Newsweek Reflection

The article that I’m going to talk about is “The one word that can save your life”. The article had mainly talks about the risks of certain surgery, such as knee surgery and cardiac CT angiography. It brought out some of the harmful effects of these surgeries as well, such as side effects and more exposure to high levels of radiation. Its main purpose is to tell audience to consider the harmful effects and potential risks of the surgeries before they took them, as some surgeries took more harm than good.

After reading the article, I was appalled by how some research had proven the vast amount of harmful effects of surgeries, yet no result was shown. For example, in a recent study, 1000 low-risk patients who had CT angiography had no fewer heart attacks or deaths over the next 18 months than 1000 patients who did not undergo the screening. Nonetheless, they took drugs and tests, all of which carry a risk of side effects, surgical complications. Therefore, I was really stumbled as I had thought that surgeries were meant to improve a patient’s condition. However, after reading the article, my perspective of the surgeries nowadays had changed. I had learnt to look at the surgeries at an objective point of view, to look at both the benefits and harmful effects.

There is also another example, whereby a 52 year old woman undergoes cardiac CT, but not only did the condition not improved, one of her artery was tore too. I was really shocked at how some surgeries could have proven nothing worthwhile, yet so complicated. This article had really served everyone a warning, to really consider the risk of a surgery before taking it.

Online Lesson 12

Step 2: The common theme present among the scrolls inside each of the caskets is the greed in the person who chose it. For the golden casket, the scroll in it explains that the person who chose it was greedy for money as many men had sold their souls just to get the gold. This is similar to Prince Morocco, as he prefers money and wealth of Portia rather than Portia herself. For the silver casket, it explains that the person who chose it had a little greed of money, as the men who chose it was fools that could only get shadows of joy. This is similar to Prince Arragon as he thought he had made the wisdom choice by picking the silver casket, and get what he deserves. However, he flavours money and rewards than Portia. Lastly, the lead casket’s scroll explains that the person who chose it does not greed for money. This is similar to Bassanio, as he truly loved Portia, and not her wealth or money. Thus, he was not greedy for money and picked the right choice.

Step 3: My parents had divorced. Upon hearing the news, I was devastated. I thought they were a loving couple, but now, it’s all too late. Being the only child of the family, my parents had been arguing and even sued each other on court over the custody of me. The judge had made the decision: It all lies up to the child. I was stumbled. Who should I go with? Should I go with my father to the America, or my mother that stays in Singapore? I had been pondering this decision all this while when my friend suggested me to use logic.

“How am I going to use logic to this complicated question?” I asked. My friend replied calmly,” You need to ask yourself, out of your mother and your father, who would you choose that you think will treat you better? You wouldn’t want to live with one that makes your life hell, that’s common sense. Secondly, out of the 2, who do you think is capable of giving you a better life? Do you feel comfortable with him? What about the surroundings? Do you want to migrate to America, or stay in Singapore with your friends?”

I was appalled by how my friend had broken down my chain of thoughts. I pondered over the questions that my friend brought up. Originally, I had wanted to live with my father. He had the capability to treat me well, or even better, as he was rich. I had also wanted to taste a different culture, and living in a different country, America. But after considering, I had decided to live with my mother instead. My mother was more caring and showered me with lots of love, and that’s the warmth that I have been seeking for. My father had just bought my favourite stuff, but no love was shown. I also could not bear to leave my friends here in Singapore, and I must admit the education system in Singapore was good too. At last, I went to my mother side. God bless me, all will be well.

Reflection on MOV

Today we had went through the Merchant of Venice, Act 4 Scene 1, where Portia was persuading Shylock to take the ducats and ignore the bond. Personally, I felt that the teacher’s teaching was not detailed enough. This is because I think that the teacher, though he had gone through most of the annotations, I think a better way would be to go through every single line, instead of skipping some of the parts. This is to further ensure our understanding of our passage and not only certain part of the passage.

After today’s lesson, I had understand more about the meaning of certain phrases in that scene, for example, the phrase,” mercy seasons justice” means that mercy will lighten the severity of justice. I was very impressed with Shakespeare capability of expressing some of his concepts through all this words that are not even meant to be the definition of it in the first place. For example, when the word “season” stands on its own, it means the 4 seasons in the year, but Shakespeare had made use of these words to express another definition, such as “temper/lighten the severity of” in the book.

