Dear Readers,
Today, I will be writing a personal recount as a civilian during the World War II. Please enjoy! :D
A Day in World War II
I am 28 years old this year and my name is Alexander Freud, a doctor at a clinic located near my house. I belong to one of the higher social classes in Switzerland, but the Nazis still hated my family and me, for we were Jews and Hitler hates Jews.
Every day during the World War II could be our last. Our lives are constantly in the hands of the cruel and gruesome Nazis. If they were happy, we could live for an additional day. However, if they were displeased, we would simply have to succumb to our destiny.
They acted as though they were kings, and murdered innocent civilians as easily as snapping their fingers. We had to bow at them to show our respect, or else we would be smacked by their rifles for our disrespect towards them.
We all hated the Nazis but what could we do? We were too powerless and vulnerable to fight against the powerful Nazis. If I could, I would have torn those merciless people into two, but alas!
All of us were malnourished and as thin as pencils. We barely had anything to eat in the shelters which we sought refuge in. Many of my fellow men and women have fallen victim to contagious diseases, whilst others died of starvation and dehydration. As a doctor, I felt hopeless, with so many deaths happening right before my eyes.
Today, I was heading out to the clinic for work, when I saw a few Nazis patrolling the streets. They were armed with their rifles which they would happily use at the slightest provocation. My old neighbour Mr Kunze was also heading out to his little pawnshop, when he accidentally knocked into a Nazi soldier due to his failing eyesight. He apologised profusely but the merciless one aim his rifle and shot at Mr Kunze, sniggering wildly with his comrades. Blood splattered all across the pavement, but a whining Mr Kunze was lying on the ground, gasping for breath. The Nazis then took turns to fire at him, as though it was some kind of entertainment game show. I was disgusted.
His daughter Miss Kunze appeared at the entrance of the pawnshop, witnessing the gruesome murder of her father. She let out a shriek, which aroused the attention of the Nazis. They dragged her back into the pawnshop. From where I stood, I could hear her scream, “Please don’t do this to me! Let me go!”
Living in this heartless world where one is being controlled and manipulated by the Nazis, I cannot do anything to help my fellowmen. This is really living hell, and I cannot take it anymore. What can one do? Where can one go? How long does one have to take this? I have no answers to any of these questions.
(476 words)
Best Regards,
Nathan :D
Dear Readers,
Today, Miss Huang asked us to write a descriptive paragraph on the aftermath of war, and this is my attempt at the task. Please give me some feedback on how to improve. :)
Flanked on the two sides of what was previously a road, fallen buildings and destroyed homes fall victim to vicious bombings, degenerated to merely unrecognisable blocks of rock and cement. They lay strewn haphazardly along the pathways like pieces of rubbish all across the floor. Even the innocent roofs and window frames were not spared.
Exhausted soldiers clad in green uniforms emblazoned with spots of brown dashed into the front yard. They were greeted by an unpleasant odour of rotting corpses, mixed with the morning smell of dew accumulated over the night. Like valiant knights, they scuttled around the yard and searched through the bushes thoroughly for any signs of survivors. The touch of death was cold, as cold as ice.
Besides the occasional shouts of orders from the commander, the atmosphere was encompassed with an eerie silence. There was absolutely no sign of life along the road, deeming this place a desolate, lifeless land.
This was the sight of war, the sound of war, the touch of war, the taste of war and the smell of war.
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Thank you very much!
Best Regards,
Nathan :D
Dear Readers,
Today, I will attempt to write an expository essay on entertainers and sports stars, posed by my Language Arts teacher Miss Huang. Please provide some comments and feedback so that I can improve on this piece of writing!
Question 19. Should entertainers and sports stars be paid such large sums of money? What are your views?
