Just want to share sad story of the Maxican mayor.. so sad.. =(
Courageous Mexican mayor Maria Santos Gorrostieta cheated death twice when
she survived assassination attempts by druglords — but three times was too
much.
Gorrostieta, dubbed a “heroine of the 21st century” for her refusal to be
cowed by the ruthless cartels that rule much of Mexico, was kidnapped in broad
daylight this month after leaving her home in the town of Morelia.
She was driving her daughter to school when thugs in another vehicle blocked
her white van. They pulled her out and began kicking and beating her in front of
passers-by.
The 36-year-old mother begged the men to spare her girl and appeared to get
into the thugs’ vehicle voluntarily, witnesses said.
Gorrostieta, mayor of the town of Tiquicheo from 2008 to 2011, had previously
had a police escort and government security assigned to her.
But despite the two ambushes — which killed her husband and left her horribly
scarred — her protection was pulled after she left office.
“No one could do anything to help her,” newspaper El Universal said of her
abduction two weeks ago.
Her relatives waited for a call from the kidnappers, hoping they would trade
her for ransom.
No call came. The family alerted police, who launched a search.
Five days after her disappearance, farm workers found Gorrostieta’s body —
stabbed, burned and beaten — in a roadside ditch in the town of San Juan
Tararameo.
Her relatives identified the body of the mother of three the next day.
Parts of Mexico have become a no-man’s-land, where legal authorities fear to
tread and death comes cheap.
Over the weekend, 19 bodies were found in the northern border state of
Chihuahua, including those of eight people who had been tortured and killed on
Friday.
Many of the dead have been victims of the drug cartels, which have
increasingly included elected and appointed officials.
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a war on the cartels six
years ago, about two dozen mayors have been murdered.
Gorrostieta was one of at least seven women who were willing to serve as
mayors or police chiefs.
Two of them, Hermila Garcia Quinones and Silvia Molina, were assassinated. A
third, Erika Gandara, was kidnapped and is feared dead, and a fourth, Marisol
Valles Garcia, 21, left her job and fled to the United States.
Gorrostieta, a doctor who studied medicine in a university in Morelia, began
getting threats after she ran for mayor of Tiquicheo and was elected as a member
of the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 2008.
Gorrostieta was seriously wounded but soon returned to work, as defiant as
ever.
Three months later, in January 2010, she was attacked again, this time on a
road between the states of Guerrero and Michoacan as she headed to a meeting.
Gunmen with assault rifles fired 30 bullets at her van. Three hit her,
leaving serious wounds. Her brother and a reporter were wounded.
But Gorrostieta sought to use the publicity to get the public to join her war
on drugs. She bared her scars in photos that appeared in a local newspaper.
“I wanted to show them my wounded, mutilated, humiliated body because I’m not
ashamed of it,” she said, “because it is the product of the great misfortunes
that have scarred my life, that of my children and my family.”
The wounds left her in near constant pain. She had to wear a colostomy
bag.
Gorrostieta, a devout Catholic, said she couldn’t understand why she had been
marked for death.
“I have a clear conscience,” she said.
“I have never had any issues of any kind, be it money, family or crime
related, and I have never had any fights with any neighbors or residents of my
town or any other town.”
After the second attack, she considered quitting — but couldn’t. She said she
had an obligation to her town of 13,000-plus people as well as to the memory of
her slain husband.
“At another stage in my life, perhaps I would have resigned from what I have,
my position, my responsibilities as the leader of my Tiquicheo,” she said.
“But today, no.”
“It is not possible for me to surrender when I have three children whom I
have to educate by setting an example,” she said.
“And also because of the memory of the man of my life, the father of my three
little ones, the one who was able to teach me the value of things and to fight
for them.”
She admitted to being plagued by the memory of the two attacks.
“I struggle day to day to erase from my mind the images of the horror I
lived, and that others who did not deserve or expect it also suffered,” she
said.
Nevertheless, Gorrostieta rebuilt her life. She married again, to Nereo
Delgado Patinoran. She switched political parties.
After her stint at Tiquicheo was over, she ran in an election for Mexico’s
legislature, the Congress of the Union, but failed to win a seat.
Her death is being investigated by Mexico’s Anti-Kidnapping and Extortion
Institution.
