And the Earth Moves On

 Wild boars are seen more on the streets of Hong Kong, so long dominated by densely populated humans.  We are asked to share the road, but it reminds me of we also being required to share the environment with fauna. It is also their space. The Earth moves on. 

The smallest island nations are crying out for help as sea levels rise, truly threatening their essentially flat and coastal community existence.   Others find their primary assets, the bounty of the oceans, have been depleted not from their fishing activities, but by the swooping harvests of large efficient trawlers coming  from beyond their shores.  The Earth rotates on. 

For public health reasons, more  disposable face masks and plastic containers have significantly risen in use since 2019.  The problem may not be in their manufacture and usage, but more in how they are disposed, choking our waterways and sealife.  The Oceans continue to move. 

Disposability can be the underlying reason for creating the mountains of trash in human society.  Commercialism and global market forces have created an over the top mentality that there is always a better model and design for the same useful product we use at home, at work, at sports and in our regime of daily life.    Technology can make wholesome and still working  systems, devices and goods seem defunct.   We are brainwashed perhaps to buy more and more, escalated by the likes of Black Friday sales, festive occasions that can lose their true meaning and software that does not allow upgrades on old devices.   The Earth moves on. 

The art of civillised debate has been hijacked by the quickness of electronic information, polarisation of beliefs and the hyping of divisive noise preferred over the sharing of common values.  The clouds and wind still blow on. 

The world has enough resources, supplies and resilience in bouncing back.  The issues that separate societies and economies arise from uneven and miscontrolled distribution.   They can be knowledge, food or technology.  The Earth moves on. 

The inability to change mindsets, whether personally or in groups, can be the most challenging risk, an impediment to potential growth.   Nations cling on to the modus operandi of what made them great in the past.  Other nations which continue to develop threaten the status quo on the international stage.  Dynamic tensions occur and cause the noise of politics and relationships between key nations.  The Earth keeps on rotating. 

What is meaningful freedom, truthfulness and ability to counter their manipulation, continues to haunt the day to day lives of citizens and the way they are governed.  There can be layers of hidden forces sponsoring and pulling the strings behind governments.  What the powers that rule say in public and actually do behind doors can be so different.  The Earth continues to evolve. 

The integrity and professionalism of several things, each of us truly

respected in awe, when we were growing up, have changed in character.  Everyone of us can sense that some sectors have abandoned the focus on the customer and shifted their loyalties to someone or some where else.  The masses continue to grow. 

The deciduous flora still shed their leaves in winter.   We still hunger for a thing that is repeatedly reminded to us, appealing to our base desires.  I still enjoy the fresh air outdoors, gasping away from the cloud of distractions and delusions being fed to and increasingly recognised by me in a declared pandemic.  Our sensibilities can naturally shut off when we are subject to an endless parody of incredulous displays of wool being pulled over our eyes.  The Earth still moves on. 

The night is still at home.  It can be a pleasure bumping unexpectedly into lovely friends we have missed.  It can be invigorating when strangers pick up a smile or hello in the local village.  We feel the healthy flow of adrenalin after doing our favourite sport.   I have my nose twitching from the welcome earthy aromas from the bark of a sturdy tree up the slope in the neighbourhood.   We get inspiration from the people we love.  And the Earth still moves on. 

#yongkevthoughts

I Choose to Be Happy

Letting ourselves choose to be happy..... I can hear the pitter patter of an increasingly heavy rain downpour. Now, in the hour after sunset, nestled between the hills to the west and the ocean to the east. I choose to smell the refreshing moisture in the air. I choose to slowly unfurl at this hour to close the day. Soaking in water reinvigorates the body. I choose to anticipate the toast I am having for breakfast, uhm, tomorrow. I choose what uplifts me. I relish in getting my body break in sweat running up that hill - or soaking in the salty winds along the beach. I put my fingers to run over the bark of stately trees that stand like a sentinel of a friend looking over me - or breathe in the oxygen exuded by leaves as they make their chlorophyll. Tucked in bed, in a totally darkened space, my eyes look at the emerging stars across our Great Southern Sky. There is a lack of reflected artificial light, so the Universe up there becomes so much easier to discern and enjoy a view of. I choose to make more sense of all the episodes and incidents paraded in society, to find a more meaningful thread to explain such things. I choose to recognise causes rather than symptoms. I choose to ride on beneficial outcomes out from roadblocks and irritations, no matter how big or small they are. For example, looking for a safety pin made me more organised as to where to easily find a stand by first aid pack. Movement restrictions imposed by authorities made me more focused and less distracted. Misinformation led me to realise the truth. What looked like deprivation, disrespect and dissolution initially can lead to true personal liberation. I choose to see what can be, rather than what cannot. I choose to laugh, even if I may hurt. I choose to understand, even if there is nothing to start with. I choose to try. I choose to continue, towards where I want to go. I choose to go forward. I choose to continue heading to where I am meant for.

