Sunday, January 20, 2013

没有创新,何来传统?


读了一月二十日,由作者罗澜写的《不要创新,要传统》之后,心里有一个问题,不吐不快。

作者说牛车水的新年装饰有一群年轻学生创作,只想推成出新,不顾传统而使得装饰不伦不类。我对这种想法不赞同,觉到作者对年轻人在原有的文化上增加更多的色彩显得不公平。

我想问作者,我们文化里的很多习俗,在当时被创造出来时,是不是也是当时的人的一种创新?我们的某一个传统何尝不是在某个曾经的开始流传而变成传统?

牛车水的新年装饰本来就是一个为了增加气氛,美化环境来“吸睛”的工具。只要学生有估计到审美观,没有触犯到禁忌,创新又有何妨?如果装饰因为传统而一成不变,只会让人有一种死气沉沉的感觉,如何去吸引年轻人。

在现在讲究创意的经济里,我希望人们不要以传统为由,让传统变成我们下一代的包袱。我们的文化需要他们勇敢地去创造新的传统。这样,我们的文化才会更丰富。说不定不久的将来,新加坡会有属于自己的文化,一个融合所有其他文化的传统。

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013 wish for Singapore

2013 is upon on us and given all the happenings in the previous year, my wish for Singapore is for better governance, more transparency and wiser strategies to bring its citizens through an ever increasingly volatile future. I just read this news article and I agree much with the points brought up and hope the leaders take heed.

I left a couple of comments there which I will just place here for reference:
"We didn't really choose to be global but we are definitely told that economic growth would bring happiness. However, we are now sacrificing happiness for economic growth which is much irony. We now do choose to survive but we should do it with more intelligent strategies."
 This one is written with a bit of angst but it is how I felt nonetheless:
"The economists and scholars the govt hired are simply plain lazy to do anything, that's why they keep suggesting the same thing over and over again. It's time they get their butts off their chairs and think of new strategies. Economists around the world wreck their brains to better their peers and gain recognition while ours are simply here to enjoy their high pay. Maybe it's time we pay them the most basic pay and any bonus will have to be based on their performances."