”什么？到最后你才有机会认识到“珍惜”"

Why?

And there comes a point in time when one just breaks down and asks, "God, why?"

And when the tears finally dry up, one finds that nothing has really changed.

Love and Marriage

"You either have the Western view: You marry the woman you love. Or the Eastern view: You love the woman you marry. I tried to match both and I think it wasn't a bad choice." - MM Lee on a life partner.

Death II

I have previously written a post on Death - that post, which was dated 11th Oct 2009, was nearly one year ago. And after almost an entire year, many things have changed, some things have not. Some things move along in life, whether you like it or not, even if you'd really want it to freeze in time. Some things go around in circles, seemingly making progress but in the end, it makes you wonder whether you've always been at square one, save to mention whether you're back at square one (assuming that you have once moved away from it). It has been a gloomy week. Besides some personal issues which I've had to grapple with over the past week, 3 'notable' deaths this week caught my attention. I don't know any of these 3 people personally, but even in their passing, some thoughts came to mind.

The first passing-away was Dr. Balaji Sadasivan, a neurosurgeon who became a Member of Parliament and Senior Minister of State. I don't really know much about him or even his contributions, all I know is that he gave up his practice as one of the best local neurosurgeons to serve the people and the nation. But what really touched me was this comment by 2 10-year old boys after his passing,

"We want to see him for the last time. I am very sad because he was a great man, a good MP. I want to be a doctor and an MP like him when I grow up."

I was on the bus when I read this report, and for a moment I could feel tears about to well up. It made me wonder whether I will ever hear these words from someone who will want to be like me because I'm a good doctor who has made a difference in someone's life, because my testimony has brought someone to Christ. Will I inspire someone to aspire to become a doctor? Will someone come to Christ because of me? Will someone want to become a mentor to others because I've been a mentor to them? Although God holds the future for me, I do not know the time of my passing. It could very well be tomorrow, or even immediately after I finish this post. Will people aspire to be like me, because I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith whenever God calls me home?

The second passing was that of Mdm Kwa Geok Choo, or better known as Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. There has been a recent spate of articles and interviews which gave the public an insight of the marriage of the Minister Mentor and his wife. An article online was titled "Wife, Confidante, Lawyer, Mother". And I was thinking, MM Lee was indeed a fortunate man - 61 years of happiness, in his own words. What more can a man ask for - to be able to marry someone who would walk with you for an entire life, as a pillar of support in all that you do?

Entering a relationship, save to say marriage, is probably one of the most difficult decisions for people who take relationships seriously to make. Life as an individual may probably be complicated enough, what more two people? We may hope that the perfect match is out there somewhere and will appear at sometime; we may want to be almost 100% certain that "This is the one!" before we really commit. But whatever we hope for, it certainly requires a leap of faith - to be able to trust this person to make good on his/her commitment to you, to be able to believe that this person to keep his/her promises to you, to be able to discover and know this person for who he/she really is, but more importantly to be able to give him/her the opportunity to fulfill the above.

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable." - C.S. Lewis

The third passing was that of Ms. Tan Mingwei, a Singaporean third-year medical undergraduate at Cambridge who was killed in a London hit-and-run crash. By no fault of her own, her existence on this Earth has come to an abrupt end. From her picture on the front page, she was a pretty lady, probably a jovial person who brought joy to others. I asked myself, if it was me, would I leave this world with any regrets? Regrets, different from 'things-I-would-want-to-do'. There are a million and one things that I would like to do. But regrets, things that I could have done but I did not. Things that I could have said but did not.

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. - Sydney J. Harris