0022 - Zhong Hao

Interviewer's Note: One of the closest friends I've known during National Service, Zhong Hao is someone that I can connect with on so many levels. He's usually highly dedicated to his work with passion, and also a nice chap who just wants to help people around him. He's currently studying.

Wan Zhong Hao / 23 / Singapore / Scribe / lostliterature.wordpress.com / @1zhonghao

What do you live for?

Ah, the question of life and motive. Interesting opening right here - I honestly cannot pin an accurate definition to that. On some of the bad days, I'd believe that I live to be tested by life, the better ones, I'd like to think I live to make the world a more caring place. And on the days I'm disengaged from the philosophical side, I tell myself that I live to find a means to find the perfect balance between words and images.

Living, simply put, is beyond the act of waking up every day - part of living should be spent in thought and reflection. A big part of it, in fact.

Why?

Part of it is driven by the helplessness that is modern life in Singapore - before one gains the ability to think critically, we're given a set of instructions, a "SOP (Standard Operating Procedures)" to follow. A large part of that helplessness stems from the education system that is both a boon and bane to young minds. We've been taught "right" and "wrong" in ways that discourage re-examination of right and wrong till a much later age.

However, on the few moments we have autonomy to make the decision for ourselves, I think it's quite simply, "the right thing to do" instinct that makes things happen.

Though my "right-thing-to-do" might not correspond with society's "right-thing-to-do", I still make the choice to do things my way - even if it results in me learning from society's school of hard knocks.

What is some of the best advice that you have been given/want to give our readers?

• It's okay to be vulnerable: It comes from this TEDTalk. Brene Brown gave a talk awhile back on the power of vulnerability. (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html) A bit from Brown's talk - the human connection works, because we are willing to empathize, belong and love. And all that has to stem from our willingness to put ourselves in vulnerable position. It's only when we are willing to put ourselves in a position that might hurt us, that is the key to opening these experiences.
• Always ALWAYS question the hegemony: The ones in power are not always right. Dare to be the Devil's Advocate. 
• Life is transient: Life consists of many experiences, some good, others bad. The one common quality that they share is the fact that they are transient. Everything will come to pass, be it good or bad. People need to realize that their achievements and failures, in the greater scheme of things, are not as wonderful or bad as they make things out to be. No matter how desperate a situation may be, life will go on. And it is your own strength to carry yourself after you've been hit or rewarded, that matters in the long run.

Complete this sentence. Life is too short to...
...9GAG/Facebook. Although I do it everyday. :P

Something random you'd like to say?
Random. But sometimes, I think random encounters are here to tell you that no matter how alone you are, there is a greater force beyond our comprehension making things work.