The unit has another task: Gorrostieta’s second husband, Patinoran, vanished
when she did and is still missing.
Yesterday I went to dentist to extract my molar tooth.. the doctor then do an x-ray and the result showed that my tooth decayed. He consulted me, instead of extraction, I can do a root canal to save the teeth.. as there is an option, at the end I did not do anything, as I'm still thinking.. but then dentist consultation and x-ray alone cost me $50.. damn..
I went home and searching for this "root canal" thing.. cos I'm not so sure if this is safe to do.. actually I'm looking for the root canal process.. to know if the process is pain or not.. but I found out something else, which I would think, it's very important in making the decision and wish to share with everybody, in case they have the same problem with me.. actually my tooth not so much in pain, only when I 'm chewing food, it's not comfortable.. so I've made up my mind, I'll not do the root canal.. and only extract my tooth once it's really pain and wake me up in the middle of the night.. hehe..
Do you have a chronic degenerative disease? If so, have you been told, "It's all in your head?"
Well, that might not be that far from the truth… the root cause of your illness may be in your mouth.
There is a common dental procedure that nearly every dentist will tell you is completely safe, despite the fact that scientists have been warning of its dangers for more than 100 years.
Every day in the United States alone, 41,000 of these dental procedures are performed on patients who believe they are safely and permanently fixing their problem.
What is this dental procedure?
The root canal.
More than 25 million root canals are performed every year in this country.
Root-canaled teeth are essentially "dead" teeth that can become silent incubators for highly toxic anaerobic bacteria that can, under certain conditions, make their way into your bloodstream to cause a number of serious medical conditions—many not appearing until decades later.
Most of these toxic teeth feel and look fine for many years, which make their role in systemic disease even harder to trace back.
Sadly, the vast majority of dentists are oblivious to the serious potential health risks they are exposing their patients to, risks that persist for the rest of their patients' lives. The American Dental Association claims root canals have been proven safe, but they have NO published data or actual research to substantiate this claim.
Fortunately, I had some early mentors like Dr. Tom Stone and Dr. Douglas Cook, who educated me on this issue nearly 20 years ago. Were it not for a brilliant pioneering dentist who, more than a century ago, made the connection between root-canaled teeth and disease, this underlying cause of disease may have remained hidden to this day. The dentist's name was Weston Price—regarded by many as the greatest dentist of all time.
Weston A. Price: World's Greatest Dentist
Most dentists would be doing an enormous service to public health if they familiarized themselves with the work of Dr. Weston Pricei. Unfortunately, his work continues to be discounted and suppressed by medical and dental professionals alike.
Dr. Price was a dentist and researcher who traveled the world to study the teeth, bones, and diets of native populations living without the "benefit" of modern food. Around the year 1900, Price had been treating persistent root canal infections and became suspicious that root-canaled teeth always remained infected, in spite of treatments. Then one day, he recommended to a woman, wheelchair bound for six years, to have her root canal tooth extracted, even though it appeared to be fine.
She agreed, so he extracted her tooth and then implanted it under the skin of a rabbit. The rabbit amazingly developed the same crippling arthritis as the woman and died from the infection 10 days later. But the woman, now free of the toxic tooth, immediately recovered from her arthritis and could now walk without even the assistance of a cane.
Price discovered that it's mechanically impossible to sterilize a root-canaled (e.g. root-filled) tooth.
He then went on to show that many chronic degenerative diseases originate from root-filled teeth—the most frequent being heart and circulatory diseases. He actually found 16 different causative bacterial agents for these conditions. But there were also strong correlations between root-filled teeth and diseases of the joints, brain and nervous system. Dr. Price went on to write two groundbreaking books in 1922 detailing his research into the link between dental pathology and chronic illness. Unfortunately, his work was deliberately buried for 70 years, until finally one endodontist named George Meinig recognized the importance of Price's work and sought to expose the truth.
Dr. Meinig Advances the Work of Dr. Price
Dr. Meinig, a native of Chicago, was a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II before moving to Hollywood to become a dentist for the stars. He eventually became one of the founding members of the American Association of Endodontists (root canal specialists).
In the 1990s, he spent 18 months immersed in Dr. Price's research. In June of 1993, Dr. Meinig published the book Root Canal Cover-Up, which continues to be the most comprehensive reference on this topic today. You can order your copy directly from thePrice-Pottenger Foundationii.
