Justice and Mercy

In MoV(Merchant of Venice), I do not think that true justice has been meted out to Shylock. He allowed Bassanio to borrow the money from him, and Antonio's pound of flesh was going to be the mortgage in this deal. In the end, Bassanio and Antonio were unable to pay the debt, and Shylock asked for Antonio's pound of flesh. Portia said that he could take the flesh but he could not take a dip of bloods of Antonio. Shylock was unable to do it and was accused of trying to take a civilian's life. If true justice had been reached, then Shylock should get a pound of flesh as the contract stated even he could not touch a dip of bloods. This was the main purpose why the trial was held, the Duke should try to reach an agreement to this deal.

In my opinion, I think that there is no true justice in the story. Half of Shylock's possessions were given to Antonio, but Antonio agreed to keep the money for her daughter, Jessica. This seemed to be true mercy to Shylock at the first glance, but actually Jessica had converted herself to a Christian, leaving the money to Jessica had no relate to Shylock already. He did not get any benefit, as the money was only belonged to Jessica and Lorenzo. Antonio also allowed Shylock to convert himself to a Christian. This was very unfair to Shylock, he might be loyal to his own race, Jew. Asking him to convert into Christian was just like insulting him, Antonio might want to grab this opportunity to insult him together with his race. If Shylock converted himself into a Christian, he would be mocked by his Jewish friends. Hence this showed that there is no true mercy in the trial scene.

I agree that justice and mercy could be different because of the people in power who manipulated them. If the people in power disliked either side of the people involved in the trial, he could insist on not giving the side he disliked the justice. But if he had any good relationship with either side, he could try his best to bring mercy to the side mentioned. In MoV, the Duke might not be a racist, but somehow he had to support the Christian side, he was not able to bring justice for Shylock, and he had shown mercy to Antonio to try to save his life. Portia was a powerful rich lady, the Duke did not oppose anything regarding Portia's argument but he tried to protect Antonio and convict Shylock. In real life, the judge may have unusually close relationship with the prosecuting side. Even if the defendant is innocent, he may be wrongly judged and end up he was sentenced.

Take A Rest, Have A Break...

Scientist new research: Spider uses their legs to hear.

Why?

Scientist: When I put a spider on the table and I shout at it to run, it runs;

But when I pull off its legs and I shout at it to run, it does not move.

The importance of English.

How?

A new Chinese scholar has came to Canada to study. One day, when he is riding his motorcycle outside the hostel, he accidentally falls into a deep pit. A patrolling policeman passes by the pit and notices the scholar.

Policeman: How are you?

Scholar: I'm fine. Thank you.

The policeman goes off, and the scholar dies due to profuse bleeding.

Two men.

God has decided to give the most handsome guy and the most ugliest guy in the world a wish each.

Handsome guy: I want the most beautiful woman to be with me forever.

And his wish is fulfilled.

God asks the ugliest guy: What about you?

Ugly guy: I never think of changing myself before. This is my fate.

God: How sincere you are! But I will still fulfill a wish for you.

Ugly guy: Fine! I want myself to be the only man in this world.

When I enter a company...

Boss: Welcome, without you our company will be much different.

Me: If the work is too tiresome I will resign myself.

Boss: Relax, I will not let it happens.

Me: Can I take a leave every Tuesday?

Boss: Obviously, this is the baseline.

Me: Will there be overtime usually?

Boss: Impossible, who tells you that!?

Me: Is there any subsidy for lunch?

Boss: Sure, you will have the higher one.

Me: Is there the risk of dying because of heart attack?

Boss: Never, you should not have such thinking.

Me: Will there be any tour every month?

Boss: This is our company's order.

Me: Do I have to come to work punctually?

Boss: Nope, depend on the situation.

Me: What about salary? Is it distributed on time?

Boss: It is always like that.

Me: Are all the works done by new employees?

Boss: It will not be possible, you still have bosses with higher ranks.

Me: If there is any vacancy of post, can I participate in the competition?

Boss: Without any doubt, our company relies on this to continue operating.

Me: Are you deceiving me?

