Can we make the entire planet one big apiary??

I remember a time when buzzing bees scared me to death. Must be some movie I watched when I was still a child when bees meant a full-on attack that no one can escape unless you are near a body of water. Now that I am older and wiser, I do not flinch as much when encountering bees. One reason I attribute this to is the practice of ahimsa - nonviolence to all living things. And a hopefully not naive belief that I will not be harmed by another which I am not harming. Probably also well-trained by diving in trigger fish/sharks/sea urchins infested waters. But I still get a jolt when a bee flies too close for comfort.

So, you can imagine my utter amazement to watch these Tik Tok videos by Erika Thompson, a beekeeper based in USA who handles bees sans protective gear. Not one bee, or a few bees but entire bee colonies protective of their beehives. And never near any lakes or rivers!! (okay, I recall a swimming pool once) It is truly mesmerizing to see her in action. So gentle, confident and might I add elegant and gorgeous?!? [Recently there was an online feud between her and other beekeepers over her methods but I shall share this article and still standby my support for her!]

Now, you can imagine my absolute delight to discover we have our very own Singapore Bee Man!! Xavier Tan saves bees in a very similar method as Erika Thompson, rehoming them humanely. I enjoy his videos too, especially when you can recognize whereabouts he was on our sunny island! Besides providing bee removal service, he also has locally produced raw honey (and mead! read: wine) for sale!

Today he shared a post that left me incredulous. Our very own NParks (and NEA) ignorant about the existence of humane bee removal methods. Seriously? Or the excuse that they have a contract with a pest extermination company. First of all, bees are not pest!! And all contracts have expiry right? Know better and do better then! Having previously watched his video on the aftermath of a chemical extermination, this is unthinkable and unacceptable. Once again, we have allowed convenience to take precedence over the value of life. 😔

Did you know that there is a World Bee Day? I mean I generally enjoy seeing bees alive and well (rather than exterminated and left for dead) but bees are actually essential to our very survival. 

"Bees are vital for the preservation of ecological balance and biodiversity in nature."

Thus, if you ever have to remove a bee hive, please call our Bee Man. Can't believe I am saying this, but do not call our authorities, they do not know better. And apparently refuse to learn. 

Should I start a petition to get our authorities to provide humane recommendations? 👀

A new song I discovered

I heard this one while in a Grab... moved me enough for me to Soundhound it (thank god for the history tab!) and imagine my surprise to find out the singer is Harry Styles.. 

Didn't recognise it (why should I since I am not even a fan when he was part of One Direction) and certainly didn't expect to be touched by his songs.. 

The song is arresting. Coupled with the music video, it is wow.

 

What am I now? What am I now?
What if I'm someone I don't want around?
I'm falling again, I'm falling again, I'm falling
What if I'm down?
What if I'm out?
What if I'm someone you won't talk about?
I'm falling again, I'm falling again, I'm falling

Check Your Privilege Day

In the aftermath of George Floyd's death, I was trying to make sense of it all. It was a rude and shocking reminder of how cruel, inhumane and senseless our world can be. And I need to understand how that came to be, how for all the goodness and cleverness of humanity, we have allowed such a thing to happen. So I read, absorb and reflect. There was no shortage of materials, just from my Facebook feed. And I try not to read only one side of the story (good training from my Masters of Science Communication and also because of this TED talk) which often means that eventually I can't really only argue for or against any issue. I don't see myself as standing with only the police or with the blacks.

Of all the articles I read in that time, this one stood out for me. First of all, I aspire to be as humble and open as Jason is and secondly as I read Lori's response, my ignorance and obliviousness to my own privilege became increasingly apparent. There is no way to deny that I have privilege for being a Chinese living in Singapore. It is also with great shame that I admit I had personally questioned someone's intellectual capabilities based on skin colour. I may not had said anything at that point in time but the doubt that had arisen if detected by the other party would certainly had been a source of unjustified pain.

It feels extremely unfair. The world is unfair and unlikely to change overnight. Perhaps because I have myself been in the position of being the minority in other scenarios, I could somewhat empathize with her but I can never imagine having to face and deal with that kind of discrimination on a daily basis. Thus, it was then that I decided I would stand up, speak out and challenge any unfair instances which I may witness in future. We can all do better.

