Blog Prompts 8 - What are the qualities you look for in a potential MP/ Minister?

Personally, I feel that a potential MP/Minister should have:

• Empathy

I'm pretty sure that anyone out there would know why a future leader of the nation would need empathy. What other reason is there than to empathize with the very people they serve? Notice my use of the word 'serve', not 'lead'. Personally, I believe in servant leadership, and that brings me to the next quality I would look for in a potential Mp/Minister:

• Humility

As always, a leader must learn humility, as must everyone else. A leader must be able to accept that he/she does not know absolutely everything and must admit that everyone makes mistakes, including themselves. And of course, a future leader of the nation must have:

• Experience

As a lot of people apparently think so from all the online 'slamming' I've seen against Tin Pei Ling, age is a crucial factor in choosing a candidate. I partially agree with that thought, but I would like to modify it to experience. So what if someone is young? I feel that it is not the age that counts, but the years of experience. An 80 year-old man might not have as much experience in politics and serving the people than a 30 year-old man. If age is a deciding factor in choosing a candidate, why not get a 1000 year-old man (who would have the unfortunate coincidence of being dead) to be our next Prime Minister? Of course, a dead person would be sorely lacking in the next quality and that is:

• Drive

A leader must have the passion to succeed, the drive to bring the nation forward as one, then only can the country succeed. Without the same passion and drive, the country would not be able to grow and enter the global market. It would forever remain stagnant and in this competitive world, to remain stagnant is to be forgotten in the ruins of antiquity. And last but not least:

• Integrity

As the famous saying saying goes 'power corrupts'. An MP/Minister should have the integrity to not fleece of money from the government's funding for his/her own purposes. For when the people finds out that the MP/Minister has been taking their money for selfish purposes, the Mp/Minister would instantly lose all the trust and rapport the people had with and in him/her and he/she would never be able to earn it back as long as he/she lives.

After all that explanation and stuff, I'm sure you know why those are the qualities I look for in a potential MP/Minister. If you have any thoughts or comments on this issue, or any other qualities you would like to see in a potential MP/Minister, just comment on this post but NO SLAMMING PLEASE!!! This is a neutral blog post that does not intend to cause any harm to anyone in this world at any point in time. So please respect that ideology.

Online Lesson Wk 2 - Descriptive Piece on War

I can feel their eyes on me. I know how I must look like, with my deep, sunken eyes, eyes that have lost all hope, eyes without life. War does that to you. Having seen countless people dying, the survivors shuffling among the ruins of their former homes, living yet dead, this old soldier have seen enough of war. War is not glorious, nor is it clean. War is gory, war is messy, war is not knowing whether it's the last second you'd ever live, war is seeing your platoon-mates, people you have trained, fought, done practically everything together, die in the blink of an eye. War is hell.

After all these things, is it surprising to lose all hope of life? To lose the belief that tomorrow would be a new day, a new beginning? To give up living? For what else is there to live for? What are we but pawns to be sacrificed in a politician's game? We are expendable. We can easily be replaced, for many do not know the truth about war, many are clamoring for the chance to fight in this 'holy' war, the war to end all wars.

No, I must continue living, if not for myself, then for the green recruit they would send to replace me, for those who still do not know the truth about war, to bring the light of knowledge to chase away the darkness of ignorence in those people's minds, to let them know the truth about war...

Blog Prompts 7 - Should we care about what happens in places far away from where we live in general?

Well, I feel that we should care about what happens in places far away from us. "Why?!" many of you may cry. "Those things happen in places far away,they do not affect us! They only happen there! They won't happen here!" But that's where you are wrong.

Any incident that happens anywhere on Earth can happen just as quickly, just as mercilessly anywhere else. There is no such thing as an isolated incident or event that will only happen once and at that particular place. As George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." And so we too must learn from both past and present challenges and use that knowledge to avoid such incidents in the future. Anyway, it just happens that one particular incident happened today that I would like to bring light to. A few people who I will not be naming (*ahem*losers*cough*) were caught playing computer games in class today after school. For many of them, it was their second offence. Like I said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I only knew of this as I have lent my laptop to one of those who were caught. But its alright people, I will be getting it back tomorrow and the blogging shall continue. I'm blogging this on a 7 year-old (at least) computer (I'm not joking). Anyway, back to the topic.

Those people have been given a warning and have already gotten their laptops confiscated for a month, yet they persist in their behavior. If what George Santayana said is true, and I believe it is so, then these people would keep on getting their laptops confiscated again and again unless they learn from their mistakes and do not commit such 'crimes' in the future. All in all, I feel that this is why we should care about what happens in places far away from us so as to learn from their mistakes and take precautions against making such mistakes in the future. Illuminano il buio!