Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Merry Xmas


I suppose many people are looking forward to this time of the year, where it is the time for celebration, time for love or whatsoever. I used to, as well because i too, like many people feel like it feels so good if someone is around to share your love, that sort of thing.





But no longer. Maybe i am not a Christian or an ang moh. Maybe i am at ease with the fact that i am single and loving it. To me, this time of the year is just a good time for me to stay at home.





Anyway, not important. Went shopping today. And my mind was doing some serious pondering while doing shopping.





I went to Carrefour to buy something this afternoon. Went to the cashier to pay for my purchases and i realised the cashier was a China lady. Nothing special to all, but it hit me out of a sudden that the China workers doing many of our jobs. This is probably not surprising to many, but quite a scary thought if you think deeper.





A couple of years ago, we brushed the Chinese off that they are doing jobs which we the locals do not want to take up, could be too tough or jobs that do not require qualifications. It was probably true few years ago, but the situation has changed drastically since then. Many Chinese are doing jobs in direct competition with us the locals. It just goes to show that the Chinese are moving up the job value chain rapidly.





We used to boast that Singaporeans are effectively bilingual in English and Chinese, but heed this warning: We are losing this competitive edge rapidly. Because the Chinese are learning English and bend on learning it well. And our English is not the perfect English that the English speak and our Chinese is half past six.





What is the lesson to be learnt? Not to be complacent and constantly pushing ourselves to differentiate from others. A third language is probably needed ( i am thinking of learning as well) and learn new skills fast. To the young ppl who have yet to enter the job market, get internships, traineeships and what ever ships u can during the holidays.





To draw an analogy, if we are doing a 2.4km route, Singaporeans are running at 10km/hour but The Chinese are running at 15 or 20 km/hour.





To my dismay, many of us are actually complacent with our current situation, because we are living so comfortably, drawing a salary 3-4k from our job. Many youths are worse, living a life too good for them. Spending money as if we have endless money in our bank. No good i must say





It took us 200 years to reach this stage of development, it will only take 20 years to wipe out everything if we remain complacent.





On a side note, shopping was ok, walked a fair bit today and a Massimo Dutti shirt







$80. Rather expensive, but hopefully it will spur me on for my work.

On a random note, I am starting to think of my resolutions for 2008. I never used to feel the need to list down what i want to achieve for a new year. Guess i should do so because i am visual person. Seeing the list can push me ahead