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Friday, April 25, 2014

Fisher of Fish - Lotus On Water Gold Medal (2013)

Since young, I have harbored great ideals within me.
And as a result, I suffered a lot of frustration at times.
For the world we live in is still far from ideal.
Of course, there is no value in frustration as it does nothing to improve the situation.
And it is a cowardly to just blame and take no responsibility.
Thus, I often ask myself, what can I do to improve the situation, even just a little bit?

There was a period when I invested quite a bit of money in charity.
However, sometimes, the side effect of such charity is that we are feeding people with fish instead of teaching people how to fish. And we are breeding "eaters of fish" instead of "fishers of fish".

While fishers of fish grow in strength, stature and wit; eaters of fish become fat, lazy and weak. If that is so, charity may bring harm instead of good, if we are not careful.
If enterprise itself would bring good to this world while bringing revenue as well, wouldn't enterprise be better than charity? I am proud that Lotus On Water has been thus so far.

Last Saturday, Lotus on Water presented the first Lotus on Water Gold Medal to the Chinese Studies Honors graduate. Together with the Gold Medal, we also gave out three book prizes to students who did excellently well.


I had made a special request that the awards be given to students who did well in dissertation instead of examination. It is while doing the dissertation that there is training of reasoning power. And self-learning ability is enhanced. It is in true self learning that the "fisher of fish" is nurtured.

May this "fisher of fish" breed more fishers of fish.
May the star of sparks set vast lands of wood on fire.
This is my wish for the winner of Lotus On Water Gold Medal, and the winners of the other three book prizes as well.

Congratulations to all of you. And my gratitude to my Alma-mater, Nanyang Technological University, for indulging in my dream to inculcate the "fishers of fish" mindset in our culture.
 
-- Master Yun Long Zi, 2 August 2013

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