Thursday, January 19, 2012

Why do lawyers earn so much money? We don't. I don't anyway.

Being married to a pilot, a lot of people ask me this "why do pilots earn so much anyway? Everything can be done by auto pilot."


Yes, that may be true if you have perfect and still skies every damn time you fly. Except that you don't. You sometimes fly into bad weather. Or perhaps into an Elmo's Fire. Or say, 2 out of the four engines of the aircraft fails, you think the so called "everything can be done by autopilot" will fly the damn plane for you?

Sure, like many out there, I die a little every time my husband jokes "even with a whole month off from flying, I still earn more than you." (this is usually followed by a chuckle, to which I will say it then makes perfect sense for me to no longer spend my meagre pay and spend all of his BIG FAT PAYCHECK- seriously. never say this to your wife.)

But still, a lot of people earn a lot of money for the type of job that they do because it probably has higher risks, bigger responsibilities, requires more thought and more of everything. And while we are at this topic, can I just say that just because your company has 600 staff and mine has 3, it does not make your job more important and mine any less important.

Seriously, what monkey's ass logic is it to say "Oh, goodla you can work in a small firm. Sure you get paid a lot more than I do right? And you don't have to do as much work."

The reason why you are not going home at 5.30pm is because you probably got to work at 10am. And the reason why you work piles up is probably because you are on FB during working hours, complaining about how much work you have, instead of actually DOING the damn work. So cut out the frills, the coffee breaks. the long lunches, the time spent on reading jokes in your email  inbox, time spent twitting and fb-ing about how much work you have, you may actually finish at 5pm.And then your job is no different from mine now is it? I just have better time management.

So two days ago, a friend posted a link about Flight Attendants.I mean, the title says it all "Flight Attendants: Unspoken Heroes."
I have two issues with this article. But before this I am not sure how some people can SKIM an article, gleaned probably 20% of what is being said in it, make a positive reading of it and then post it up as if it were quotes from a Holy Book. When if you read it slowly and thoroughly, you get paragraphs that say:-


"The asian airlines have small, petite, and dainty little creatures ‘serving’ you. With their “Hello Kitty’ trinkets on their phone, tons of make up (as they were trained to wear), and their weekly manicures. Regular little dolls. So much emphasis on how to please you visually. But how are they in case of emergency? I’ve been on flights with several airlines and have witnessed many times  the ‘thinking bulb’ blinking on top of their heads as they wonder if the proper arming and disarming technique was used. Boy, do I feel safe."

 I don't know about you, but if I were an Asian cabin crew, working with an Asian airline, I would be thoroughly, absolutely and incredibly INSULTED. But apparently not those who put up this link for everyone to see and capping it off with "read this and stop insulting us!"

All I can say is, woman, you insulted yourself by posting this link. I'm not sure how it is that you do not take offense of that paragraph that absolutely DEGRADES you, not only as a person, but of your culture, your intelligence and your professionalism. It's like writing an article that says

Doctors are great. They save lives, they are overworked and underpaid. But boy do these doctors give all they have for others. OH ASIAN DOCTORS ARE FULL OF SHIT. Respect doctors. The end.

And you think OMFG this is a great article about doctors?! Sure does not speak a lot about your intelligence. Just saying.

Anyway I digress. Moving along to the other thing I find disturbing about this article.

 "The General Publis is shocked at how much money some FAs make. What’s shocking is 10 FAs in one apartment that should house 2, to make ends meet. What’s shocking is lawyers who make 6 figures when most of what they learned was opened book, while people who save lives Dr.’s, nurses, and yes, FAs don’t."

Oh HELLO. That's the ultimate insult right there. If everything I learnt was OPEN BOOK, there would be no necessity for universities to ever award anything below 1st class Honours. I mean, if you are too stupid to score a 100% on an open book exam, you probably should not have embarked on studying law anyway. (that's another subject for another day)

And what an incredulously stupid and ignorant statement to make. Not all lawyers sit in their cushy offices and read documents. Not all lawyers just sign off on Hire Purchase documents, or merger what nots. Who do you think fights for those who have been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in prison for crimes they have not committed? Who? Sure, you don't see us scouring document after document, looking at boxes and boxes of evidence, tracking up and down the court room everyday, grilling untruthful witnesses bent on nailing your client, whatever the cost. You don't see that. And you say "oh god, so unworthy of the money you earn."