Then Racial Harmony Day rolled by. Although I had never celebrated it as a student, I always looked forward to dressing up for that day as a teacher! Facebook reminded me of the different styles I tried over the years, not one was Chinese. 😆 I supposed it can be seen as tokenism as depending on the school's directive, efforts toward celebration of RHD can be quite superficial. Yet, not having that experience as a student had resulted in me having practically zero exposure to other races until my university days?!?

Besides liking many of my teacher friends' RHD related photos on Facebook, I also chanced upon Preetipls' video which spurred me to pen this post. Highly doubt MOE will even entertain her proposal but after completing her checklist (I ticked 11 boxes) I strongly encourage everyone to check yours! Privilege is really not only based on race and I honestly believe everyone benefits from a heightened sense of self-awareness. Another alternative is to attempt The Privilege Walk (Singapore edition) which actually first happened about 4 years ago. I would be 7 steps ahead.

While preparing for this post, I googled "check your privilege singapore" to search for Preetipls' video, fully expecting it to be the first result but of course I was wrong. This is a topic that has been discussed again and again, (link, link, link, link, link) and until we as individuals begin to acknowledge these advantages afforded to each of us, it will continue to come up again and again.

Finally, as Preetipls mentioned, being highly privileged is not a problem in itself. And I certainly hope that this call to check your privilege does not backfire as suggested by this article! It is what we do with this knowledge and awareness that matters. Allow me to appeal to your moral responsibility that comes with privilege, do what you can or perhaps stop doing what you have been doing. Hopefully together we can prevent the next senseless murder.

Volunteering (on the day/in the name) of LOVE

This post is inspired by a couple of things - a newly minted video about #braveheartSG and a FB post by Dalai Lama a few hours ago. So you probably have watched the video before coming to this blog? Did you see me?!?! 😄😄

Dalai Lama says

Not only is it the case that happy people are more willing to help others, but as I generally point out, helping others is the best way to help yourself, the best way to promote your own happiness.
It is you, yourself, who will receive the benefit.

And that is really how I feel about volunteering. Many friends have commented that I am really kind and always helping others, doing a variety of different things to help people, animals and causes without asking anything in return. It appears a very big-hearted thing to do.

The truth is... , at least to some extent, it is a selfish act. I needed it. Many years back when I was a different depressive me, volunteerism saved me. Without it, I don't think I would have survived till now. I do not remember when but I had specifically thought to myself that I should not/would not/did not want to live past 40. It was very dark times.

I genuinely enjoy myself every time I am helping others. But more significantly, volunteerism opened my eyes to look past my own problems and really be objective to see how small they actually are in reality. Oftentimes, it had been a means of escape because when you are busy helping others, you conveniently forget about your own problems. A better solution than drowning your sorrows which I had succumbed to too..

Well, the more I do it the more I realise I CAN do. So even when it was no longer a "necessity" for me, I continue to serve in whatever capacity I can. Besides, I learn soooo much during these activities. From interpersonal skills to technical skills, like I mentioned in this post, I gained way more than what I gave. And that post on the Science of Kindness was also when I learnt that these seemingly selfless acts of mine are actually rather selfish. It was (perhaps still is) my way of loving myself.

Anyway, selfless or selfish, nothing is going to stop me from doing good now. Thankfully with the support of a very capable husband, I am even more able to help whenever wherever now. Thus I literally jumped at this chance to help give out love notes on Valentine's Day! It really had been dreadful to read about the stories of healthcare workers being discriminated. The situation is bad enough and we are being unkind to the very helpers keeping the situation under control?!?

As we were advised not to go directly to KTPH, we stationed ourselves at the nearby Yishun Interchange with our carts full of love notes and sweet treats. Very few nurses or healthcare workers in uniform came our way actually, so we had to make clever guesses often based on the lanyards people were wearing so we could get the items to the recipients! But the positive and heartfelt responses we received..... awww.... I can do this all day.... 🥰

Doing good with my oldie bestie and pals!

Thank you to all the Singaporeans (including PM Lee!) who took the time to pen a love note

What a way to come full circle.. to still be able to give on the day of love, on the day I thought I would not survive to see. Yup, I just turned 40 years old this past Valentine's Day! My fellow helper was bewildered when she knew... well, the science behind kindness mentioned something about aging too.. 😉