The Taximan’s Story by Catherine Lim

The significant thing about this story is that how a taxi man was able to share something of his stories to a passenger for the entire journey as if it was already his life to entertain them until the passenger reaches their destination. He compared Singapore as to how it was then and the now. Singapore definitely is a country that has many people with different culture and race coming in and out of the country therefore it is a tourist destination whether domestic or international travels are happening every year. The taxi man mentioned about Singapore’s family planning. This was due to their population wherein the government has to implement a scheme for families and provide incentives so that the country would boost and be more encouraged to have more babies. The fact that it was really encouraged was how Singapore was worried that they have older generation and middle-age generation than younger generation. It can greatly affect the society’s imbalance in population because then the elderly would have to fend for themselves and that leaves the society to have problems producing more people in the workforce in the future.

This is still continuing in Singapore, there are more elderly that can mean a greater chance of decrease in population and lesser younger generation because more and more people are focused on their careers in which the people would rather choose to marry at their early or late 30s – thus, fewer babies born each year. The solution to Singapore’s problem would be tourism industry and talented workers from another country so that there is still a sector that can further provide solution to boost the economy. With that being said, Singapore focusing now more on integrated resorts or tourism industry and talented foreign workers coming in for job opportunities, many are influenced and exposed now to different cultures and practices.

A Dill Pickle by Katherine Mansfield

First and foremost, I believe that a dill pickle has highlighted how a woman may have encountered at one point in their life a man can be insensitive to things, particularly the feelings of others. This story tells that the author’s opinion has something to do with feminism. Empowering women to stand up when they are not treated well in the society as the man in the story has been generalized. Most often than not, men in the society can manipulate anyone with persuasion and sweet-nothings which is also an advantage because they have control of what is going on – more or less. However, that is where the man in the story, is not even observant enough to know that women or Vera in the society are also able capable of thinking for themselves without the manipulation from their flowery words. I think it varies with our gender as well in terms of our sensitivity. In the story, the man merely wanted to share the stories to Vera enthusiastically but the thing was how come Vera did not even had the sense to interrupt him to say that he has been really self-engrossed with his life that he forgot to ask about her life. I guess it might have been that Vera was indeed respectful towards the man despite him being such a self-centered person and overall I truly appreciate her disciplined upbringing.

Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker

In my opinion, the title itself illustrates how people may perceive real beauty. Everyone might even call someone’s voice beautiful. Beauty is about being unique, standing up for what is right and basically the person is simply different that makes him all the more appreciated and respected even. If beauty is found within us, then it will create and inspire others which will reflect how life seems to be a beautiful experience too.

Linking the story to real life situations is of course a matter of choice of how an individual will really look within themselves and examine their lives. Definitely, a great purpose and opportunities will come their way. When I was young, I ought to imitate a well-known and pretty classmate because I thought her beauty would turn me to be smarter than her, it turns out it was not the way to make myself look beautiful in the eyes of people but instead through simple kindness will do. Even saying ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart will be greatly appreciated and that will then reflect how thankful I really am for the privileges I have in this life.

In conclusion, I personally think it is best if an individual will know themselves their strengths and weakness. I have learned that maintaining to be beautiful physically for people is not competition but even simple beauty reflects from what is invisible to others and have it felt way more than what the eyes can see.

Old Mrs. Grey by Virginia Woolf

Putting myself in the shoes of Mrs. Grey, I wish to have not dwelled on the negative things that kept happening even to the point where my life is about to reach the finishing line as truly indeed life is short.

In my opinion, I would have wondered why my life went downhill as I grow older maybe I did not choose anyone to be my confidant. I rather spent my days with books and maybe I should have learned about going spending alone time to enjoy my own company. By the time I reach the old age, there can be a reserved love just for myself from the days I have learnt to appreciate the little things in life like being able to know myself given to me as this is a blessing.

Another thing about being alone between my final days is the fact that it can get you to be depressed about a lot of things. The sufferings of having to wait for so long when do I get a chance of peace, I would also ask why after all I have gone through life, as it was in the way I know.

To summarize, in my opinion, the bottom line of Old Mrs. Grey story is to highlight that life is short. However short it is, learn to do and hold on to things which will lasts a lifetime. If possible, stick to the happiness you feel in the present and never take it for granted because happiness can be temporary in this called life.

Araby by James Joyce

In my perspective, Joyce’s Araby left an impact of how the society in Dublin portraying their culture. The setting described the environment with heavy religious influences right at the beginning had me wondered about the Protestant-Catholic conflict that happened in Northern Ireland. The people of Ireland had long history of suffering, suppression and poverty. The story illustrated how the protagonist diverted his attention to Mangan’s sister and from there it can be viewed that it was his ignorance to reality and perhaps an escape from the real world. From this experience, the protagonist slowly progressed to become matured and developed to think independently for himself. To end this off, I like the Araby bazaar concept that the love portrayed of buying gifts may just as well satisfy our selfish motives instead of being truly genuine towards the person.

Is graffiti a form of art?

Take a quick glance at the table in front of you. Has it been vandalized? You might ask yourself that if vandalism is illegal then what makes that of graffiti an art? The term graffiti comes from the Greek word graphein, which means, “to write”. It is unsightly damage or vandalism done without permission and it is against the law. However, it is also considered a form of expression painted illicitly on a wall that any passerby in an urban cityscape can still appreciate. These observations that graffiti is still art because of visual aesthetics, graffiti subculture and love declarations.

Graffiti, at a first glance may be unsightly to look at but for some with aesthetic experience with the kind of visual art that graffiti for them would meaningfully be pleasing appearance of a painting. This implies that the gist of a painting/graffiti art lies with discipline through understanding emotional experience given by the first visual encounter with it.

The Price of Inequality by Joseph E. Stiglitz

‘Success at one moment of time does not guarantee success at later dates.’

Back then I thought when someone tells you good luck, you already have all the luck that you may need at that particular point in your life. When actually it means you are the luck you need instead of leaning towards the luck per se. Who here has the ability that you can predict the future and that you can prove you will be successful without doing anything in your life because you are most likely to end up wealthy and prosperous anyway? No one can tell for certain about the success that will come our paths because along the way success comes understanding hardship do we know our true capabilities such as our strengths and weaknesses.

To understand hardship, you do not have to go through such extreme and severe situations where one is tortured or may be suffering from any kind of illnesses. Hardship can simply be the challenges that you face in your current life. The experience of not being able to cope in my studies has affected my sleeping patterns in the past few days. The continuous school days that included Sunday makes me discouraged to attend some of my classes. It has been tough as this clearly affects the right decisions I make in life. I was not able to look into the positive side that this was an opportunity for me to embrace the experience that such is inevitable in the future as I enter the workforce. This utterly made me look into a new perspective to appreciate and treasure the time I am given as I’m still a student.