I had definitely learnt a lot more vocabulary and also language use after reading this book. Though I still had some of the parts of the book I do not fully understand, I think my language use and ability to understand double meanings had improve greatly.

Illustration of Character through his possession

His room was filthy, filthy to the core. There were sweet wrappers here and there, flavours of strawberry, chocolate, lemon, orange and much more that I don’t have all day round to say. Then there are the chocolate wrappers, bitter chocolate, sweet chocolate and again, many more. It seemed that he had spent his whole life just eating on junk foods, because even 10 incinerators industries could not even burn his food wrappers in the room, there’s potato chips wrappers, sweet wrappers, chocolate wrappers, snacks wrappers, gum wrappers etc.

Through all these sea of wrappers, if you have find all your way to the floor, there’s even clothing and socks that contribute to the foul smell in the room. They are all filled with soot and dirt.

There on the bed was soft toys, but the even the toys looked like they are frowning due to the huge mess in the room, especially the white puffy bear, that doesn’t seemed white anymore. In fact, it looked grey because of all the dust, if not for the colour stated in its tag. The wardrobe was empty, as the clothes, that were supposed to be in the wardrobe, have all been poured out on the ground.

London Police

I felt that the police should be fully accountable for their actions. They should even be put to death penalty if they could not explain for their action. This is because though they are police, they are not given the rights to shoot at the criminals without any specific reason. They are given the gun and permission to shoot under certain circumstances, or under serious threat that may brought about harm to their life, and not based on their feelings.

In the London case, the police had claimed that he was in imminent danger, but there was no concrete evidence that Duggan was armed or presented a threat. In this case, the police were just shooting based on their instincts that Duggan was armed, as it was not good enough a reason for the police to fire at him. If every police were to shoot based on their “instinct”, how gruesome and messy the world can be, with policemen shooting criminals based on their own feelings.

The police should be put to death penalty if they had no reason to back up their actions. They had killed a human life, and killing a human life based on their own instinct is not acceptable. In other words, it is equivalent to murder, the killing of someone, regardless who he is, without any reason. Therefore, the police should receive the same treatment as murderers, a death penalty.

Ameneh Bahrami

I would not have shown mercy to my attacker if I was Ameneh Bahrami. This was because the harm inflicted to me was far too great, and this will also serve as a warning to others.

The attacker had blinded and disfigured me, and the harm I get was too great. This was because I was still single, and with that disfigured face, I cannot possibly get a husband anymore. Thus, I may have to stay single for the rest of my life, and it ruins my future. With the blinded eyes, everything is of inconvenience to me, as I have to learn carry on with my life with my blinded eyes. One of the examples is to get a walking stick whenever I go. It will also burden my family members as sometimes they have to be beside me, for example when I cross the road. Lastly, I would not be able to see things anymore, not able to appreciate art works etc. All this caused so much inconvenience, that whenever I had to go an extra mile, I would never forget my attacker. Thus, I would never forgive him for his cruel means that brought all the darkness to my life.

It can also serve as a warning to other attackers in the world that might have the same tricks up their sleeves. After seeing this trial, they would become more cautious and rethink about their actions to prevent themselves form ending up in the same state as my attacker. Thus, there might be less victims in the world.

Self-Obsession

In my opinion, if self-obsession and narcissism rise in Singapore, the Singaporeans will display an even more ill-portrays of themselves. There will also be more people aiming for occupations such as celebrities etc. Last but not least, all these actions might affect tourism of Singapore.

Firstly, if self-obsession and narcissism rise in Singapore, there will definitely be more people thinking high of themselves. They would felt like they are at the top of the world as they are mesmerized by their own so called “attractive looks”. Thus, it will affect the way they behave, such as the way they speaks and the way they react to other people. With their self-esteem and self-obsession raised, they would behave as if they are the best of the best, and thus giving others the impression that they are rude and ignorant. All these contribute to portrayals that speak negatively about themselves.

Secondly, there will be more and more people aiming for jobs such as celebrity. This is because celebrities are known mostly for their looks, and since Singaporeans had higher self-obsession, they might be more audacious to join for auditions and so on. Though the numbers of celebrity from Singapore might not increase, but the number of people going for celebrity auditions would definitely increase.

Lastly, as I mentioned before on the first point, the behavior and actions of Singaporeans will deteriorate, and seen as ignorant and rude people. Thus, it will affect the impression of Singapore too, and there would probably be an effect on tourism, as nobody would want to visit a country full of arrogant people.