What Dentists Don't Know About the Anatomy of Your Teeth
Your teeth are made of the hardest substances in your body.
In the middle of each tooth is the pulp chamber, a soft living inner structure that houses blood vessels and nerves. Surrounding the pulp chamber is the dentin, which is made of living cells that secrete a hard mineral substance. The outermost and hardest layer of your tooth is the white enamel, which encases the dentin.
The roots of each tooth descend into your jawbone and are held in place by the periodontal ligament. In dental school, dentists are taught that each tooth has one to four major canals. However, there are accessory canals that are never mentioned. Literally miles of them!
Just as your body has large blood vessels that branch down into very small capillaries, each of your teeth has a maze of very tiny tubules that, if stretched out, would extend for three miles. Weston Price identified as many as 75 separate accessory canals in a single central incisor (front tooth). For a more detailed explanation, refer to an article by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS, on the Weston A. Price Foundation website.iii (These images are borrowed from the Huggins article.)
Microscopic organisms regularly move in and around these tubules, like gophers in underground tunnels.
When a dentist performs a root canal, he or she hollows out the tooth, then fills the hollow chamber with a substance (called guttapercha), which cuts off the tooth from its blood supply, so fluid can no longer circulate through the tooth. But the maze of tiny tubules remains. And bacteria, cut off from their food supply, hide out in these tunnels where they are remarkably safe from antibiotics and your own body's immune defenses.
The Root Cause of Much Disease
Under the stresses of oxygen and nutrient deprivation, these formerly friendly organisms morph into stronger, more virulent anaerobes that produce a variety of potent toxins. What were once ordinary, friendly oral bacteria mutate into highly toxic pathogens lurking in the tubules of the dead tooth, just awaiting an opportunity to spread.
No amount of sterilization has been found effective in reaching these tubules—and just about every single root-canaled tooth has been found colonized by these bacteria, especially around the apex and in the periodontal ligament. Oftentimes, the infection extends down into the jawbone where it creates cavitations—areas of necrotic tissue in the jawbone itself.
Cavitations are areas of unhealed bone, often accompanied by pockets of infected tissue and gangrene. Sometimes they form after a tooth extraction (such as a wisdom tooth extraction), but they can also follow a root canal. According to Weston Price Foundation, in the records of 5,000 surgical cavitation cleanings, only two were found healed.
And all of this occurs with few, if any, accompanying symptoms. So you may have an abscessed dead tooth and not know it. This focal infection in the immediate area of the root-canaled tooth is bad enough, but the damage doesn't stop there.
Root Canals Can Lead to Heart, Kidney, Bone, and Brain Disease
As long as your immune system remains strong, any bacteria that stray away from the infected tooth are captured and destroyed. But once your immune system is weakened by something like an accident or illness or other trauma, your immune system may be unable to keep the infection in check.
These bacteria can migrate out into surrounding tissues by hitching a ride into your blood stream, where they are transported to new locations to set up camp. The new location can be any organ or gland or tissue.
Dr. Price was able to transfer diseases harbored by humans to rabbits, by implanting fragments of root-canaled teeth, as mentioned above. He found that root canal fragments from a person who had suffered a heart attack, when implanted into a rabbit, would cause a heart attack in the rabbit within a few weeks.
He discovered he could transfer heart disease to the rabbit 100 percent of the time! Other diseases were more than 80 percent transferable by this method. Nearly every chronic degenerative disease has been linked with root canals, including:
Heart disease
Kidney disease
Arthritis, joint, and rheumatic diseases
Neurological diseases (including ALS and MS)
Autoimmune diseases (Lupus and more)
There may also be a cancer connection. Dr. Robert Jones, a researcher of therelationship between root canals and breast cancer, found an extremely high correlation between root canals and breast cancer.iv He claims to have found the following correlations in a five-year study of 300 breast cancer cases:
93 percent of women with breast cancer had root canals
7 percent had other oral pathology
Tumors, in the majority of cases, occurred on the same side of the body as the root canal(s) or other oral pathology
Dr. Jones claims that toxins from the bacteria in an infected tooth or jawbone are able to inhibit the proteins that suppress tumor development. A German physician reported similar findings. Dr. Josef Issels reported that, in his 40 years of treating "terminal" cancer patients, 97 percent of his cancer patients had root canals. If these physicians are correct, the cure for cancer may be as simple as having a tooth pulled, then rebuilding your immune system.
