Wisdom of the Cabs

Who has the most intimate knowledge of a city's streets but also has the most opinions on current affairs of the day? Well, I would think the only candidate for this would cab (taxi) drivers.

I met two actually recently during my trip to Perth and had some insightful conversation with them. The first one while making my way to my hotel from the airport. He had a strange accent which distinctly sound very familiar, so I commented that he did not sound Aussie. He readily admitted he was Scottish and had come over to Perth on his work vacation holiday some twenty odd years ago, and had stayed there ever since. Got his degree in sociology and married a local lass, and is now a taxi driver plying the streets of Perth.

We talked abit on his hometown in Glasgow and I asked which football team he supported and he said none because he did not want to support either Celtics or Rangers as the fans were separated through either being Protestant or Catholic respectively; and he was neutral. He did profess which faith he is but it was obvious he did not like the sectarianism (this was something I did not know, I do now).

We then shifted gears talking about the state of economy in Western Australia (resources industry boom; eg oil, minerals) and the effects of this on the local property prices. His home cost AUD 90K when he first bought it and is now worth more than AUD 300K. He seem well informed and was able to articulate well on the IT industry over there as well. We even talked about how the effect of China and India being a rising power that might overtake the world economy.

In a space of thirty minutes, we had a very broad range discussion on various topics which I personally felt was nice. Then, I started to have a thought; why would such a well-educated bloke like him choose to become a taxi driver. I did not have the answer to this question, as the taxi pulled over the at the hotel and we shook hands and said goodbye after he helped with my luggage.

The second taxi driver I encountered was when I was on my way to airport from hotel. This time, this bloke was pretty quiet initially. But after few questions about his work hours and the conversation started. Well, he says he was going to knock off immediately after the airport as he wanted to go watch football (I presume it is the AFL) on the Friday night and that he has been working only four hours until he picked me up. The conversation then shifted to the fact that even though he had twelve hours of driving time; he do not fully utilise it as he says he does not want to. And he also said this was the most stress-free job (he owned a few business for nearly seven years but decided to quit them); he is happy that he is self-employed and makes enough to pay his bills.

He further elaborated that what Australians had was a Lifestyle. They want to work but they also wanted to have enough time to enjoy the other things in life. The social welfare system is great but abuses are prevalent amongst some the youths and had created anti-social behaviour like crime. Then, he mentioned that the word "SLOW". Perth was a slow city as compared to Sydney and Melbourne but it does has its advantages. He went on to say, if you were young and ambitious, probably it will be good to be in these two cities, but after that, Perth would be great place to slow down and raise a family. Then he vaguely mentioned he has three children, two daughters (in university) and a son (in trade school studying to be electrician). In a nutshell, he is a happy man.

Then, he made an insightful observation. He said all of this was dependent on where the person was brought up. He had picked up a Hong Kong Lady who complained to him that Perth was simply too slow for her and that she needed to go back to recharge her batteries. Well, according to him, it was simply a matter of perception. Since, she was brought up in Hong Kong, the concept of time would be things needed to be fast. So, it was really about where people are brought up.

Also, he discussed about how he has a taxi driver, he had a choice on where he wants to go to pick up his passengers. He says he prefers the more well-to-do suburbs and that he made this his conscious choice, while a bus driver would not be able to do so, as they had to ply certain routes on suburbs which are of lower socio-economic class; and where the kids there are a more rowdy lot.

Along the way, he also gave some nuggets of insights on poker machines in clubs (Western Australia prohibits them while the rest of country allows this) and also on gambling generally. He made a very funny joke on how other taxi drivers normally assess the losers from the winners and would ask them whether they had thirty dollars before taking them on.The thirty minute ride again ended and so did our conversation.

On the plane, I begin to think again. I had my answer to my question in my first taxi ride. These guys are in their forties and obviously still capable to perform any job or work. They have an analytical mind, articulate, well-read and are able to express their opinions independently.

It boils down to one word: Choice. The Aussie Taxi Drivers choose to do this as their profession. Unlike, the taxi drivers in my home country, where there are instances of white collar professionals in the same age group who are unable to find jobs after being retrenched during poor economic period. These people had no choice, as being a taxi driver seems to be only one of the few jobs that they can do. Age discrimination against people in the forty-fifty age group in the manager/professional category is really rampant although this is widely not acknowledged.

I am not saying all the taxi drivers in my home country are all ex-managers/professionals, indeed most of them are from less well educated backgrounds and probably would not be able to hold such thoughtful discussion on a broad range of topics although they are able launch a tirade of complaints (mainly on the rising cost of living and our local politics). This category of taxi drivers probably had no choice too, as they had no or little skills and getting a taxi license seems to be the one of the few tickets to making a living.