In the year 2008, Tiger Woods, a world-renowned golf star, earned a cool $12 million just from playing the game and an additional $110 million endorsing sports brands like Nike and Buick. The revolutionary “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson, earned $509 million in his 39-year career as an entertainer. A full $5 million came easily just from his endorsement for Pepsi. As we see these huge figures going into the pockets of sports stars and famous entertainers, many cannot help but wonder why they are paid so exorbitantly. I strongly believe that it is absolutely reasonable for these big names to earn hefty sums of money in their career because of the sacrifices, insecurities, short career lifespan and upkeep of image.
Firstly, these famous stars sacrifice a lot of time and effort perfecting their skills. For entertainers, they have to spend long periods of time to hone their acting and singing skills for their shows and albums. Similarly, for sports stars, they have to train and workout as well. A good example would be Manchester United football star Wayne Rooney, who trains for 16 hours a day, only taking occasional rests in between each practice session. Whilst doing so, many stars had to sacrifice spending time with their loved ones. This is the reason why many celebrities often end up in divorce. Their hectic schedules give rise to many health conditions. The stress is also sometimes unbearable. Therefore, all these sacrifices which these stars and entertainers had to make for their careers, I feel it is only right that they should be fairly compensated.
Stars have to face many insecurities throughout their careers. An entertainer or sports star cannot guarantee that he or she will stay popular forever. Once they lose their popularity, they simply fade away from the limelight. What will happen to them? How will they sustain themselves? Reality is such in this merciless world of fierce competition. These personalities also do not have any governmental funds to support them in their old age. Only a sizable income can guarantee them a future.
Stars are unlike the average man on the streets. For us, when we step out from the house, no one really cares how we dress, much less how we look. However, stars have to upkeep their own personal image. When they are out in public, the way they look and the way they dress are very important as they are deemed the idols of their fans. Sadly, these cost money too.
Lastly, entertainers and sports stars have extremely short career lifespan. In the sports field, once they past their prime, which is approximately 35 years, their career is very much over. Once sports personalities have injuries, they might be forced into early retirement. A good example would be professional wrestlers, who are prone to sustain injuries. In the entertainment arena, the audience is only interested in the good-looking entertainers. Most often, once one is married or old, they automatically lose popularity, resulting in a reduced income. Therefore, they have to make their fortune in these extremely short career lifespan of theirs.
Some might argue that these personalities might become spoilt and not know how to handle the vast wealth which they suddenly come into contact with. They might lose themselves in the process and might resort to addiction such as alcohol and drugs to cope with the stress. However, I beg to differ. There are only a handful of such cases and the majority of stars are doing very well and handling their money wisely. After retiring from the respective trades, they are able to support themselves and their families. Thus, I feel that such an argument is totally invalid, as it is only true for a small group and the utilitarian perspective suggests that we should not deprive the larger group of their deserved privileges just because of a smaller, problematic group.
Celebrities are unlike the average people. To understand their situation, we must first put ourselves into their shoes. By seeing things in their perspective, we are then able to understand why they need to be paid such large income. Their sacrifices, insecurities, short career lifespan and upkeep of image totally justify such a need.
Thank you very much. Have a good day :D
Best Regards,
Nathan :D
Dear Readers,
Today, I will be talking about yet another practical, real-life situation, and I believe that you will help me by giving some comments on this! :D
After every academic year, teachers grade students according to their academic progress, work attitude, personal conduct. Whilst pondering on this issue, I suddenly posed myself a question: why is it that students cannot assess their teachers?
Let me explain why assessing teachers should be implemented within Hwa Chong.
Through such an assessment, the school would be able to know how their teachers have been performing in class throughout the last academic year; whether or not they have been carrying out their duties and teaching to the best of their abilities. This way, it would be much easier and fairer for the principal and the respective departmental heads to decide which teachers should be promoted. This will give students a sense of belonging to the school as they are able to play a part in the school’s decisions, unlike other schools.
For the teachers, the assessment serves as a marker for themselves. By looking at the results, they would be able to identify whether their teaching style is appropriate for the students and which areas they can improve on. Good comments will make teachers feel acknowledged for all the efforts they have put in, and their teaching methods and styles can be adopted by others. This way, the teachers are able to learn from one another. With criticism, they will know where they can improve, and there on, become better teachers and better educators. One thing to note is that the teachers must take criticism in the correct light, in the same way which students take criticism from teachers.
