Mukul Deva is an exceptional writer. Not only that, but he is an exceptional sower, a sower of ideas. He can plant ideas and stories and increase your imagination with just a sentence. Ideas blossom everyday, in our minds and our hearts but we do not grow them, sow them, to reap their fruits in the future, Mukul Deva did not do that. He watered these ideas, made them grow, improved on them and gave them back to the world, in the form of books. He pushed through, each year, giving back these ideas to the world with gratitude. Ideas blossom every day, but we shoo them away like flies. The flies are fireflies waiting to shine, illuminating our path to a brighter future.
Danny Raven Tan: Pain into Paint
Many people think that being an artist comes with a low salary. Danny Raven Tan did not think of that. He started out working in the hotel business. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010 and after his long and painful recovery, he started his gallery. Danny Tan transformed the pain and torture of his life into meaningful works of art. He did not care about his income. He expresses his pain through paint, turning his pain into paint.
Marc Nair: To Speak the Silenced Truth
Marc Nair opened his presentation with a poem, “Plasticpelago”. It illustrated an ocean of plastic, a dire problem in need of solving. The poem really hit me. It was a poem about the silenced truths about our world. With the President of one of the most powerful countries in the world denying climate change, what world will we live in. Marc Nair battles stereotypes in television with his poem, “Pan-Asian”. He speaks the silenced truths. There are many stories to be told, the truths not spoken frequently enough. The issues in this world that have too weak of a voice. As Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” and Marc Nair did make me feel something unique, something I will never forget. He made me feel obligated. Obligated to speak the silenced truths to our deaf society.
The Issues that are Invisible: The Right to Die
Out of the four topics, I chose the Charlie Gard case by Will intrigued me the most. Throughout the assessment, you realise how much ethics, faith and ideology dictate our lives. How each event and issue actually affects our lives, how they slowly shape our world. The Charlie Gard case was a prime example of the ethics of life and death, in what scenarios is murder acceptable. Not only do we see the life and death, but we also see how politics also carries ethics. Joseph’s assessment was on Trump and when he declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It showed how ethics, ideology and faith are all around us and the issues that people face affect their mind. Doing this assessment also changed my view on different things. I always thought that some forms of government are always bad, but there are some good behind each one. Miu’s assessment involved a Christian bakery which falls on faith and how some people, who truly believe that being homosexual is wrong. Even if people are atheists or agnostics, Darius’ was about net neutrality and it affects all internet users. You read about these issues every day, but you do not see how much goes behind it. The ideologies of what is right or wrong, ways of power and leadership, and what we believe in affect us every moment of our lives. It is, albeit scary, but the way life works.
Steve Dawson: Life is made up of Crossroads
Journalism. Not the first choice as a career for some people and definitely not one in the mind of Steve Dawson when he was younger. What captivated me the most about his career is that he did not think about becoming a newscaster at first. He was an accountant with a steady pay and lifestyle, but with a passion for sports. He has always loved sports since he was a child, even admitting to not being the smartest in the class when he was in school. Steve Dawson never thought about it, but when he became a writer for the Straits Times, he accepted this new development. After all, he was given the same pay as his old job so there was not that big of a risk. Steven Dawson’s experiences show us that life is full of choices, twists and turns that may lead us in different ways. Some for good, some for worse, but each decision ultimately decides what life we are going to lead. Steve Dawson followed his passion for sport which he would have never happened if he did not agree to be a reporter. Life is full of choices, but it ends up on your decision.