After I enter the company...(Please read from bottom to above)

Feedback on An Open Letter to the EM from a Secondary Four Student

I agree with most of the points the student has mentioned in the letter. One of them is the system of the education, many teachers always tell their students to memorize whatever things that are found in textbooks, notes, worksheets and other learning stuffs. I agree with the author of the letter that many students may not be able to learn something in the end of the day. Such education system will affect the students to be rigid, they may think that this way of learning is the fastest and easiest way to score an A1. That is true, but can they really learn something? They may end up forgetting what have been thought and what have they learned, they will have hard times when they step into this competitive society because their exposures of learning are very limited.

The student also points out that moral values are not taught in school. I agree with her point, many students and teachers and even parents are too eager to "force" the students to get an A1. They value the certificate too much, many teachers and parents always tell the students that certificate is the most important thing they must have to be success in life. The students can succeed in life later, but what about their attitudes, their conducts, their behaviors? Even though they are success, but no one will bother, some people may even mock at them. This is why philosophers think that EQ is far more important than IQ in our life.

Some of her points, however, are rather exaggerated. If a student cannot ask "WHY" in school, they can carry out research, they can consult other students, it is not necessarily that a teacher must teach everything in the lesson. We have to be independent, whatever things we do not understand, surf the web, the fastest, most convenient, most enriched platform for the students to carry out their learning.

From her use of tones in the letter, I know that she is agitated. She seems fed up with current education system, but I do not think it is appropriate. We should not blame the education system completely, we are responsible for our own learning journey. We should find our ways to seek for solutions of the difficulties. The student also has a very fierce tone in the letter, she keeps condemning the education minister for not doing the job well. Actually, if a well education system is to be created, it requires the cooperation of the students and the ministers. The students should follow the orders given by the teachers, whilst the ministers should give the suitable orders to the students. By doing this the education system can be improved, so I do not think that she should use such serious tone, but to use more general tone to respect the ministers.

The letter is taken from:

http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/07/12/an-open-letter-to-the-education-minister-from-a-secondary-4-student/

Love and Money. Which are more important?

Love and money are vital components in a matrimony, we cannot disagree that. But whether is money or love more important in a marriage, it is debatable. In my opinion, I think that love is more important in a marriage. If one of the spouse is very rich, but there is no love in between them, the marriage will not be sustainable. Love can help to strengthen the relationship of the couples, and they will not divorce so easily. Only with true love, there is a very strong support in the matrimony, the couples truely love each other and they will be able to work together to build a warm family. But if the marriage is created because of money, the couples will separate easily. The spouse who marry another just because of the money will divorce by the time he or she gets another's possession. It is very sad to see the couples who only emphasize money and strive to get money from another, as they do not seriously treat marriage, they will just think that marriage is one of the platforms to get money. They abuse it so that they can get as much benefits as possible. Personally, I think that love should be the main reason why a matrimony is created.

Evolution of War

It is rather obvious that the war has evolved and it has changed a lot too. For example, in the past soldier used spears, shields, bow, crossbow, etc. to fight during the war. It was not that devastating as it would not hurt too many innocence, especially the citizens who were not involved in the war. A soldier would not intentionally kill the innocence, even if he would, he could not kill many people in such a short period, he had to commit to the war. But in nowadays, soldier has guns, grenades, mines, etc. to fight during the war. Those thrown weapons, especially grenades and remote mines, can cause massive damages to a large area and kill a lot of innocence. Furthermore, they are largely produced in a short time. Although in the past there are soldiers using cannon in the war, but it was not as devastating as grenades, and it took very long time to cool down and recharge. While grenades can be rapidly thrown as long as there are enough supplies of them. The purposes of the wars in the past and nowadays are rather different. In the past, the soldiers could be fighting for freedom, to gain power, to obliterate mortal enemies and many other reasons which were considered unique nowadays. But now some people start the war because they want to protest to the tyrants what they are not satisfied of. Some wars are started due to the wide variety of races and religions, like terrorism. The infamous terrorist organization Al-Qaeda had many wars with the army of USA, the terrorists sacrifice themselves to fight because they think that it is a glory to die for Allah, the God of Muslim, but Americans think that this will cause chaos in the world if terrorism is not stopped.

