Daily Lessons from Life 13 April 2013 - Air Mishap Survival and Tolerating Diversity

"AFP Saturday, Apr 13, 2013 Lion Air plane overshot runway in Bali and landed in the sea!

DENPASAR, Indonesia - An Indonesian plane carrying more than 100 passengers broke in two after missing the runway at Bali airport Saturday and landing in the sea, leaving dozens injured but no fatalities."

The biggest thing about this unfortunate air plane mishap is: no fatality!! What an escape.

Rare to have such an accident that impacted a few people and the loved ones. And NO fatality!!

I wonder how I would have recovered from such a traumatic incident. Maybe if it happened very fast, it is easier to accept since it would had been a blur!!

"The Straits Times Saturday, Apr 13, 2013 - Tolerance for Diversity

The increasing trend of greater religiosity globally and in Singapore is accompanied by an increased tendency to assert and project one's religion into the public sphere.

A new approach to nation building took place, most notably in our schools, and in our public housing. Instead of living apart to minimise friction between different groups, as decreed during the Colonial days, we now began to live together - side-by-side in the same blocks and housing estates, our children growing up together, and learning to build a nation together.

Maintaining good communal relations requires constant hard work on the part of everyone in the community, and the Government."

An old theme of mine on tolerance for diversity - leave race, religion and language alone! These are emotive issues where people cannot or do not have a good control over their respective emotion. When emotion reels its head, rationality takes a back seat!!

Much as most think that they can 'control' their emotion, most also overestimated their ability to be able to do so.

Having said that, it will be unwise to try to ask Singaporeans who, in recent times, faced overflowing foreign competition for jobs, space, public transportation, etc to just accept immigration without question is not realistic.

Such grieves must be acknowledged and the root causes for such fear and concerns identified and investigated for possible solutions.

Unwavering and continuous conscious efforts to keep in touch, exchange information and what irks each other will help people to live together peacefully so that each can go out to build their wealth!

Responsible free speech MUST still be the standard for public topics in Singapore. No less!!