The mathematician wrote again

The old mathematician friend wrote again, as a response to an email I wrote to him and Ah loONg earlier. I find what he said to be quite meaningful and worthy of being shared with many others. I reproduced what he wrote here (with some minor modification).

The mathematician wrote:

" The main problem is that Malaysian youth do not understand or know what is "the TRUTH of Life and its MEANING". In general, Malaysians used to think that the true meaning of life is to make their life meaningful and to make good use of it. They judge how good their present lives are by using some kind of 'quantitative standard' vaguely known as 'the Good Quality of Life measurement'. In general, Malaysian standard of acceptable so-called Good Quality of Life is based on (1)Money, (2)Status, (3)Level of Education (4)Job and etc. These are quantitatively measurable  things, hence people use these to compare among themselves. For young children, in general, their standard of comparison is simpler. They usually adopt  "Performance in School" such as  (1)Exam Result, (2)Performance in Sport or others School Activities as their standard references.

These kind of measurement has been long been practiced and is treated as the Golden Rule. In general, a lot of Malaysian adult treat (or think) materialistic life more important than intellectual/spiritual life. So are children care more about their school performance (all kind of results in school) than their quality of understanding/knowledge. When I got an A in Quantum Mechanics in my second year of UM (taught by Tiem Leong), I though I am good in QM. The feeling of getting A was so good (why I feel good ?). However, as a matter of fact I know nothing about QM. I can see that a lot of people is living for the sake of how other people look upon them, and seldom we see people care about the real meaning of life. Imagine that all of a sudden people realise what are the most important things in life. So are the children can realise the importance of reading and enjoying the beautiful moment of their childhood. Imagine our society begins to reduce the habitual practice of comparing among one with another. Imagine we don't feel too disappointed when a child doesn't  perform in certain school activities or examinations but treat the failure as an enhancing experience of life. If that day ever happens, we surely will enjoy our lives much better.

I must thank TL again. I lost a piece of Jigsaw Puzzle in my present life when I was a youngster at around 15-25 years. He helps me to find this important part and put it back into my life. Hence, my life is free from a lot of suffering. Thanks again.

Recently, Ah LOoNG gives me an opportunity to meet a good book《专心》. It is a very good book. I would like to seek permission from Ah LOoNG whether I can borrow this book to read."

The above was the opinion by the mathematician friend.