The second Aussie taxi driver sums up what I think we all should learn in the search for meaning of our work and our passions for life. It is really about your choice of work and the lifestyle you want to lead.

I would never expect to learn this from a taxi driver (aussie one).... but I do appreciate that slow is good in a society that demands more and more of us to do things always fast, faster and fastest.

So, choose your work and the lifestyle you want if you are able to... easier said than done... but nevertheless, this is a reality Down Under.

Travel Bug and Balancing Equations

I was probably infected by the travel bug some twenty years ago when I first visited Perth with my mum. It was an eye-opening experience as it was my first visit to western country. It was so like my home country but yet it was so different in their outlook and pace of life. I really enjoyed my trip and I told myself from then on that I will travel to more countries to experience their way of life and culture.

I then managed to visit Perth again in eleven years later when I went there for a two week on-campus study. It was not so enjoyable this time as my courses were pretty intense, but I had a better taste of what life was like in down under. People were walking so slowly, buses wait at bus-stops for commuters and shops close at 5pm. I also experienced the coldness of upside down winter that Australia always faces; in June!

Well, tomorrow it is going to be my hat-trick trip to Perth. I was just flipping through one of the news magazines (can't remember which one!) two days ago, and briefly read an article describing surveys of people's attitudes towards work and overall opinion of life actually improved after they had gone on vacation on various length of time.

Slow pace vacation out of the country, Perth seems the ideal place to increase the 3rd element of Passion for Work equation. Let's see.....

Passion for Work Equation

The most precious resource for us in my mind is definitely Time. The reason is pretty simple, whatever commodities, products or goods that we want is obtainable through means through the marketplace, but Time is something special.

It cannot be bought, sold or traded. Once the Time has passed, there is no turning back and it just goes relentlessly forward without any consideration for anyone anywhere.

I have been so busy that I do not have the time to write nor read. Why? Its all because work... obviously, this is one activity that should not consume anyone, but countless people like myself are being overwhelmed by the workload.

The crux of this problem is the current economic boom that we are experiencing. The paradox is that most companies still expect the costs of products/services should remain low (or better still be slashed even lower) while profits/revenue should continue increase higher and higher. Costs in this context means not hiring more people to perform the never ending work that is being generated. The greed of humankind is limitless.

So, how does it relate to my previous posting which talks about passion for work? Well, I can only express it in as a equation as below:

Passion for Work = Good Work Satisfaction (Emotional/Morale) + Great Compensation (Financial) + Adequate NonWork Time (Precious Resource)

Any element out of this equation will result in a lower passion for work. But I think the most important lever is the third element. Without adequate time for personal, spiritual and family; disatisfaction will increase and and ultimately result in a loss of work passion. No amount of great compensation will then be able to help uplift satisfaction or passion.

Footprints of memory

I was reflecting on my raison d'etre again tonight. Probably because of journeyman's comments I guess, but his choice of his moniker made me wonder what kind of journey of my life that I want to lead as well.

Well, the answer was quite easy for me, in part because I immediately thought of my family. Then I began to think what legacy that I would like to leave for my children, basically the footprints of my life's path. I am not immortal after all.

Thought of it for a while, and I decided that I should just let if flow, try to enjoy this moment in time with your family/loved ones and these footprints will be imprinted as your own legacy.

Knowing you know nothing = ?

I was just reading journeyman's comments of my previous post "raison d'etre"; and what he said triggered me to wonder how and when will anyone gain true wisdom in the sense of the word...

So, I googled it and I found a quote from Socrates as below:

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing" Socrates

I loved it. The name of this blog should actually change to... "Knowlege to Knowing You Know Nothing"... hehee ;p. All my life, I have been reading and enquiring about things, and I have always felt that I still do not know enough.

When I first titled this blog's name, I was really thinking about my past years of constant reading. Then it occurred to me when and how can I attain wisdom. I also asked myself whether wisdom can only be attained by someone old and elderly (because I always had the image of an old man with white beard sitting up in the mountain where "ying xiong" or heroes will come up and seek their advice or to learn their skills... hmmn maybe its due to my childhood days watching "wuxia pian"

So finally, I decided to title it as "Knowledge to True Wisdom"... meaning I was hoping to gain knowledge and attaining true wisdom during the course of my life's journey before I start knocking on heaven's doors.

But tonight, it seems all clear to me now. I had known that I do not know enough before, but what I should had known was I know nothing at all.....