Good Bugs Gone Bad
How are these mutant oral bacteria connected with heart disease or arthritis? The ADA and the AAE claim it's a "myth" that the bacteria found in and around root-canaled teeth can cause diseasev. But they base that on the misguided assumption that the bacteria in these diseased teeth are the SAME as normal bacteria in your mouth—and that's clearly not the case.
Today, bacteria can be identified using DNA analysis, whether they're dead or alive, from their telltale DNA signatures.
In a continuation of Dr. Price's work, the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) used DNA analysis to examine root-canaled teeth, and they found bacterial contamination in 100 percent of the samples tested. They identified 42 different species of anaerobic bacteria in 43 root canal samples. In cavitations, 67 different bacteria were identified among the 85 samples tested, with individual samples housing between 19 to 53 types of bacteria each. The bacteria they found included the following types:
Are these just benign, ordinary mouth bugs? Absolutely not. Four can affect your heart, three can affect your nerves, two can affect your kidneys, two can affect your brain, and one can infect your sinus cavities… so they are anything BUT friendly! (If you want see just how unfriendly they can be, I invite you to investigate the footnotes.)
Approximately 400 percent more bacteria were found in the blood surrounding the root canal tooth than were found in the tooth itself, suggesting the tooth is the incubatorand the periodontal ligament is the food supply. The bone surrounding root-canaled teeth was found even HIGHER in bacterial count… not surprising, since bone is virtual buffet of bacterial nutrients.
Since When is Leaving A Dead Body Part IN Your Body a Good Idea?
There is no other medical procedure that involves allowing a dead body part to remain in your body. When your appendix dies, it's removed. If you get frostbite or gangrene on a finger or toe, it is amputated. If a baby dies in utero, the body typically initiates a miscarriage.
Your immune system doesn't care for dead substances, and just the presence of dead tissue can cause your system to launch an attack, which is another reason to avoid root canals—they leave behind a dead tooth.
Infection, plus the autoimmune rejection reaction, causes more bacteria to collect around the dead tissue. In the case of a root canal, bacteria are given the opportunity to flush into your blood stream every time you bite down.
Why Dentists Cling to the Belief Root Canals are Safe
The ADA rejects Dr. Price's evidence, claiming root canals are safe, yet they offer no published data or actual research to substantiate their claim. American Heart Association recommends a dose of antibiotics before many routine dental procedures to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) if you have certain heart conditions that predispose you to this type of infection.
So, on the one hand, the ADA acknowledges oral bacteria can make their way from your mouth to your heart and cause a life-threatening infection.
But at the same time, the industry vehemently denies any possibility that these same bacteria—toxic strains KNOWN to be pathogenic to humans—can hide out in your dead root-canaled tooth to be released into your blood stream every time you chew, where they can damage your health in a multitude of ways.
Is this really that large of a leap? Could there be another reason so many dentists, as well as the ADA and the AAE, refuse to admit root canals are dangerous? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there is. Root canals are the most profitable procedure in dentistry.x
What You Need to Know to AVOID a Root Canal
I strongly recommend never getting a root canal. Risking your health to preserve a tooth simply doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, there are many people who've already have one. If you have, you should seriously consider having the tooth removed, even if it looks and feels fine. Remember, as soon as your immune system is compromised, your risk of of developing a serious medical problem increases—and assaults on your immune system are far too frequent in today's world.
If you have a tooth removed, there are a few options available to you.
Partial denture: This is a removable denture, often just called a "partial." It's the simplest and least expensive option.
Bridge: This is a more permanent fixture resembling a real tooth but is a bit more involved and expensive to build.
Implant: This is a permanent artificial tooth, typically titanium, implanted in your gums and jaw. There are some problems with these due to reactions to the metals used. Zirconium is a newer implant material that shows promise for fewer complications.
But just pulling the tooth and inserting some sort of artificial replacement isn't enough.
Dentists are taught to remove the tooth but leave your periodontal ligament. But as you now know, this ligament can serve as a breeding ground for deadly bacteria. Most experts who've studied this recommend removing the ligament, along with one millimeter of the bony socket, in order to drastically reduce your risk of developing an infection from the bacterially infected tissues left behind.
