..::*+ Small Talk +*::..
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1. Cor. 13:13 NIV
Kinda enjoy reading nowadays.
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Among the stories in the Bible, I must admit that when I read the story of David vs. Goliath in
1. Samuel 17, I didn't just marveled at it like most people do. I didn't think, or at least from what I read from the Bible, that David just randomly decided to fight Goliath. Unlike Moses or Abraham, God didn't explicitly appear to him and command him to go and have one-on-one duel with Goliath. He was just somewhat in disbelief that this Goliath guy defied the armies of the living God (Verse 26).
Perhaps what worth to be mentioned is that in verse 32:
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
1. Samuel 17:32 NIV
My interpretation of what David said: Let no one doubt the living God because of this Philistine. I will go.
And so he went, God was with him, and after some pre-duel morale/provocative dialogue, he slung rocks, hit-hard on Goliath's forehead - the only unprotected body part - and Goliath KO-ed, facedown.
That, converted to modern role-playing-game (RPG), is a typical example of how one should play melee vs. range games. As a ranged hero, you "kite" the melee enemy, just like David started to keep a distance from Goliath as he worked his way to him. And you attack, while keeping the maximum distance possible. If you "kite" your enemy correctly, he won't have a chance to lay anything against you. That's how you win a duel. That's how David won the duel.
Just that he had done it with one hit.
Must have pumped up his dexterity.
It turned out that the mighty Philistine wasn't that mighty after all. What even shocking is that it turns out that there are some other analysis that suggest that the Philistine wasn't, other than his strength, at advantage at all.
Here's where the book David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell comes in.
This is another book by Malcolm Gladwell that challenges us to rethink some of what-we-presumed-as advantages, and disadvantages as well. As well as how we think.
David wasn't in disadvantage at all
Normally we make assumptions based on what is, and often, physically obvious to us. The bigger army will win wars. Bigger size defenders will protect your favorite football team from conceding goals. Richer companies will win, for example, a patent war. The little boy named David, will not win against Goliath.
We always think to deal situations man-to-man, toe-to-toe. And of course, if to measure strength-to-strength, by sword-to-sword, David could never withstand even one blow by Goliath. In 1816, the Georgians fought the Russians straight up and lost (just quoting some of the war examples).
But we already know the outcome of David vs. Goliath, don't we?
The book let me rethink of some aspects in my life. It makes me think of how I look at things, how I come to conclusion whether a situation is in my advantage or disadvantage. What I realize is that, I always judged too fast that I'm in disadvantage - I wasn't born in a Christian background, thus of course my Bible knowledge couldn't be as good as those who are brought up in a Christian family. But is that the case? Not really. It's is because that I'm not born in a Christian family, I know when I choose to follow Christ. It is because that I was a non-believer, I could make the decision to "die to my old self, and be born again in Christ".
On the other hand, one needs to know the disadvantages in situations where he or she has advantage on. During my trip to Münster last Friday we came across an American who came over to Germany to visit her boyfriend, and she wants to come over to Germany for further study. As we were talking, I slowly realized the disadvantages that I have as a scholarship given by the Malaysian government - I didn't know what are the procedures for a foreigner to come study in Germany. All these things were arranged for us, the scholars. The only duty we have to do is to study, and perhaps, renew our visas when it is going to be invalid. I didn't even know how one applies for student visa, what are the conditions, what about insurance... etc.
The food for thought is that, to find advantages in disadvantage situations, to make full use of what you have, and to be aware of the disadvantages of the advantages that you are having now, and equip yourself up for that.
Small-Fish-Big-Pond effect
Since young my dad wanted the best education for us, so he would use all the connections he has while he was a teacher to send us to the best school possible in the city. And thus I got transferred once to another better school as I was in primary school, and instead of going into designated high school, I got transferred to another better school. That was exactly the moment when I got shocked by the pond that I was in. I used to be the best student in my glorious primary school years, but upon stepping into secondary, I got stunned by the cleverness of the geniuses there. My confidence shattered. What I regretted, when I look back today, is that I never swam against the disadvantages that time. (I should have. And that's why I will start to follow up with my studies, despite I don't really have idea of what I'm studying now.)
