My Primary-Five-Science-Teacher

Batman begins with a pretty slow background and the sleepy bug that was bothering me for the past few days did not grant me any mercy. Luckily, the show kinda pick up with Bruce finally got into his black suit and ready for some action, before I slouched into slumberland.

The entire show encircles on how Bruce faces and conquers his fear of bats and eventually “becoming” the fear himself.

Don’t ask me what’s the irrelevancy for………..Batman reminds me of George Lam starring in the famous classic Guiness Stout advertisement “ NI PA HEI MA” ?

I fear a myriad of things. I fear owls. I fear my primary-five-science-teacher. I fear centipedes. I fear angry people. I fear uncertainty. I fear deep waters. I fear love. I fear anger. I fear losing. I fear inadequacy. I fear sea urchins and porcupines. You see…. fear depicts itself in many ways and varying extent. Almost always, fear depicts itself in the form of rage and frustration, as far as I am concerned.

Typically, I am angry because I am scared. I perceived anger as peripheral to many of my fears. I believe everyone’s life has been and will continue to be a perpetual battle to overcome fears. I have almost always felt that the fear within me can only be overcame when I am being pushed to ultimate point of rage and towards the cliff of failure. That very point of failure is a point where the fear is stripped to its utmost nakedness where I can finally embrace and overcome fear.

I will cite one example where fear is conquered at the brink of failure. Last couple of Sundays ago, my friends and I brought a group of kids for a high-confidence-obstacle course. The sight of the obstacles is daunting enough for most of the young ladies. I led a group of three ladies and two gentlemen to the “flying fox station”.

I have finally witnessed how does one face and conquer fear when they are being pushed to the point of failure. This young lady was shivering when she was standing on the “flying fox platform”. “I’m scared” was uttered repetitively. Finally, she teared and wanted to give up, not knowing that her upper body had already leaned out of the platform. Without any pre-warning she let out a super-duper-high-pitch scream………. the rest was history. When asked how she feels, without hesitation…. Good.

Fear sometimes is a paradox because it also presents itself as an opportunity to uncover one’s latent capability and resilience. This uncovering of our latent abilities requires courage and conscious effort. The decision to overcome fear and uncovering your resilience is so swift that sometimes one will miss it and remain to be fearful and angry

We do not have to be fearful and angry. If we are, we will be cursed with lousy dinner and bad or no sex (scary enough?). At that point of our life, we might retreat to that punishment, which we do not deserve.

Finally, if you are still wondering what is that dumb title of this post for..... dun worry u are defintely not the first one asking.

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Some of my favorite lines in “Batman Begins”

Bruce Wayne: You haven't given up on me yet?

Alfred Pennyworth: Never.

Alfred Pennyworth: [Alfred tries to lift a wooden beam off Bruce Wayne who struggles] Sir, whatever is the point of all those push-ups if you can't even lift a bloody log?

Alfred Pennyworth: Why do we fall, sir? So that we might better learn to pick ourselves, up.

The Sacrecrow: You have nothing to fear... but fear itself!