Thursday, June 01, 2006
The World Cup is taking the world by storm again. And with it comes the bets on soccer matches,
possible addictions to gambling and
mindless pursuits of easy money. Now,I'm not going to delve into the issue of football gambling or the World Cup, but rather on something that has always been true since the existence of human beings.
Since Day 1, there has always been wants and the pursuit of material wealth, power and fame. And of course the more noble pursuit of knowledge which has led to science, technology and inventions.
In order for man to satisfy his wants, he would go about searching and racking his brains and coming up with solutions accordingly,
much in a question-and-answer manner. But since humans are not perfect, the solutions they come up with work to varying extents or in other words, are all naturally flawed to varying extents. However, this is not our fault as very often these are already the best solutions that we could offer so far.
Yet however, and inevitably, there would be drawbacks(or flaws) to those solutions, and consequentially there would also be those people who are sacrificed in the various pursuits:
The discovery of alcohol and tobacco and the want of getting satisfaction from drinking and smoking has led to people getting 'high' or reprieve from their troubles but also people dying from liver cirrhossis and lung-cancer;
the propagation of gambling has led to wealth for some but left many bankrupt and tore apart happy families;
the pursuit of wealth, fame and power has led to many successful people and perhaps more backstabbing, boot-licking, corruption and miserable people who had suffered the tyrannies of those who misuse their power;
the invention of automobiles and aircraft no doubt has brought about convenience, globalisation and new frontiers but may I ask how many accidents have already happened and how many have been killed in the process to date?
Surely someone in this world has to suffer in the process of these pursuits and technological advancements (also a pursuit-- the pursuit of knowledge). I'm not saying that we should stop having these pursuits now. I'm merely stating a fact, which sadly means that some of our counterparts in this world would be sacrificed in the process of pursuing these material or immaterial wants. There would always be the ones who emerge winning, but there are also those who unfortunately fall out in the process.
So, as you enjoy your fruits of labour, the prizes from your pursuits, please do not forget about those who have been sacrificed in the process, those who shared the same dreams as you but could not make it with you through the whole journey.
Posted by charles at 10:06 PM