Are you a Tourist or Activist in Your Life ?

Over lunch with a couple of friends last week,I put this question to them. "Are you a tourist in your life?". Literally meaning, are you just passing by and taking in the sights,going with the flow, not taking any risks and hoping that your job pays you enough for retirement, and just keep to the tried and tested route of getting a degree,working for a big company,settling down,some politiking to keep your job safe,eventually play golf and so on and so on.Its like a conducted tour for millions of people around the world of their lives !

Conversely, an Activist HAS to take a stand on issues affecting the world around him,in the global,political,social,community,family and business arenas.
Sadly, a great majority of people are tourists who would rather sit back and complain and bitch about everything and anything and not do an iota about it. "Coffeshop chatter".Don't forget, "Talk is cheap".

When my Karate instructor,Mr.KF Chia questioned in his blog, "what is the meaning of life ?", I think to me, it means what I can contribute to the people around me that I love, like and have interactions with. It probably means how much I can "impact upon" the people around me who matter the most. Whether I can change the way the system in Singapore works is up to me to :

a)take a atand and voice up my concerns
b)band together like minded poeple for the common cause
c)be an evangelist to propose my cause strongly. (Practise what you preach)

"It is never about money" but at the same time, money is an integral part of everyone's life. So the accumulation of acceptable wealth is a key ingredient in making my life meaningful.After accumulating some wealth, I feel compelled to give back to the people around me and "impact" positively my family, friends, colleagues and acquaintences.This can be in the form of monetary donations (the easist), or my time and expertise (people say I am a great BS artist with some experience!)or even coaching people to run - which I have been doing so for the last 3 years, in a small way.

So be an Activist in your Life. A Hands On Father (for example), a Life Coach, a Fitness Instructor or if you are gifted in managing people (like my friend Roland Teo), a People Developer. That is the greatest contribution each and everyone of us has a responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones.