Anything goes

Bylines have always intrigued me. Whenever an article in the papers interests me, the first tendency is to look to the top of the article to see who writes it. And on occasions, I felt compelled to write to the writer to let her know how touching his/her writing is. Perhaps simply, bylines reminded me of how journalism used to excite me -- the sense of adrenalin I felt after having got a story, the thrill of having coined a perfect opening in my mind on the way back to the office in a cab ride.

A byline which was sorely missed for a few years was that of Ching Cheong's as he was detained in a China prison for suspected treason between 2005 and 2008. Hence I jumped at the chance to meet him at a panel discussion held last month in the Singapore Press Holdings HQ at Toa Payoh, as part of his launch of his book (cover of the book as shown above).

Ching Cheong, in real life, is completely different from whom I would have imagined him to be. I was expecting him to cut a tall and imposing figure, with a melancholic quality but he was as tall as me and slightly hunched. Certainly, my background knowledge of him has influenced my sense of perception. But seeing him up close and personal certainly did not diminish the respect I have for this man - someone who dares to dream, a quality which has not diminished with unlawful incarceration is rare indeed. Listening to his intellectual sharing about China's political state, the lucidity state of his mind and his equanimity strucks me greatly. Subsequently reading his book which sheds light on his intense experiences and observations of what goes on around and within him, it strucks me that such meticulous awareness of one's emotions and close scrutiny of his suffering can either break a man or lead to experiences of epiphany. For him, it seems the latter. But what makes the difference between him and many intensely introspective individuals (such as writers and artists) who went through intense tormenting experiences and who sought self-destructive routes, I wonder?

I felt it was a sense of mission, a commitment to a cause larger than himself - that makes all the difference.

For some reason too, I think being in a place which I had once longed to be in, brought back memories and feelings. It dawned me that had I continued my journalism days and was accepted by SPH as a journalist in 2005 instead of stumbling upon a teaching career, life would have had taken on a very different turn. My interests would have been shaped quite quite differently, life's lessons would have been of a very different kind, and most importantly, I would have met a set of people whose influences would have rubbed off on me in unpredictable ways. It's truly amazing.