I strongly recommend consulting a biological dentist because they are uniquely trained to do these extractions properly and safely, as well as being adept at removing mercury fillings, if necessary. Their approach to dental care is far more holistic and considers the impact on your entire body—not JUST your mouth.
Unbelievable rite.. ader ke husband sue wife coz she's ugly.. born ugly also is a crime??!!..haizzzss.. why la this thing happened..
Before (left) and after (right) surgery..
London, Oct 27 (ANI): A man from northern China, who divorced and
sued his wife for being ugly, earlier this year, has won the case after the
court agreed with him.
According to Fox 31, Jian Feng has been awarded a little under 75,000 pounds
by the court, the Daily Mail reported. He win the case some more.. crazy world..
Feng said he took issue with his wife's looks only after the couple's
daughter was born. He said that he was taken aback by his daughter's appearance, calling her
"incredibly ugly," and saying that she looked like neither one of her
parents. The guy really not worth it.. how can he called the baby "incredibly ugly".. so bad.. pity the baby.. I do not have the husband pic.. he must be damn good looking..
Feng was so outraged that he initially accused his wife of cheating on
him. Faced with the accusation, his wife confessed to spending around 62,000
pounds on plastic surgery that altered her appearance drastically. She had gone under the knife before she met her hubby and never told him
about it after they met. One of the comments which I totally agreed with him.. "This
plastic surgery is giving me a headache... I also don't know who is right and
who is wrong. Maybe the woman shouldn't have gone plastic in the first place,
then she will be able to find the man who truly loves her.." Feng filed for divorce saying that his wife had deceived him and convinced
him to marry her under false pretense. The judge agreed with Feng and awarded him the damages. (ANI)
Sila jangan tertipu dengan photo ini yer.. it's fake..
This supposed image of Hurricane Sandy over the Statue of
Liberty has been proven a fake
As residents along the Eastern Seaboard batten down the hatches in anticipation
of Hurricane Sandy, a doctored photo of the storm hovering ominously above the
Statue of Liberty has started to make the social media rounds.
While it's tempting to believe the Armageddon-style image is the real deal,
myth busting website Snopes.com already
debunked the photo as skilled manipulation two years ago.
The swirl of dark clouds actually belongs to a much different storm. Back in
2004, photographer Mike Hollingshead captured these
impressive shots of a supercell thunderstorm over the Nebraska skies.
Since then, the picture has been used as the go-to Photoshop image for famous storms around the world, including Hurricane Katrina
and even summer rumblers across Alberta and Ontario.
Just share Dr Richard Teo story.. hope we can learn something out of it..
Singaporean Dr Richard Teo, a successful opthamologist-turned-cosmetic
surgeon, succumbed to Stage Four terminal lung cancer earlier this month at the
age of 40.
But since his death, a 22-minute heart-wrenching video
featuring his thoughts on life and the ceaseless pursuit of materialism and
success is going viral online.
During the talk given to class of medical
students, the former Raffles Junior College and National University of Singapore
student shares with painful, brutal honesty how his driving ambition since
childhood was to be successful at all costs.
Hi good morning to all of you. My voice is a bit hoarse, so please bear with me. I thought I'll just introduce myself. My name is Richard, I'm a medical doctor. And I thought I'll just share some thoughts of my life. It's my pleasure to be invited by prof. Hopefully, it can get you thinking about how... as you pursue this.. embarking on your training to become dental surgeons, to think about other things as well.
Since young, I am a typical product of today's society. Relatively successful product that society requires.. From young, I came from a below average family. I was told by the media... and people around me that happiness is about success. And that success is about being wealthy. With this mind-set, I've always be extremely competitive, since I was young.
Not only do I need to go to the top school, I need to have success in all fields. Uniform groups, track, everything. I needed to get trophies, needed to be successful, I needed to have colours award, national colours award, everything. So I was highly competitive since young. I went on to medical school, graduated as a doctor. Some of you may know that within the medical faculty, ophthalmology is one of the most highly sought after specialties So I went after that as well. I was given a traineeship in ophthalmology, I was also given a research scholarship by NUS to develop lasers to treat the eye.
