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| From left: Associate Professor I Lo-fen, Head, Division of Chinese; Mr. Lim Ke Hong, graduate of NTU Division of Chinese and 2014 Lotus on Water Gold Medal Awardee; Master Yun Long Zi, founder of Lotus on Water; and Associate Professor Quah Sy Ren, Division of Chinese. |
No no. We don't do this out of charity. Especially if charity means giving to the needy.
Lotus on Water has learned the painful lesson of not giving to people who need, but giving to people who deserve.
We have discovered that by giving to people who need, people become more needy. By giving to people who deserve, people becomes more deserving.
Whatever we give to, we are investing in, and whatever we invest in (with our time, money and love) we expand it. We wish not to expand the needy in our society. We wish to expand the deserving in our society.
And we are Not giving back to the society. As a company we have been giving while at the same time, receiving. And I have always made sure that we give more than we receive. So there is not a need to give "back".
Yes this is part of acting on what we believe in. It is consistent with what we have always been doing, like part of our day in day out transaction, giving to clients what we promise and receiving from clients what we have listed on the tags.
Lotus on Water Gold Medal is to be given to the Chinese Cultural Studies Student who have scored highest in the thesis research paper. And we wish to receive, not just from the winner of this medal but from all who have participated in it. We wish to receive some positive, on the whole, as a society.
Why do we give the medal to the highest scorer of the thesis paper and not the top overall result student?
From my own experience writing thesis paper, there were many lessons I learned. If we are to make them habitual, they will benefit us throughout our lives. And when we, as part of the society being benefited, will bring benefits to the whole society as well.
When we write thesis papers, we get to choose a topic to write on. We can choose the topic based on our passion. However we need to complete everything the topic covers within a limited time.
When I drafted my topic, I showed it to my seniors and sought for their advice. My seniors told me the topic I chose was too big to be completed in my one short honors year. I was not willing to abandon a topic I am passionate about, and I do not wish to pick up a topic too mediocre, too insignificant. I adjusted my topic a little to reduce the content amount the paper has to cover.
In life, we have many decisions to make. It's too easy to say we follow our passion. Yes we should pursue our passion, but sometimes we have to delay the gratification of it. Sometimes we have delay it to the next time, sometimes to the next generation, sometimes to keep it always in our dream to make our living meaningful.
Good decision in life depends on the weighing of passion and responsibility, of confidence and consideration. We must have all these to make good decisions. Without good decisions, no papers, nor careers, nor business, nor life, can be great.
The gravest taboo in writing a thesis paper is plagiarism. The layman term is "copycatting". Plagiarism is not acknowledging ideas created by others. Plagiarism is stealing the ideas of others.
Most of the resources given by nature will be depleted when we mine it. But the ideas in our mind becomes richer in quantity and finer in quality as we mine it.
Lotus on Water has learned the painful lesson of not giving to people who need, but giving to people who deserve.
We have discovered that by giving to people who need, people become more needy. By giving to people who deserve, people becomes more deserving.
Whatever we give to, we are investing in, and whatever we invest in (with our time, money and love) we expand it. We wish not to expand the needy in our society. We wish to expand the deserving in our society.
And we are Not giving back to the society. As a company we have been giving while at the same time, receiving. And I have always made sure that we give more than we receive. So there is not a need to give "back".
Yes this is part of acting on what we believe in. It is consistent with what we have always been doing, like part of our day in day out transaction, giving to clients what we promise and receiving from clients what we have listed on the tags.
Lotus on Water Gold Medal is to be given to the Chinese Cultural Studies Student who have scored highest in the thesis research paper. And we wish to receive, not just from the winner of this medal but from all who have participated in it. We wish to receive some positive, on the whole, as a society.
Why do we give the medal to the highest scorer of the thesis paper and not the top overall result student?
From my own experience writing thesis paper, there were many lessons I learned. If we are to make them habitual, they will benefit us throughout our lives. And when we, as part of the society being benefited, will bring benefits to the whole society as well.
When we write thesis papers, we get to choose a topic to write on. We can choose the topic based on our passion. However we need to complete everything the topic covers within a limited time.
When I drafted my topic, I showed it to my seniors and sought for their advice. My seniors told me the topic I chose was too big to be completed in my one short honors year. I was not willing to abandon a topic I am passionate about, and I do not wish to pick up a topic too mediocre, too insignificant. I adjusted my topic a little to reduce the content amount the paper has to cover.
In life, we have many decisions to make. It's too easy to say we follow our passion. Yes we should pursue our passion, but sometimes we have to delay the gratification of it. Sometimes we have delay it to the next time, sometimes to the next generation, sometimes to keep it always in our dream to make our living meaningful.
Good decision in life depends on the weighing of passion and responsibility, of confidence and consideration. We must have all these to make good decisions. Without good decisions, no papers, nor careers, nor business, nor life, can be great.
The gravest taboo in writing a thesis paper is plagiarism. The layman term is "copycatting". Plagiarism is not acknowledging ideas created by others. Plagiarism is stealing the ideas of others.
Most of the resources given by nature will be depleted when we mine it. But the ideas in our mind becomes richer in quantity and finer in quality as we mine it.
A society that takes conscious effort to prevent plagiarism respects ideas and those who mine it. And only in this way, ideas in the society becomes richer and finer.
Because it is a great sin to plagiarize, we are forced to come out with new ideas. We are forced to ask more "why" and more "how". And as a result, a better "what" is created.
Like the musical notes of "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So" are mixed and matched to create musical melodies of millions of pieces, the questions of "Why" and "How" are asked to create unmeasurable numbers of possibilities.
Great scientist, artists, and philosophers ask why on the most obvious things that normal people think it's ridiculous not to just accept as matters of fact. For instance, why did the apple fall when it's ripe? Why do we call something beautiful? Why are we here?
The same kind of questions we ask, and willing to ask, to create a good thesis, also create outstanding careers, profitable enterprises and a meaningful life.
When I graduated with a first class honors from NTU in 1997, I wanted to be an academician. But I have an other calling in life. A calling that requires more than all the time, energy and love I can give in this life. And so I have to delay this academic dream to probably my next life, or the next generation, or my more junior brothers, which are all the present new born alumni who have the opportunity to pursue an academic career. However, little did I realized at that time, that the thinking skills I acquired when I was writing my thesis have become habitual.
If Lotus on Water can be considered as "above mediocrity", in making a difference in lives of individuals and in society, a large part of it is due to the habitual thinking skills I acquired when I was taught how to write my thesis paper, and all other essays of a similar nature and a smaller scale.
And I am, and will be forever, grateful to my alma mater, and all my lecturers, tutors and mentors, who have helped made me a life time addict to these thinking habits.
And I am grateful to you present lecturers, coordinators, tutors who have put in lots of effort to make Lotus on Water Gold Medal possible.
And I congratulate you the winner of Lotus on Water Gold medal, and I congratulate also you who have not won this medal. For I know and I am sure, that if you will never forsake these essence of thesis writing which the Lotus on Water Gold Medal is respecting, you shall receive many many medals, made of finer gold, in time to come.
And Lotus on Water will cheer you on.
-- Master Yun Long Zi, 10 August 2014
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