Wan of a Kind V2.0

When Cheryl Faith Wee of the Sunday Times interviewed me in February this year to celebrate Facebook’s 10th anniversary, I had to admit that my posts were erratic, though I had opened an account since 2008. Since then, I had rediscovered the Facebook as a platform for positive messaging. I am now a much more avid user of the social network and am quite enjoying it. My renewed interest in active participation coincided with my discovery of the PhotoGrid Apps. By putting together a number of photos into a single frame with some variations, I found that I could make my Facebook posts a lot more visually interesting. I also found that my text becomes more interesting when I have something positive to say. In the months since the interview, I have increased the number of Facebook friends though I am still rather selective. In February the highest number of likes was 49 and that has increased several fold to some 200 in some of my posts. I thought it is instructive to find out what ...

Thank you for your comments and opinions. I understand why this article attracts as much criticism as it does. Many people are still angry at the posts made by Anton Casey. On first reading my commentary, many may have felt as if I was somehow sympathetic to his actions. I was not, for that would have been condoning his wrong. To be clear, Anton Casey’s behaviour was not acceptable, and yes, it did anger me. It was anti-social and mean-spirited. He did not demonstrate any empathy towards those he mocked and he deserved to be firmly put in his place. And many of us did exactly that. But clearly, this wasn’t enough for some. More than just rebukes and condemnation, we hounded and harassed not just him, but also the people around him. We made demands on his employer and even threatened his family with harm. That is what led me to write about the need for empathy. Anton Casey spared no thought for the feelings of those he hurt. But have we not done the same? That was the po...

One of my goals when I first took on this role a little more than 2 years ago is to raise public awareness of kindness and the need to be kinder. I had this vision that if we could implant kindness in the public consciousness, we will create a destiny where kindness becomes a way of life. In thinking this way, I am influenced by Mahatma Gandhi who said, “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” Today I am gratified to note that we are more aware of kindness and graciousness than ever before. More people are talking and writing about it in various media. I take it that more people resonate with it because they believe in it, and are thinking about it. Take the last 3 days (August 5-7) for instance. The following are just a sampling of the buzz about Kindness and Graciousness in our newspapers. Mo...

After more than 30 years of service, first as the Courtesy Lion and then as the Kindness Lion, Singa has stepped aside. As Singapore’s mascot for kindness, Singa’s letter calling on real people to step up brought an unprecedented depth of discussion on the topic of kindness. Whether on social media or through letters to the press, Singaporeans were eager to share why they felt Singa should stay or go. There were also serious questions asked of the state of graciousness in Singapore. Press and blogs on Singa's resignation It is evident that kindness still matters to people and that is an encouraging sign of our potential for pro-social change as a nation. The conversations that took place were important in helping us to take stock as a people, and set the tone for how we can move forward in our quest for a kinder society. In his 30 years of faithful service, Singa served as a reminder of the positive values we should constantly strive for....

One of my current pet peeves is how the media today, be it traditional or social, makes it look like Singapore is full of racist, xenophobic and unkind people. Some have even wryly noted that the existence of the Singapore Kindness Movement is proof that Singaporeans need someone to teach them to be kind. The recent example of the video of the NUS/SIM boy making its round on social media, drawing much anger from netizens, is indicative of this. Yes, the student said some unfortunate things, but many comments from keyboard warriors were equally unkind, if not worse. When the boy’s actions and the subsequent reaction are viewed in totality, it makes Singaporeans look like angry, petulant children. The story even made it to the mainstream media, which further sensationalised the issue. Some will justify the reactions to say that we must fight fire with fire, but I’ve been brought up to think that the best way to fight fire is with water. Fireworks at the Marina Bay Floating Platfo...