So in the process, I was given 2 patents, one for the medical devices, and another for the lasers. And you know what, all this academic achievements did not bring me any wealth. So once I completed my bond with MOH, I decided that this is taking too long, the training in eye surgery is just taking too long. And there's lots of money to be made in the private sector. If you're aware, in the last few years, there is this rise in aesthetic medicine. Tons of money to be made there. So I decided, well, enough of staying in institution, it's time to leave. So I quit my training halfway and I went on to set up my aesthetic clinic... in town, together with a day surgery centre.
You know the irony is that people do not make heroes out average GP (general practitioner), family physicians. They don't. They make heroes out of people who are rich and famous. People who are not happy to pay $20 to see a GP, the same person have no qualms paying ten thousand dollars for a liposuction, 15 thousand dollars for a breast augmentation, and so on and so forth. So it's a no brainer isn't? Why do you want to be a gp? Become an aesthetic physician. So instead of healing the sick and ill, I decided that I'll become a glorified beautician. So, business was good, very good. It started off with waiting of one week, then became 3 weeks, then one month, then 2 months, then 3 months. I was overwhelmed; there were just too many patients. Vanities are fantastic business. I employed one doctor, the second doctor, the 3rd doctor, the 4th doctor. And within the 1st year, we're already raking in millions. Just the 1st year. But never is enough because I was so obsessed with it. I started to expand into Indonesia to get all the rich Indonesian tai-tais who wouldn't blink an eye to have a procedure done. So life was really good.
So what do I do with the spare cash. How do I spend my weekends? Typically, I'll have car club gatherings. I take out my track car, with spare cash I got myself a track car. We have car club gatherings. We'll go up to Sepang in Malaysia. We'll go for car racing. And it was my life. With other spare cash, what do i do? I get myself a Ferrari. At that time, the 458 wasn't out, it's just a spider convertible, 430. This is a friend of mine, a schoolmate who is a forex trader, a banker. So he got a red one, he was wanting all along a red one, I was getting the silver one.
So what do I do after getting a car? It's time to buy a house, to build our own bungalows. So we go around looking for a land to build our own bungalows, we went around hunting. So how do i live my life? Well, we all think we have to mix around with the rich and famous. This is one of the Miss Universe. So we hang around with the beautiful, rich and famous. This by the way is an internet founder. So this is how we spend our lives, with dining and all the restaurants and Michelin Chefs you know.
So I reach a point in life that I got everything for my life. I was at the pinnacle of my career and all. That's me one year ago in the gym and I thought I was like, having everything under control and reaching the pinnacle.
Well, I was wrong. I didn't have everything under control. About last year March, I started to develop backache in the middle of nowhere. I thought maybe it was all the heavy squats I was doing. So I went to SGH, saw my classmate to do an MRI, to make sure it's not a slipped disc or anything. And that evening, he called me up and said that we found bone marrow replacement in your spine. I said, sorry what does that mean? I mean I know what it means, but I couldn't accept that. I was like “Are you serious?” I was still running around going to the gym you know. But we had more scans the next day, PET scans - positrons emission scans, they found that actually I have stage 4 terminal lung cancer. I was like "Whoa where did that come from?” It has already spread to the brain, the spine, the liver and the adrenals. And you know one moment I was there, totally thinking that I have everything under control, thinking that I've reached the pinnacle of my life. But the next moment, I have just lost it.
This is a CT scan of the lungs itself. If you look at it, every single dot there is a tumour. We call this miliaries tumour. And in fact, I have tens of thousands of them in the lungs. So, I was told that even with chemotherapy, that I'll have about 3-4months at most. Did my life come crushing on, of course it did, who wouldn't? I went into depression, of course, severe depression and I thought I had everything.
See the irony is that all these things that I have, the success, the trophies, my cars, my house and all. I thought that brought me happiness. But i was feeling really down, having severe depression. Having all these thoughts of my possessions, they brought me no joy. The thought of... You know, I can hug my Ferrari to sleep, no... No, it is not going to happen. It brought not a single comfort during my last ten months. And I thought they were, but they were not true happiness. But it wasn't. What really brought me joy in the last ten months was interaction with people, my loved ones, friends, people who genuinely care about me, they laugh and cry with me, and they are able to identify the pain and suffering I was going through. That brought joy to me, happiness. None of the things I have, all the possessions, and I thought those were supposed to bring me happiness. But it didn't, because if it did, I would have felt happy think about it, when I was feeling most down..
