The biggest risks in life involve money and/or time.
Time, needless to say, is the biggest risk. If we do nothing now, we will get nothing while others get something. However, if we do something, we will risk losing some things that we would not have lost, had we not did anything. My preference, though, is to do things beyond considerations of time. If this means going to the United States (having the same language but a different socio-political system from the Commonwealth) and study in a no-name college (non-Ivy colleges are unheard of in Singapore), just to study what I want and to delay full-time work, so that I can continue to grow as a being - why not?
Money is also a major risk factor.
How much is a lot? Define the amount of money I will have? Cos even US$30,000 is minuscule to me, given that the cost of living here (especially in housing) is darn expensive. Even if I got the wealth of the late Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, it's never enough for me. I will still spend billions on an improved Newcastle United football academy and a new and better St. James' Park if I were rich and owning a club. With more money comes more responsibilities.
And living in Chinatown, Newcastle is cool.
But is that the lifestyle I want? Do I really want to own the world? Do I really want to add to myself more pressures to be the big boss of one big community, just by my wealth alone?
This is why life is so risky. We will never know the volatility of life's ups and down, and our psychological responses to them. So it's better for me to seek spiritual and/or intellectual wealth than to pursue mindless fame and honor.
Time, needless to say, is the biggest risk. If we do nothing now, we will get nothing while others get something. However, if we do something, we will risk losing some things that we would not have lost, had we not did anything. My preference, though, is to do things beyond considerations of time. If this means going to the United States (having the same language but a different socio-political system from the Commonwealth) and study in a no-name college (non-Ivy colleges are unheard of in Singapore), just to study what I want and to delay full-time work, so that I can continue to grow as a being - why not?
Money is also a major risk factor.
How much is a lot? Define the amount of money I will have? Cos even US$30,000 is minuscule to me, given that the cost of living here (especially in housing) is darn expensive. Even if I got the wealth of the late Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, it's never enough for me. I will still spend billions on an improved Newcastle United football academy and a new and better St. James' Park if I were rich and owning a club. With more money comes more responsibilities.
And living in Chinatown, Newcastle is cool.
But is that the lifestyle I want? Do I really want to own the world? Do I really want to add to myself more pressures to be the big boss of one big community, just by my wealth alone?
This is why life is so risky. We will never know the volatility of life's ups and down, and our psychological responses to them. So it's better for me to seek spiritual and/or intellectual wealth than to pursue mindless fame and honor.
