The language of a natural diplomat.

A couple of months ago, Tiarnan, then twenty-six months, showed his understanding of other people.

His mother, Syahidah, had given him a series of instructions, in English, to convey to his grandfather. He listened to her carefully and when she had finished, ran off to find his granddad.

When he got to his grandfather, he began to tell him, idea for idea, what she had asked him to convey - but he did so in MALAY, NOT ENGLISH. He translated it all, perfectly.

Syahidah was surprised that he had done this. Tiarnan's grandfather speaks both English and Malay - but he is most comfortable in Malay. Clearly, Tiarnan had noticed this - and so selected Malay as his granddad's preferred language.

Tiarnan's grandfather, Osman, laughed at this: "He doesn't think my English is good!"

I thought it telling that Tiarnan actually took the trouble to evaluate Osman's perspective, and to realize that Malay would be a better choice for him. The simplest thing, for him, would have been to just relay it all, as he had heard it, in English - but he did not do so: he translated it into Malay (for quite a lot of information) and relayed that instead.

It is funny to see how much Tiarnan understands of other people's needs. Perhaps the art of diplomacy (and social skills) start young.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

No freedom to play

Everyone likes to unwind - especially those whose jobs might be called, at best, unenviable.

Bangladeshi workers, in Singapore, are imported in their thousands to do the jobs that Singaporeans would never lower themselves to do. In return, these foreign workers get paid wages that would not be able to support them, in Singapore, were they not otherwise fed and housed. Indeed, their wages would not be able to support them in almost every country of the world.

Yet, people, everywhere, find resourceful ways to relax, in whatever free time they have - and make life more enjoyable. My wife tells me of a group of Bangladeshi workers that she heard about, who used to gather at the weekend, and play football in an open field, of no seeming use. Every weekend, they would enjoy this respite from their hard working lives: it was the highlight of their week. Until, one day, someone from officialdom came to them. They were told that they were not allowed to play football simply anywhere. They would have to pay. Football could not proceed until the proper fees had been paid. Indeed, they would have to secure a proper referee for their games - and he would have to receive a fee.

Now, these are Bangladeshi foreign workers on slave wages. They do not earn enough to be unconcerned about the cost of a referee. Suddenly, their weekly highlight was no more. They could no longer play football together - for they could not, in all reasonableness, pay what was demanded of them.

I was shocked by this. The lives of these workers are bad enough without taking away their primary means of leisure. Is it not enough that they are being exploited, by being paid far less than what a person doing a job like theirs is typically paid, worldwide? Construction work, and the like is WELL-PAID in most developed countries. In Singapore, it is most certainly not so, despite the rigours and dangers. At the very least, allow them to enjoy a game of football, to unwind: it is not much to ask.

I am puzzled that some Singaporeans think it is their place to interfere so much in the simple course of other peoples' lives. There is no harm in a game of football played between friends. It is most certainly not something to be regulated and controlled - and forced to pay fees (for which read "football tax"). A game of football is a natural pastime between young sporting men. No-one should attempt to interfere in that: to do so, is to delimit the lives of others for no other reason than that one wishes to delimit the lives of others.

I do not know on what basis the obvious attempt to stop the Bangladeshis playing football was made. If it is just an instance of a rule being made up specifically to thwart the Bangladeshis, then one has concerns of racist intent. If, on the other hand, it is, in fact, a general rule, applying to ALL games of football for which permission has not been applied, and fees not paid, then I am even more concerned. The playing of football is not a matter for official interference. Any rule which prevents the natural sporting play between informal groups of friends, is a rule that will stifle the development of a sporting culture. It should be stopped, at once.

A Bangladeshi worker has as much right to enjoy life, as a Singaporean banker, lawyer, or Minister. They should be left in peace to do so.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind

Surprise at McDonalds, Singapore.

What do you think of employees of McDonald's restaurants? Are they paying attention to the world or is it all a blur to them?

The other day, I got to find out.

I queued at a McDonald's restaurant that I had not visited for six months. As I got to the front, I recognized the staff member as someone who used to serve me. I wondered, then, if she would remember me.

She looked up at me, smiled and said: "Will that be coffee to go?"

I was quietly impressed: among all the other customers she had ever served, and across a gap of six months, she had remembered my accustomed order.

I rather get the feeling that some of the staff who work at such places could handle more complex jobs, if only they were given the opportunity: she certainly could.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Career ambitions of Vietnamese students.

I am privy to an informal survey of the ambitions of Vietnamese students. They make curious reading.

Of a group of twenty young students aged from 12 to 17, a number of interesting career choices were made - and a couple of worrying omissions, too.

Two out of twenty wanted to be scientists, which is encouraging; three wanted to be business people (two boys, one girl); four wanted to be doctors, one wanted to be a lawyer (a girl), two wanted to be architects (a boy and a girl); two wanted to be inventors (both boys); one wanted to be President (a boy); one wanted to go into computers; one wanted to be in Public Relations (a girl); one wanted to be an artist (a girl) and one just wanted to sleep (a boy, usually sleeping in class, or trying to.)

The interesting omissions were that none of the twenty wanted to be a teacher - and none of them wanted to be an engineer, of any kind.