Lastly, for the students, they would be able to practise making judgements and assessing others fairly with an unbiased mind.
I suggest that this assessment can be done as an online survey. This is because teenagers nowadays love to surf the Internet and they never feel bored to touch the keyboard and move the mouse. The survey results can then be tabulated for the teachers to see how they have fared.
Some might wonder, “What if the students are biased?” Bias or prejudice need not be a cause for worry, because there is a whole class of at least 25 students to assess the teachers. The apples and thorns of the teacher’s eyes would be moderated by the neutral student body, which gives rise to a fair result in all.
Assessing teachers will only benefit not only the school but also the teachers. Therefore I sincerely believe that the school should consider implementing this measure for the good of everyone.
Please give your comments! :D
Best Regards,
Nathan :)
Dear Readers,
In the recent weeks, Japan has experienced many natural disasters. It started off with a large earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale, followed by a disastrous tsunami. The situation was then aggravated by the series of small quakes on the eastern coasts of Japan. The impact was so great that the main island of Honshu moved 2.4 metres westwards.
On the television and radio channels, we have heard the disastrous consequences of the Japanese quakes and tsunami. However, the Japanese community is seen as an orderly and well-disciplined group. Their resilience is evident in their mental strength to rebuild their cities and villages.
Whenever there is chaos occurring within the country, there would always be reports about looting happening all around. However, when we take a look at Japan, the situation is totally different. Some Japanese were having dinner during the quake and dashed out of the restaurant for shelter. After that, they returned to the restaurant to pay for their food. This is really touching, for I believe if this is to happen in Singapore, the locals would be relieved to have “a free lunch”.
On one of the days, it was reported in the news that the Japanese did not rush, push and squeeze to get their basic necessities. Instead, they queued up in neat rows in front of the cashier counter. Following that was a report from China, where I saw numerous people dashing into the stalls to literally “sweep” the bags of salt off the shelves. The orderliness of the Japanese is thereby in stark contrast with the ruthlessness of the Chinese. Bear in mind that the Japanese were experiencing disasters, whilst the Chinese were still living their normal day-to-day lives.
Why is this so? It is obvious that the education system is totally different. In Japan, the children were inculcated from as young as kindergarteners to respect elders, be loyal, work hard and be kind to others. The culture preaches discipline, diligence, calmness and also, unity.
Compare how the Japanese behaved to the tragedies, which took 8000 lives and caused 12000 to be missing, to how the Singaporeans behaved to the floods, which did not even cause any injuries at all, much less fatalities.
We, Singaporeans, are known to be complainers; whenever something is not to our liking, we complain and expect the government to solve all our problems, worries and fears. As we trace back, we realise that the main problem which is causing such a phenomenon is our education system.
Our education system is really results-oriented, and students’ mentality is that results are all that matters, as that is what their parents and teachers preach both at home and in school. In the newspapers, we see parents sending their children for tuition even at the elementary level of kindergarten.
Yes, we do have weekly Civics and Moral Education (CME) classes, but more often than not, the teachers who enter for CME classes and who are lagging behind in their subjects would use this as two additional periods to catch up in their teaching. Worse, in secondary schools, these CME lessons only happen once or twice a term.
All these result in an ill-mannered younger generation, who have poor moral values, if any to start with, and who care only for themselves.
On the Internet, we see people arguing that the Japanese were able to have such an orderly fashion because they have had experienced quakes many times before. However, I believe that should it happen in Singapore, it does not matter how many times it happens, the people will still be the same – the selfish ones who care solely about their needs, their wants and their own selves.
Singapore may be the No. 1 in many things. We might have the best airport and the busiest port in the world. However, when it comes to character-building, I believe we should really take a leaf out of the Japanese’s books.
(adapted from my journal entry for Art and Acts of Persuasion)
Best Regards,
Nathan :)