I realized that being a small fish that got transferred into a big pond contributed to the lack of confidence that I'm suffering currently. I also realized that I don't need to be the best in my peers. I just need to do my best. And the "best" doesn't mean everything, but the optimum, that leads to the next point:
Inverted U-Curve
There's this Chinese saying which I love the most - 物极必反，器满则倾. It means, if we overdo something, it will backfire. Filling a glass that is already full will cause the water to overflow. This is the part where it makes sense, but we never apply it in our real lives.
We always think everything has its own proportional causality. The longer I stay up to study, the more questions I could answer in my exam. The harder the criminal law is, the lesser people will commit crime. The lesser students in a class, the better they will perform. It is always true as long as we stay on the left side of the inverted-U. Until that tipping point, we reap what we sow. But that's how far things could go better. After some optimum point, things starts to go back down the hill.
I could really relate to this especially when I played (and by the way, still playing) the city-building game Sim City. At first you might lose a bit of cash for providing basic necessities, but after awhile, you earn back what you sow, and your city blooms and population increases. Until that tipping point, where everything starts to go bad - overcrowded clinics and jails, not enough schools, fire-stations, parks etc. Your skyscrapers that you were once proud of as mayor starts crumbling. Your land-value begins to drop, population gets stagnant. You begin to get frustrated by the game, as if the game developer purposely make the game suddenly extreme harder. And you delete and start over again, where everything become friendly again.
Life isn't a SimCity game, or basically any game, where you can just start over once again. That's why people said YOLO (You only live once). If you screw up, life continues. You can't just go back into your mother's womb and decided to be reborn again, physically. You need to re-strategize. You need to understand where you are, what are your resources, what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, what you could do...
That's where I'm currently in, after I read the book Outliers. In this book, I understood about the inverted-U curve. It is particularly important for me, because I realize that that is always the point where I struggle - I always start something, then unable to pull through, and then get discouraged. To regain little confidence, I start something else, hoping that it will be different this time. In the end I tap out when it gets difficult. When situations starts to go down the curve. I gave up.
The Five Model (Big Five)
This is one of the interesting traits about innovators and entrepreneurs and revolutionists
1. Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident)
2. Extraversion (energetic/gregarious vs. solitary/reserved)
3. Openness (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
4. Conscientiousness (orderly/industrious vs. easygoing/careless)
5. Agreeableness (cooperative/emphatic vs. self-interested/antagonistic)
They tend to have the last three attributes. Don't think I really understood this part of the book, but I like what the author said:
They are people willing to take social risk - to do things that others might disapprove of.
In short, not seeking social acceptance. I somehow struggled in this. I don't like to offend people, so I tend to find a way such that I could please every party that involves. Maybe to say something that doesn't make clear stand. Maybe do something that the society can accept. And if Emil J. Freireich were to behave like I do, the success rate of leukemia treatment might still be very very low. (Read the book to know why)
Where to go from here?
Let's go back to David. He went down to fight Goliath, not because God asked him to. But he knew God's own heart - He knew what is not pleasing in God's sight - The Philistine defying God's armies.
God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
Acts 13:22 NIV
I always thought that "I will not be moved until God reveals to me". But now then I understand what it means by "seeking God". It is God's heart that I want to seek.
I slowly understand advantages in disadvantages and disadvantages in advantages. By playing the "neutral" rule will not bring me anywhere. It guarantees me in the future a stable job, just enough income, a wife (maybe lol). But I will just remain someone who is social acceptable - a little grass in big field.
It's a new way to view things: Understanding where you are, sniff the potential dangers currently in and ahead, seeing the beauty of what we assumed to be come-short and disadvantages and perhaps sufferings.