You know the classical Chinese New Year that is coming up. In the past, what do I do? Well, I will usually drive my flashy car to do my rounds, visit my relatives, to show it off to my friends. And I thought that was joy, you know. I thought that was really joy. But do you really think that my relatives and friends, whom some of them have difficulty trying to make ends meet, that will truly share the joy with me? Seeing me driving my flashy car and showing off to them? No, no way. They won’t be sharing joy with me. They were having problems trying to make ends meet, taking public transport. In fact i think, what I have done is more like you know, making them envious, jealous of all I have. In fact, sometimes even hatred.
Those are what we call objects of envy. I have them, I show them off to them and I feel it can fill my own pride and ego. That didn't bring any joy to these people, to my friends and relatives, and I thought they were real joy.
Well, let me just share another story with you. You know when I was about your age, I stayed in king Edward VII hall. I had this friend whom I thought was strange. Her name is Jennifer, we're still good friends. And as I walk along the path, she would, if she sees a snail, she would actually pick up the snail and put it along the grass patch. I was like why do you need to do that? Why dirty your hands? It’s just a snail. The truth is she could feel for the snail. The thought of being crushed to death is real to her, but to me it's just a snail. If you can't get out of the pathway of humans then you deserve to be crushed, it’s part of evolution isn't it? What an irony isn't it?
There I was being trained as a doctor, to be compassionate, to be able to empathise; but I couldn't. As a house officer, I graduated from medical school, posted to the oncology department at NUH. And, every day, every other day I witness death in the cancer department. When I see how they suffered, I see all the pain they went through. I see all the morphine they have to press every few minutes just to relieve their pain. I see them struggling with their oxygen breathing their last breath and all. But it was just a job. When I went to clinic every day, to the wards every day, take blood, give the medication but was the patient real to me? They weren't real to me. It was just a job, I do it, I get out of the ward, I can't wait to get home, I do my own stuff.
Was the pain, was the suffering the patients went through real? No. Of course I know all the medical terms to describe how they feel, all the suffering they went through. But in truth, I did not know how they feel, not until I became a patient. It is until now; I truly understand how they feel. And, if you ask me, would I have been a very different doctor if I were to re-live my life now, I can tell you yes I will. Because I truly understand how the patients feel now. And sometimes, you have to learn it the hard way.
Even as you start just your first year, and you embark this journey to become dental surgeons, let me just challenge you on two fronts.
Inevitably, all of you here will start to go into private practice. You will start to accumulate wealth. I can guarantee you. Just doing an implant can bring you thousands of dollars, it's fantastic money. And actually there is nothing wrong with being successful, with being rich or wealthy, absolutely nothing wrong. The only trouble is that a lot of us like myself couldn't handle it.
Why do I say that? Because when I start to accumulate, the more I have, the more I want. The more I wanted, the more obsessed I became. Like what I showed you earlier on, all I can was basically to get more possessions, to reach the pinnacle of what society did to us, of what society wants us to be. I became so obsessed that nothing else really mattered to me. Patients were just a source of income, and I tried to squeeze every single cent out of these patients.
A lot of times we forget, whom we are supposed to be serving. We become so lost that we serve nobody else but just ourselves. That was what happened to me. Whether it is in the medical, the dental fraternity, I can tell you, right now in the private practice, sometimes we just advise patients on treatment that is not indicated. Grey areas. And even though it is not necessary, we kind of advocate it. Even at this point, I know who are my friends and who genuinely cared for me and who are the ones who try to make money out of me by selling me "hope". We kind of lose our moral compass along the way. Because we just want to make money.
Worse, I can tell you, over the last few years, we bad mouth our fellow colleagues, our fellow competitors in the industry. We have no qualms about it. So if we can put them down to give ourselves an advantage, we do it. And that's what happening right now, medical, dental everywhere. My challenge to you is not to lose that moral compass. I learnt it the hard way, I hope you don't ever have to do it.