So what you are saying is this- just because you are trained to help passengers evacuate in times of emergency, resuscitate passengers in distress or try to save drowning passengers if the airplane should God Forbid, crash- and the possibility of being struck by lightning has a higher chance of happening-YOU save more lives than lawyers who are in court every day trying to keep innocent persons from being punished for crimes they did not commit?

Right.

I'm sorry. I don't get it. I have no disrespect for Flight Attendants. But boy I WILL find issue with statements such as above.

You do your job and I will do mine.

Just as I respect your ability to work tirelessly throughout a 16 hour flight while looking absolutely flawless, get off the plane, rest for a mere 10 hours and do it all over again, day after day, you respect that I too, have different challenges in my job.

Are we clear?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Hey 2012,wassup?

You know the saying "let time heal what reason cannot".

I live by that.

If you'd asked me back in March 2011 why I had such a big fallout with a friend of 17 years, I could tell you every minute detail- down to the things she did and did not do, the words she uttered and the texts she sent me. Today, I have all but forgotten what happened except that we are no longer friends, much less acquaintances. I was given the cold shoulder when I bumped into her two weeks ago at a wedding. I am no longer a teenager, no longer a young adult. I am in the third box now. But here I am faced with a "former friend" of 17 years, giving me the cold shoulder.  I guess some people do not grow up.

Many have told me some people find fault in another person's life because they are essentially very unhappy with their own. Could it be true? Could it be true that I kept all my friends happy when I was the most unhappy with my own life? And once I made a decision to follow the path to happiness, everything unraveled. I was no longer the friend I used to be. Why would anybody who claim to be a friend, rob you or stop you from finding happiness? Or enjoying and embracing a new life with new beginnings? I guess some people just can't find it in their hearts to allow others to be happy.


2011 was eventful for me. For one, I got married. Not just to any guy, but to the guy whom I met 10 years ago when I was merely 21 and attached to someone else. I made the decision then that I could not be with him, for we had cultural and religious differences. But God had other plans for me. And in 2008, I was single again after 7 years of holding on to something which was obviously not for me, and I met him again. And the first thing he said to me was "I guess you're married now?"

It is only when you are at your lowest point in life, do you realise your true friends. It was when I was torn between taking the plunge into something I could never leave or walking away from someone I loved wholeheartedly, that someone told me "Who cares? It's not easy to find love. And it certainly is not easy to find a man who is crazy in love with you. Whatever comes next, you'll deal with it later on. And rest assured he'll be right there to deal with it with you."

In 2011, I learn to let go. Of grudges. Of hate. I extended an olive branch or two to friends I had sworn I would never speak to again. I made that decision when someone whom I admired and loved passed away from cancer. I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. I was a day late. I would hate to live life regretting missed opportunities to tell someone I loved them or that I am sorry I hurt them.

2011 was also the year I realised I am no longer as attached to material things as I thought I was. I know my peers earn double of what I earn, yet I find that I do not envy their late nights, their lack of social activities and their office doubling as their home. A friend of mine worked hard for every penny she earned. Late nights, working weekends, working from home and all that stopped as soon as she learned she was pregnant. She told me" Suddenly I don't really care so much about work anymore."

I have also learned to be thankful. While I hate the size of my thighs, I am thankful that my legs are strong. I am thankful that I have a loving family, a wonderful husband, great friends, fantastic boss and a job I have passion for. I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given and the many endless possibilities that 2012 will offer me.

I am happy. And my wish for 2012 is that each and every one of you will find happiness too. One that is not selfish. One that does not increase or decrease with the level of another person's happiness. 


Happy 2012!