This Boy

The 'youngest headmaster in the world'

When the poor will go to these lengths to learn, whilst the rich constantly whine about having to study, you know that calling the poor "uneducated" will only make you a fool.

It also makes government funding for private schools unjustifiable. And if the Labor government is doing that, maybe it's time for my vote to go to the communist party.

Now kids, stop blogging or tweeting about how much you don't want to go to school.


TY

The Man In Me

Inspirational article

Highly recommended. Please read.

Now, stop whining about how fucked up your life is and do the world some good.

TY

Heal The World

I am not a part of Generation X. I am a part Generation Y. Hence Michael Jackson wasn't exactly a staple of my generation. But which kid who grew up in the 90s and 00s and had access to TV and the internet would never have heard of Michael Jackson, the Moonwalk, or seen the music video of Thriller? He isn't the main course in my childhood culture but he certainly was there. Ever present. Kids in school imitated his dance moves, his music would come on the radio and, who could've missed the allegations against him, not once, but twice?

But there was something more important, something worth more publicity, about Michael Jackson, that many never knew. His altruism. If altruism exist, it was Michael Jackson.

It wasn't until the events of late stirred me to read up about Michael Jackson that I discovered this charitable side of him.He had done so much for the greater good of humanity that I don't know where to start.

Firstly, his music. Humanity and human suffering have constantly been a prominent feature of his music. How many pop stars sing about the state of the world more than they do love songs that rarely mean anything? His efforts in the production of We Are The World had a profound impact in promoting awareness, perhaps rivaled only by Bob Geldof's Do They Know It's Christmas. Man In the Mirror, Heal The World and Beat It were all inspirational.

Secondly, his charitable donations. Michael Jackson was inducted into the Guiness Book of World Record in 2000 for the "most charities supported by a pop star". How many can claim that accolade? Only one. Many of those charities were at the verge of collapsing when he helped them. On top of that, in 1992, despite allegations against him, he staged the Dangerous World Tour, where all profits from the tour were donated to charity. All. He played 69 shows around the world, often requiring painkillers to get through them, all for charity. How many pop stars have done that? More importantly, how many will? I hope more will be inspired by him to do so.

Additionally, he founded the Heal The World Foundation. His aim was to heal the world, one person at a time. Needless to say, the 2003 allegations against him caused the foundation to take beating. It lost its tax exempt status, and its operations grind to a halt. However, as of 2008, the foundation has undergone restructuring and is now back. Jackson's untimely death would no doubt be a bump in the foundation's road to recovery, but let's hope it can continue his legacy.

Besides that, he has done numerous other good deeds. He often voiced out on issues concerning humanity, he bridged racial barriers, he visited hospitals and underprivileged homes. He truly gave humanity all he had.

Here is one man. Perhaps the greatest entertainer ever lived. He loved performing. Not for the money, but for the fans. A dancer and a musician whose talents are almost unrivaled. Every time he was knocked down, he came back up. The This Is It tour was to be yet another evidence of that. But above all, one man who gave everything he had for humanity. A man who had a dream, a dream to Heal The World. The world did not only lose the greatest pop star ever, but lost one of the greatest humanitarian to have graced the earth. Here's to hoping his legacy carries on. Let's start with the Man In The Mirror.


TY


As an aside, I thought the memorial yesterday was a very fitting farewell. Perhaps the most apt among the words by friends and families were those of Sharpton, to Jackson's kids.
"There were nothing strange about your daddy, it was strangeness that your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it."

Shine A Light

PARIS HILTON'S LATEST STUNT!!!

Oh My God! Like so Totally Hot!



Hah, suckers! I bet I had 2 extra clicks on that link than I usually would get thanks to my "stunt".

Good article though, Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, writes brilliantly about what I've tried unsuccessfully to write about in more than a 100 posts now.

You really shouldn't blame your boyfriend for treating you as an "object" rather than a person if you idolise Paris Hilton.

Hopefully she turned up on time for the New Year's countdown. I don't think there were many Sydneysiders sober enough to accompany her for the countdown to the first 1am in 2009.

Anyway, I haven't been writing in a while because I didn't have anything to write about. Lately I've been doing lots of reading and watching lots of DVDs, and that's about it. I'd like to mention one book in particular though, as it brings a glimmer of hope back to humanity, despite the world being dominated by people like Paris Hilton. It's aptly titled too.

The Hospital by The River : A Story of Hope

by Catherine Hamlin

Here's the Amazon page.

If you're lazy enough to click on that, it's a story about a husband and wife, both gynaecologists, that took up a job in Ethiopia back in the 50s, and eventually staying on there and establishing the world's first Fistula Hospital. It is an entirely free hospital that is sustained mostly by donations.

The first few chapters are rather boring but once they get to Ethiopia, the story was just amazing. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Africa, especially Ethiopia, as it does have quite a bit about Ethiopia in general and life over there, not just about the hospital.

In other news, I have been considering starting another blog. Not to replace this one, but in addition to this. To write perhaps, about my academic life. But so far the decision is leaning more towards "no", as I feel selfish occupying a blog address for one post a year - hardly anything interesting about molecules and bacterias.

Anyway, the blog title comes from a song of The Rolling Stones, which is also the title of a Martin Scorsese film that follows a gig of The Rolling Stones' themselves in 2006. Truly amazing film/gig. I ought to dedicate an entire post to one of the greatest Rock N' Roll bands of all time sometime soon.


TY

Do They Know It's Christmas?

I forgot to leave you with this song at the end of the last post. I intended to. So here it is. 3rd post today.

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?




TY