The Joy of the Outdoors

"A traveler.

I love his title.

A traveler is to be reverenced as such.

His profession is the best symbol of our life.

Going from--toward;

it is the history of every one of us."'

-Henry David Thoreau

I love the outdoors. Early in the holidays (Nov last year) I decided to make the best out of these precious months by doing what I think is valuable, knowing that this semester break would well be my last (then comes working life - a whole new adventure of its own). Since then, 5 hiking trips have happened.

Chilling Falls

I love the idea that you could enter a totally different world after just a 45 minutes drive and a 2 and a half hours climb, and be able to share that experience with friends and acquaintances. The joy of hiking is found in the camaraderie of friends achieving a common goal and enjoying the reward of it; I once tried solo-hiking and found it to be extremely unpleasant and lonely!

Tabur West (above). Went there twice with two different groups of friends A less-trodden path, which led to a higher cliff, at Tabur West
Magnificent view at Broga Hill (above), where I got to spend the morning with old buddies, Wai Wai and Ian
Nick and Jared (above), at Tabur East
Sheer cliffs at Tabur East

Perhaps the reason for this compelling urge to hike every chance I get lies in the notion that there are still countless places yet to be discovered - and that no two are the same. Maybe it is an 'adventurer's complex': an odd, puzzling feeling when a person becomes both satisfied having traveled to a new place, yet, unsatisfied with the greater realization that there exists many more places and people to be experienced.

What is sure is that life is a passing vapour. And it shouldn't be wasted on the things that don't matter! Life in itself is one great adventure.

The Evils of Staying in the Crowd

In the early hours of 13th March, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered just a few steps away from her apartment door, out in the cold. Her neighbours heard shouts for help, some even saw what had happened, but no one came out. After stabbing her twice Kitty Genovese's attacker fled the scene, but realised he didn't need to when no one bothered to respond to his victim's cries; he later came back to stab her a few more times before raping her.

Social psychology calls it the "Bystander Effect" - when social responsibility is diffused in a crowd of onlookers/bystanders who witness to a particular incident they would otherwise have engaged in if they were alone. In a crowd of bystanders, everyone assumes the other person would help, thus no one does.

It is an intriguing social occurence, especially because it opposes the popular notion that crowds are 'good'. It challenges the age-old belief that the 'majority rules', and that the 'people are always right', while proving that people are, by nature, self-perserving and selfish. And while we are very acquainted with the positives of the 'crowd', being told that there is safety in numbers, and being taught that so much more could be achieved with the hands of many, I know the 'crowd' can rear its ugly head too. These are the dangers of only staying in the 'crowd':

1) The 'crowd' swallows the goodness of the individual and brings out the worst in humanity. Faceless, nameless and devoid of any personal responsibility, the 'crowd' is a social monster that survives on the strength in numbers - but take its members away, and you will notice how the 'crowd' falls silent and loses its strength. Hidden behind the faceless mask of the crowd are individuals who are lured into exchanging their personal opinions and individuality for the false strength of a crowd. Where there is no responsibility, there are no consequences. And even when the crowd is wrong, no one is guilty.

2) The 'crowd' is lethargic and always happy to remain where it is. Because it is adverse to change, it is also often trapped in the trenches of inaction and complacency. Clouded in a false sense of security, the 'crowd' is able to fend off its conscience, and need not do much because everyone is comfortable. Teamwork is difficult in a 'crowd', because a crowd tends to be directionless anyway.

3) The 'crowd' rarely rewards initiative and punishes different behaviour. In school, whenever a guy in our circle of friends did a humourous thing, or made us laugh, the deed was often celebrated, no matter how terrible it was (skipping school, cursing at the teacher, etc), but a person who was too 'right'/good would not be accorded the same reception. Unless we rise from the pressures of conforming to the crowd, we are slaves to the majority - and there's no guarantee it is always right.

Let's move beyond the 'crowd', and make things happen!

When wills collide

"Submission is only necessary in a disagreement. When two people already agree there's no need to 'submit'" - Colin Hurt