http://www.rd.com/content/wealthy-couple-helps-inner-city-kids-succeed/
In other countries, there have been many cases of broken families and it is always the children who suffer the most. They do not receive the proper love and care, and might grow up mixing with bad company. Fortunately, there are also children from broken families who grow up happily and this article tells the story of how a group of boys who come from disoriented families became a part of a big, wholesome family. The two proud parents of this family are Michael and Leslie Rosen and every one of the boys confesses in this story that without those two, they would never have a proper education and life.
I chose this article because it was such a heart-warming one and when I read it, I was really happy that there was such goodness somewhere out there in the world. Almost every adult tells me of the perils and dangers lurking in the modern society, and that our world is now an “every man for himself” one. But this story seems to alleviate the harshness of our world and The Rosens had no obligation to help the boys at all, yet they did so without hesitation. I admire them for being able to bring together seven boys of different ethnic races and help them progress into life happily. The most respectful part was that they were actually happy to do so.
I feel that the other most essential thing that this article shows is the importance of relationships. In Singapore, life seems to be so fast-paced that so many people are forgetting about relationships. Work always comes first before spending quality time with our family. It is our family who support us all the time but instead we forget about them all the time. The student who would rather spend his time hanging out with friends or playing computer games than be with his family. The working person who does not find time to visit his parents. Are these not prime examples of us neglecting our families? Must we wait till we are all old and shriveled and our children do not want to spend time with us before we start regretting?
I personally am guilty of not wanting to be with my family sometimes, but somehow, reading this story has changed my views a bit. I took my family for granted but these boys in the story did not even have a proper family. It was like a dream come true when the Rosens treated them like an extended part of their family. It seems that many of us do not realise the seriousness of not having a proper family, and so we become complacent and nonchalant about our family.
In a way, I actually envy the Rosens and their extended family. They could click together so well and were so bonded as a family. Perhaps it’s because the boys understood the pains of growing up without proper love and care from a family, so they treasured this relationship so much. (503 words)
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Who are the beasts now?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/6566935.stm
Dog fighting is a sport that was banned a long time ago, but has persisted till today. These dogs do not fight with rules or regulations; rather they are trained to comply with one simple rule: tear the opponent apart. It is the aggressive and dangerous nature of this sport that precisely got it banned in the first place, but sadly, there has been a recent increase in dog fighting, as stated in the article. The article also mentions that dog fighting mainly appeals to insecure people as it gives them a sense of power and control. These dog fighters are not even treating the dogs as living things but as mere tools to satisfy their pleasures and needs. These poor dogs are treated poorly and their only existence is to kill other dogs or they will be killed. It is totally wrong that these people are venting their frustrations over failures on dogs that are completely innocent. The dog fighters mainly feel insignificant in their lives because of how others treat them like failures, but yet they do not try to prove themselves. Instead they just resort to throwing all their anger at dogs that cannot fight back. Everyone else will still treat them like failures. They do not realise that what they are doing only worsens matters as not only are they not proving their worth, they are getting trapped in a false illusion of power and control by torturing the dogs.
Even when the dogs are badly injured, the dog fighters still relish in pushing them harder and feel no remorse over killing them. This control over the dogs is not a form of power, but rather, it shows a perverse nature. Anyone can exhibit that form of control over the dogs but they do not, and I feel that this best shows that being able to control the dogs does not mean having real power. The dog fighters have to understand that this control that they have over the dogs can never exist in the human society because humans are smarter and know how to fight back. The dog fighters are acting like as if they are very much above the dogs, but they are acting more like beasts than the dogs will ever be. They even use the dogs as means to help them earn money, not caring about their deaths at all.
But, in a way, I think I can also relate a bit to how the dog fighters are feeling. They turn to dog fighting to cover up their insecurities mainly because their human counterparts look down on them. They just want to prove themselves but just do not possess the correct ideas to do so. I am sure that many have also experienced these feelings of frustration before, but they just resolved to prove that they were not useless. Thus, the dog fighters have no right to inflict their emotional pain onto the dogs physically.
(492 words)
Dog fighting is a sport that was banned a long time ago, but has persisted till today. These dogs do not fight with rules or regulations; rather they are trained to comply with one simple rule: tear the opponent apart. It is the aggressive and dangerous nature of this sport that precisely got it banned in the first place, but sadly, there has been a recent increase in dog fighting, as stated in the article. The article also mentions that dog fighting mainly appeals to insecure people as it gives them a sense of power and control. These dog fighters are not even treating the dogs as living things but as mere tools to satisfy their pleasures and needs. These poor dogs are treated poorly and their only existence is to kill other dogs or they will be killed. It is totally wrong that these people are venting their frustrations over failures on dogs that are completely innocent. The dog fighters mainly feel insignificant in their lives because of how others treat them like failures, but yet they do not try to prove themselves. Instead they just resort to throwing all their anger at dogs that cannot fight back. Everyone else will still treat them like failures. They do not realise that what they are doing only worsens matters as not only are they not proving their worth, they are getting trapped in a false illusion of power and control by torturing the dogs.
Even when the dogs are badly injured, the dog fighters still relish in pushing them harder and feel no remorse over killing them. This control over the dogs is not a form of power, but rather, it shows a perverse nature. Anyone can exhibit that form of control over the dogs but they do not, and I feel that this best shows that being able to control the dogs does not mean having real power. The dog fighters have to understand that this control that they have over the dogs can never exist in the human society because humans are smarter and know how to fight back. The dog fighters are acting like as if they are very much above the dogs, but they are acting more like beasts than the dogs will ever be. They even use the dogs as means to help them earn money, not caring about their deaths at all.
But, in a way, I think I can also relate a bit to how the dog fighters are feeling. They turn to dog fighting to cover up their insecurities mainly because their human counterparts look down on them. They just want to prove themselves but just do not possess the correct ideas to do so. I am sure that many have also experienced these feelings of frustration before, but they just resolved to prove that they were not useless. Thus, the dog fighters have no right to inflict their emotional pain onto the dogs physically.
(492 words)
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