The Arrival of Omicron

With the arrival of another C19 mutation, Omicron, it looks like an increasing case of deja vu. Flight arrivals from the first hotspot nations are banned. There is a dearth of knowledge amongst experts, bureaucrats and politicians on how a new mutation will play out. Infections are confirmed amongst individuals who arrived from hotspot nations, but they arrived before any arrival bans. Such individuals had total freedom of movement when they visited what are now called exposure spots in the local community, before feeling unwell and testing positive. Will there be breaches at the control points of disembarkation and quarantine accommodation? Citizens and PRs of destination countries, coming from hotspot nations, are isolated for 14 days after arrival, but we are no longer told where exactly they are quarantined. The word "hotels" is no longer mentioned. The playbook in response by authorities looks amazingly familiar. After two years, there are seemingly no new ideas, except perhaps to take comfort in a high population percentage who have offered to be jabbed seemingly three times within 12 months. The first reaction upon hearing the arrival of Omicron is to promote booster shots. The difference this time, is significantly, that most nations tell their denizens that they have to live with the Coronavirus, so that the economy can bounce back. Even when air travel is opened up more than ever, the range of process just to get on a commercial aircraft to a foreign destination and return to the home country - testing, insurance and more - can be a most inconvenient one. The biggest challenge to us as individuals is the potential growth in uncertainty, just when our mindsets and expectations have moved to more certainty. Not again! is my first thought. Once the proverbial cockroach breaches our international border sentries, authorities have to decide whether the old regime of mass testing, varying levels of lockdowns, scanning QR codes, face masking, ensuring social distancing, hospitalisations and the lot - are back in force, or do they have to come up with more innovative approaches? Unsavoury authorities can still continue to hide behind the excuse of Omicron to implement more of their dark agendas - hopefully not. Are we facing a scenario of accepting more infections, downplaying specific risks, allowing more personal freedoms and deemphasising the collateral damage to society and individuals? The arrival of Omicron and the intent of many governments to want us to learn to live with Delta and any future mutations, now dovetails to a critical stage. Not enough is known about Omicron today, so will it fizzle out to nothing or will it step up the complexity for us and our rulers? #yongkevthoughts

October 2021 - Singapore Embraces Covid

 

In transition between different and significant approaches in managing Covid, Singapore is at the cross roads. The journey so far for Europe is swinging from lockdowns to freedom and now back to lockdowns. No economy can endure lockdowns on and off, especially for one like Singapore, but the question is "at what price?". Here are key quotes from a televised address by the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien-loong, to his nation on 3 October 2021. "Singapore cannot stay locked down indefinitely." "We are shifting to home recovery" "No more complicated flow charts." "Knowing what to do makes Covid not a scary disease." "Sooner or later, everyone of us will meet the virus." "Keeping connected to supply chains will help ensure Singapore's hub status." "We must ensure for Singapore's health systen and health workers, which is our last line of defence." "We must be our nation's first line of defence, to help protect our health system." "We may yet have to tap on the brakes, in order not to free up too fast." "How will we know when we have arrived at the New Normal?"

We Need Less Uncertainty and More Proactive Action

What each of us, and our society, business and mental health needs most of all, is more certainty - all across the world. The way public health and epidemic control, in the past 2 years or so, has been handled can be abrupt, heavy handed and with lack of adequate communication with all stakeholders. Authorities swing their power to impose measures, likely using fear as an unnecessary tool or having unrevealed agendas behind the methods or plans utilised. Delta is not to be underestimated, but at the same time, it must not be manipulated for other purposes. Politicians and "the science" may have to work in a kind of knowledge vacuum, but that does not mean always taking a stare down approach. The public deserves more sincerity from our elected officials, who cannot just issue cherry picked information, but should be more open on what challenges there are in unknowns. Beware, in whatever pathway is offered, it is prudent to have a back up plan. The jarring way in which the powers that be, seem to react, instead of better planning ahead for more than one option, can be concerning. Delta, the varying performance of vaccinations, the lack of capability for the worst scenario....they can throw huge spanners in the works. Our authorities also need to take more heed of how Delta - and new mutated strains - can still create havoc, despite a city having high rates of vaccination roll out. There seems to be less open discussion about vaccinations than Covid itself. We need not repeat mistakes of others - cities and nations can learn from each other. There is often a lack of resources, staffing and infrastructure available, when not planning ahead for a variety of scenarios and outcomes. With an epidemic, what learned institutions, sitting politicians and quoted modeling say may not eventuate. Another risk is that political priorities, in any country or society put under the cloud of Delta, can still be more important than the application of common sense. The other huge concern is that in whatever pathway we are offered, government tends to pronounce broad strokes, without paying enough attention to implementation details - and keep allowing exemptions to what they want us to comply with. And the other often unsaid danger is to hype up the expectations of voters, without realistic outcomes. How many times have we been promised more travel bubbles, urged to pay for airline tickets months in advance and told to book for holidays?