Concluding my points above, there are two main differences between the war in the past and nowadays, i.e. the intention of the war and the weaponry of the war.

Book Review

First Book: "The Secret Country" by Jane Johnson

A boy named Benjamin Christopher Arnold also known as Ben wanted to buy a pair of Mongolian Fighting Fish. When he entered the pet shop opened by Mr. Dodds, a black cat signalled him to buy it. Due to the sympathy of Ben towards the cat who was tortured by Mr. Dodds, Ben used all the pocket money to buy it. The cat, known as Iggy the Wanderer, came from another world called Eidolon. Iggy claimed that Ben held the bloods of Eidolon, and asked him to bring itself back to Eidolon. On the journey, Ben met Silver the Selkie and Twig the wood-sprite, they also asked Ben to bring them back to Eidolon. They encountered the same problem, that was they became unconsciously suddenly in Eidolon, and was brought to the human world. After sending them back to Eidolon through a series of adventure, Ben met Zark the Dragon who was trained by Mr. Dodds and his uncle Mr. Aleister as a garden incinerator. Zark disobeyed their command and stopped incinerating the grass of others' house yard. Mr. Dodds and Uncle Aleister planned to kill the dragon as it had no more value again. Ben who saw the dragon tried his very best to save it. When Uncle Aleister drove the dragon together with the family to the mysterious path to Eidolon, Ben sneaked to the dragon and released it, they rushed to the path to Eidolon. Mr Dodd and Uncle Aleister noticed them and chased them, so they entered Eidolon too. Mr Dodd, known as Dodman in Eidolon who was going to take the throne of Eidolon and Uncle Aleister, known as Old Creepie in Eidolon succeeded in capturing Ben and Zark. When Ben was nearly killed, a dryad saved him. Since Ben was truly the prince of Eidolon(His mother was the real Queen in Eidolon), Dodman and Old Creepie arrested him and imprisoned him in the Rose Room which was once his mother's room. Then Iggy the Wanderer and Silver the Selkie came to rescue him, Ben succeeded to return to the real world, but Old Creepie chased him from Eidolon too. In the end, another dryad nearby entangled Old Creepie and his black business was discovered by the policemen, that was to transfer creatures from Eidolon who possessed special abilities to sell them in the real world and made fast money.(The policemen who did not know the existence of Eidolon thought that Old Creepie altered the DNA of the animals which was in fact illegal in the real world) Ben true identity was revealed but he chose to stay with his mother who was once the Queen of Eidolon.

Second book: "The Marvellous Medicine" by Roald Dahl

George's irritating Grandma had started to torture George again by asking him to do a lot of things when his parents were not at home. George could not resist his Grandma's attitude, so he wanted to create a medicine for his Grandma to eat so that she would treat him more politely. During the medicine time, George mixed a weird concoction made up of many ingredients such as shampoos, toothpastes, animal pills, floor polisher, a variety of powders, a handful of grease, engine oil and many other substances. He cooked them as fast as he could so that Grandma would not suspect him to change the medicine into the weird concoction. When Grandma had a spoonful of George's medicine, weird things started to happen: Grandma felt suddenly very hot, her body started to expand, Grandma started to grow and finally she was higher than the roof. She asked for more medicine so that she would grow higher. George tried the effect of this medicine towards the chicken their parents had breed. As expected, the chicken began to grow bigger. When George's parents returned, they was surprised. George's father was a person who liked money very much, he did not care to save Grandma, but he asked George to create more such medicine. But George had forgotten the process and the ingredients he had used in the making of the medicine. The chickens and goats who had sipped in the medicine began to grow awkwardly, like none of their parts grew except their necks, none of their parts grew except legs. After a few tries, Grandma started to feel impatient and asked George to make her returned to the original size. So George boiled a medicine again, but Grandma shrunk gradually and did not stop. At last, she shrunk into nothing and disappeared.