I am sec 1, but a superstar.

Title: 校园SuperStar总冠军淘汰翻身夺冠

Category: Social Issue

In the recently concluded Campus Superstar II, 13-year-old contestant, Shawn, was crowned the champion. Even though this is a singing competition, Shawn’s singing ability ironically plays a minor role in his victory. It is widely believed that he won because of his appearance and money, both of which precisely reflect the immaturity of our society.

Undeniably, being the youngest and also the cutest contestant, Shawn does have an edge over his competitors in terms of appearance. He is unique. And uniqueness is indeed one of the important traits that a superstar should have.

However, in this talent search competition, should uniqueness be the determining factor?

Looking back on the similar events in the past, I have “coincidentally” found out that the winner for 绝对Superstar is also someone pretty unique – he is blind. It immediately seems clear to me that the audiences were not voting for the idol in their hearts (as they should be doing), but were seriously fooling around. It seems that we are no longer paying respect to skilled performers but to those who arouse pity and affection. This behaviour not only makes me wonder if Singaporeans are truly ready for such competition but also makes me think twice about the definition of superstar.

A term which is once only used on actors like Brad Pitt who is an integration of both beauty and skill is now being labeled on normal individuals who just so happened to make their appearance on stage. The dilution is obvious – superstar has already lost the superiority part of its meaning. It is being exploited as a manufactured and empty idea imposed on the culture at large through a top-down process by the media. This dangerous machine precisely locates our sense of wanting-to-be-above-all-others and digs it up regardless of how deep it is buried.

All machines need money as an input, media is no exception. It is reported that Shawn’s parents have spent more than 10 000 dollars dialing the hotline. Not mentioning whether such investments are worthwhile for a diluted title that will fade with time, the idea of money leads to success itself is something that should not be encouraged. It upsets the balance between success and hard work, resulting in the younger generations no longer willing to achieve their dreams via righteous means if the unrighteous ones save them effort and time. Yet the media is happily distorting such important moral value just to thicken its annual income report. What level of maturity does this reflect?

At the end of the day, I think we should be asking ourselves what we are going to leave behind for our future generations. Shall we make a leveled world where no stars will shine? Build a skyscraper with economical foundation? Or buy a Statue of Morality? All these options are unique.

But they may not be the best.

Suicide, our last resort?

Title: Chinese toymaker commits suicide after recall

Category: Social Issue

Studies have shown that the number of suicide cases is rising every year. One explanation to this worrying trend is the increasingly high level of stress the society puts on individuals.

Due to our growing population and improving education standard, people of all ages in the work force are facing stronger and tougher competitions each and every day. This, often seen by economists as an ideal way to keep up the competitiveness of a country, is also putting a tremendous amount of stress onto the citizens.

I may be rich, but I am a human too.

I believe this is a general complaint generated by the people high up on the social ladder. Indeed, all humans fear being stripped of things that we treasure. In order to preserve them, we work hard. However, there always seems to be someone who works harder. And thus, we fail.

To many of us, failure is the best stimulant because it attacks our emotion. It wakens our desire of reclaiming things we have lost. However, just like muscles, our emotion can be overworked. When failure either quantitatively or qualitatively gets out of hand, we will be left with no choice but to take a break.

Sometimes we are extremely upset about something. This signals the time for us to take a step back, relax ourselves and recall the past joyful occasions. If you really cannot think of any happy moments in life, just imagine yourself strangling the lady that issues your bills or the guy who sets all the examination papers and you will definitely feel better.

However, no solution is perfect. Once in a blue moon, that strategy may fail and we will have to turn to our last resort – friends.

Friends may not be as closely related to us as relatives, but they do understand how we feel and can in many ways give us emotional support by either comforting us or just lending us their ears. We also feel “safer” talking to them, in the same way we feel while chatting online, due to the distance that separates us.

Although it is said that no one is born alone, certain people, unfortunately, are so engaged in pursuing their own goals that they have neglected the importance of socializing. Thus, their last resort fails. And this leads them to a dead end, with one last door – parents.

It may seem surprising that parents are reserved for the very last moment, but it makes perfect sense when factors like the generation gap are taken into consideration. However, no matter how far away they may appear to be, or we may say they appear to be, family members are always closest at heart. Even if the whole world is against you, your parents will still be standing by your side. Thus, talk to them and they will definitely rekindle your spark of life.

As we can see, there are many measures we can take when stress got better of us, but suicide is never one of them. Numerous cancer patients are yearning to live just one more second. What right do we have to give it up?

What’s going on?

Title: Evolution miracle fights for survival in Death Valley

Category: Environmental Issue

On average, I would expect to read at least one piece of news regarding endangered life forms per month since the day I picked up my newspaper reading habit 3 years ago. Are the animals really dying or it's just that we, the humans, are increasingly sensitive to our habitat over time? To me, it seems ridiculous that all the wildlife suddenly starts to extinct as soon as we stepped into the 21^st century.

Everybody knows about the theory of revolution. It states that all beings born into this world are put into a competition of survival – the fitter you are, the longer you will survive. All living organisms have been following this law for billions of years, why do we now worry about this natural phenomenon? Why do we now care so much about those being left out in the process of natural selection? These critical questions are preventing me from agreeing with environmentalists' concerns until I read the following line said by Barrett,

"We don't have the right to play God, it's arrogant of us to think that as humans we can come in, and take away something that's not convenient."

Indeed, we are the ones who intrude their habitats, who caused their extinction, and yet we want our hands to be clean of their blood? No! They are also made of flesh and blood. They are also entitled to live.

Another statement in the article that makes me ashamed of myself is this,

"When you see a fish, you think: 'I'm wondering how that would taste with lemon on it!'" Baldino said, saying that compared to iconic animals like polar bears, grizzly bears and bald eagles, the pupfish were "a harder sell."

I cannot agree more with this. Compared to those gigantic life forms that instantly grab our eyeballs, how much attention did we give to these small organisms? A bug is as vigorous as a monkey, yet how much we feel for them when they die?

I believe it is time for us to really reflect upon our biased conceptions and reconstruct them into something more empathetic. Only then, will we be able to preserve our lively earth and benefit our following generations.