If these children are representative of the attitudes of Vietnamese youth, there is some hope - and some concerns. The hope is that quite a few of them chose creative professions: artist, architect, scientist and inventor - amounting to 35% of the class. The concern is that Vietnam might be a country with few teachers - or teachers who wished they were doing something else.

I don't know what role models they have for engineers in their society - but, since engineers create the structural backbone of a society that it is not among their aspirations is a worry, for Vietnam.

Amusingly, the boy who wanted to be President is the second laziest in class (second only to the one who likes to sleep): he also appears to be one of the least bright. He does, however, have big dreams and is quite clearly able to imagine himself in the role.

Interestingly, none of them would admit, at first, to being ambitious in any way: it seemed not the thing to aspire to. They would only answer when asked, more directly, what they wanted to do in their lives.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Is Japan a culture of misery?

The first thing you should know about Japan, is that a lot of Japanese people kill themselves. By doing so, they declare, most potently, that something is not right in Japanese society.

Last year, 30,777 Japanese citizens made the ultimate criticism of their society: they killed themselves to get away from it. In a nation of 127 million Japanese, that is a rate of one person in 4,140 killing themselves every single year. Think about that number. Think about how many people you have met in your lifetime. If you were living in Japan someone - or perhaps several people - that you had personally met and known, would kill themselves, every single year. That is most sobering. Only Russia - a country of many troubles - can "boast" of a higher suicide rate.

I have never lived in Japan. I have never experienced what it is that makes so many Japanese people so miserable. However, I have met many Japanese people who have escaped from it, to some degree, for some time. What they say, is very telling.

I once knew a member of the government of a large Japanese city. He was living and working in Singapore. I asked: "When are you going back to Japan?"

"Never, I hope.", he said, with a surprising passion.

"Why?"

"Japan is a terrible society." His lips were tight with unpleasant memories.

"But you work in government!"

"I know."

I didn't get a fuller explanation out of him, unfortunately. He mumbled something about it being a "very unforgiving society" and wouldn't clarify more.

There is something awry in a country, when members of its own government perceive it as a terrible place.

What has brought me to discuss this matter is an event many of you will have heard of: the stabbing of 17 people - seven of whom have since died - by a 25 year old Japanese man, Tomohiro Kato, who was "tired of life" and wanted to take as many people with him as he could. He first crashed a vehicle into pedestrians in Akihabara - an electronics and maid cafe district in Tokyo - then jumped out and began stabbing the three people he had just run over. Then he rampaged through the area stabbing out at random, roaring all the while.

Shocking as this murderous event is, it is not an isolated incident in Japan. It is becoming a bit of a Japanese tradition. Japanese youngsters, sick of life, and sick of Japan, are taking up weapons and going out and killing their fellow citizens (or is that fellow sufferers?)

A clue as to what is happening is that Japan is a very conformist society - perhaps the most conformist in the world. You are either in, and accepted, or you are out - and rejected. If you are one who does not fit in, Japan can be a very cruel place. It seems that some outsiders - or people who have "failed" in Japanese terms, in some way - are taking their frustrations out on random strangers.

This does not look like a trend that is going to go away. Suicide rates are rising. Japan shows no signs of dropping its insistence on absolute conformity - and people are still, consequently, becoming absolutely miserable. The death penalty - which Japan has, and has used in similar cases - is no deterrent for precisely one reason: the perpetrators are sick of life and SUICIDAL, as well as murderous. The fact that they get the death penalty for their crimes is actually giving them exactly what they seek, anyway.

So, in Japan's case, harsh penalties are unlikely to be the answer - however a gentler society is. If Japan were a kinder culture to its people; if it were more inclusive, more forgiving and less prone to rejecting those that don't fit in, there would not be any such rampage incidents. People would be happier, more fulfilled - and suicide rates would begin to fall.

Japan should stop focusing on materialism, as its societal goal, and start focusing on happiness. If the people were happy, they wouldn't kill themselves in huge numbers...nor would they kill each other. Such deaths are a sure sign of a society that has taken the wrong path. It is time Japan changed direction, before it loses, perhaps forever, its erstwhile reputation for being a safe, low-crime society.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan's sense of mischief.

Tiarnan is a mischievous boy, in the funniest of ways. An incident on the 20th of May, 2008, is typical of this twenty-seven month old toddler.

Tiarnan, Fintan and Ainan were on a bus with their mother. This, of course, is a challenge in itself, since there is no telling what the three boys will get up to.

Nearby there were two Caucasian men. They did not appear to be together.

Suddenly, Tiarnan, who had been looking at one of them, pointed at him and said: "Daddy!...Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!".

The man looked shocked.

Then Fintan, four, and Ainan, eight, picked up Tiarnan's mischievous cue.

"Daddy!", they cried, together, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!", pointing at the man.

He looked terribly embarrassed and seemed as if he wished he were invisible, at that point, as the entire busload of passengers stared at him.

The other Caucasian man thought this was hilarious, and ruptured with ongoing laughter.

Was Tiarnan confused by some close resemblance to his father, of this stranger? Not at all. The man didn't look like me in the least. Tiarnan was just having fun at the expense of a stranger - and perhaps calling attention to the fact that this man was white, like his dad. He didn't see many Caucasians in his daily life.

As for Tiarnan's elder brothers - they just couldn't resist joining in, on the joke, too.

I bet that is one bus journey the Caucasian stranger will never forget.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)