Get it?

raison d'etre

I first heard this French phrase "raison d'etre" from my boss in a meeting. I guess he was trying to inspire the team and it did trigger me to do some research on this. He had mentioned that LKY used this phrase sometime, but I could not find any source article attributed to him on this.
Nevertheless, it means "Reason or justification for existing". This brings to my mind what is the purpose of my existence. I did reflect upon it for a while and I came up on a few thoughts which are of no particular order in importance:

1) Family - The cornerstone of our social circle otherwise we would be just individuals living in a deserted island with no ties to bind us. They are the source of unconditional love and support... but of course there are also challenging times where we need to work on our relationships with our parents, husbands, and children.

2) Friendships - The second layer of the our social circle where people whom we enjoy the company of. They could be bosom friends or close ones that are able to second guess your thoughts but yet able to offer alternative perspectives on things. Such relationships definitely grow us as better individuals, without losing our own identity.

3) Knowlege and True Wisdom - As this blog is titled....the purpose of our being is to bring about the great knowledge and true wisdom that we as humans have gained through the millenia through sharing and collaborating with each other. Reading of great books, watching first rate films would only serve us better.

4) Passion for one's work - This may seem understandbly difficult to achieve if one is bogged down by the daily grind of routine mundaneness. But if one can achieve this, we would be able to feel the satisfaction that we all serve society in a meaningful way. However, passion for the work should not clash and become a work-life balance issue.

5) Cultural Diversity - perhaps I had put this in because of my love of travelling. In the course of travelling, I had been exposed to various cultures and the same time learn their some of their subtle ways. Every country you visit, it opens a new world of ideas and perspectives on how things can be done. We can only learn through acceptance of such other cultures and make us much better individuals.

So, to put it simple terms, its about valuing and building your relationships, continuous learning and lastly, passion for life and work.

Multinational Citizens

Who are the only "persons" in the legal sense whom can become citizens of many countries? They are being allowed to own, buy and sell property in practically all the countries of world. Well, the "persons" just happened to be multinational corporations like Shell, Goodyear, IBM, McDonalds and so forth....

The Corporation by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot underscores the influence, power and implications of the corporate entity to the world since its first inception in history. In all areas of society, we are being brought up to belief that the business is good, and wealth is the way to prosperity. Remember the 80's when the mantra "Greed is Good" as echoed by Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street. It was a hilarious start to the film when the film-makers cleverly put together a series of media shots of people describing the corporate debacles of the past years as "Bad Apples"... I really enjoyed it.

It seems globalization is major theme of this film because it practically describes corporations has permeated into our society by even submitting patents for living organisms, seeds and all things the natural earth has endowed us. Well, I am not sure how they are going to patent all these... but with profit as a main motivator, they will find some means to do it legally. Whether it is enforceable in the eyes of Mother Nature... that is not for them to decide. With global warming as discussed in my previous post, and if no definite steps are taken to address it, all the profit and gains would not be enjoyed by anyone. One CEO interviewed, even called himself "A plunderer of Earth"... this sounds like suitable description so far.

The corporations also tries to own knowledge that has been endowed upon us from the generations of people before us. This in a business perspective seems natural for the corporations but I think this has gone abit too far. Knowledge that we have today, is being enjoyed by us because of the fruits of labour of our past ancestors. The concept of intellectual ownership of knowledge is fairly recent in our history.

I am not saying intellectual property or capital of the various artistes or companies of today should not be respected, but there should be some measure whereby the knowledge accumulated in the past could be in accessed freely and used by all. Of course, I do not offer a roadmap or framework on the how to deal with this... but definitely it should not allow the rule of externalities that was discussed in the film to be abused by the corporations.

Noam Chomsky is one notable interviewee in this film; one whom I admire for his intellectual prowess. His arguments on the various points shows and it makes the film a more watchable one. I remembered a friend of mine mentioned to me about him once a time and I had begun to read Chomsky's articles online.

In an nutshell, this is a film about globalization as well. People from the developing countries exploited by their meagre wages, while the products they produce are being sold at incredible high prices in the developed ones. The companies make no apologies for this, as profits are their main purpose of their existence.

It brings to my mind a book entitled "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. Similarly, after watching this film and cross-referencing to Perkin's story of global institutions like World Bank, IMF and so forth, I begin to wonder if this is the new societal order that has sprung out in this point of our human history. Of course, anyone would know in previous eras, there were the empires, kingdoms, the church, feudalism and other forms of dominant power in our civilisation.

So, the question is how are we affected by the "soft power" of the corporation wielded by the few in the name of their shareholders on society. Well, one learning point for me is "The Nag Factor". This seemingly marketing tactic has made children of ours as the focal point target to manipulate parents to buy things that they don't seem to need. Well, this is really something I need to be conscious about.... before wielding my credit card while on my way to a cashier at least....