Secondly, a lot of us will start to get numb to our patients as we start to practise. Whether is it government hospitals, private practice, I can tell you when I was in the hospital, with stacks of patient folders, I can't wait to get rid of those folders as soon as possible; I can't wait to get patients out of my consultation room as soon as possible because there is just so many, and that's a reality. Because it becomes a job, a very routine job. And this is just part of it. Do I truly know how the patient feels back then? No, I don't. The fears and anxiety and all, do I truly understand what they are going through? I don't, not until when this happens to me and I think that is one of the biggest flaws in our system.
We’re being trained to be healthcare providers, professional, and all and yet we don't know how exactly they feel. I'm not asking you to get involved emotionally, I don't think that is professional but do we actually make a real effort to understand their pain and all? Most of us won’t, alright, I can assure you. So don't lose it, my challenge to you is to always be able to put yourself in your patient's shoes.
Because the pain, the anxiety, the fear are very real even though it's not real to you, it's real to them. So don't lose it and you know, right now I'm in the midst of my 5th cycle of my chemotherapy. I can tell you it’s a terrible feeling. Chemotherapy is one of those things that you don't wish even your enemies to go through because it's just suffering, lousy feeling, throwing out, you don't even know if you can retain your meals or not. Terrible feeling! And even with whatever little energy now I have, I try to reach out to other cancer patients because I truly understand what pain and suffering is like. But it's kind of little too late and too little.
You guys have a bright future ahead of you with all the resource and energy, so I’m going to challenge you to go beyond your immediate patients. To understand that there are people out there who are truly in pain, truly in hardship. Don’t get the idea that only poor people suffer. It is not true. A lot of these poor people do not have much in the first place, they are easily contented. for all you know they are happier than you and me but there are out there, people who are suffering mentally, physically, hardship, emotionally, financially and so on and so forth, and they are real. We choose to ignore them or we just don't want to know that they exist.
So do think about it alright, even as you go on to become professionals and dental surgeons and all. That you can reach out to these people who are in need. Whatever you do can make a large difference to them. I'm now at the receiving end so I know how it feels, someone who genuinely care for you, encourage and all. It makes a lot of difference to me. That’s what happens after treatment. I had a treatment recently, but I’ll leave this for another day. A lot of things happened along the way, that's why I am still able to talk to you today.
I'll just end of with this quote here, it's from this book called Tuesdays with Morris, and some of you may have read it. Everyone knows that they are going to die; every one of us knows that. The truth is, none of us believe it because if we did, we will do things differently. When I faced death, when I had to, I stripped myself off all stuff totally and I focused only on what is essential. The irony is that a lot of times, only when we learn how to die then we learn how to live. I know it sounds very morbid for this morning but it's the truth, this is what I’m going through.
Don’t let society tell you how to live. Don’t let the media tell you what you're supposed to do. Those things happened to me. And I led this life thinking that these are going to bring me happiness. I hope that you will think about it and decide for yourself how you want to live your own life. Not according to what other people tell you to do, and you have to decide whether you want to serve yourself, whether you are going to make a difference in somebody else's life. Because true happiness doesn't come from serving yourself. I thought it was but it didn't turn out that way. With that I thank you, if you have any questions you have for me, please feel free. Thank you.
Nie topik paling panas kat Singapore sekarang nie.. and sungguh hot.. Assistant Director you yang bagi komen berbau perkauman tuh.. bukan kuli pencacai.. nie one step to become Director.. besarkan post tuh.. tapi di sebabkan jari yang sedap mentaip.. badan yang binasa.. nah amek ko..
ari Ahad buat posting kat Facebook.. pepagi senin dah kena buang kerja.. tapi takpe lah kan, I bet she got a lot of money already and for her to find a new one super easy laa.. not like us, have to struggle for everything kan..
Nak tau apa yang di komen sampai di buang kerja dan menjadi kes polis?? haaa sila nengok kat bawah nie.. dia bengang katanya tak cukup rest sebab kat bawah blok ada orang melayu sedang buat kenduri kawen .. ehh tradisi lah tu.. orang melayu kawen bawah blok, tak payah nak kutuk2 bagai.. macam la dia tu baguih sangat.. agaknya dia tak dijemput kot.. tu yang meroyan & panas satu badan.. bila badan tengah hot.. apa lagi tulis lah status yang membahankan diri.. aduhaii Ah Soo nie, memang carik penyakit, kan dah jadi isu hangat, pandai pulak nak mintak maaf.. sorry naik lori.. apo nak buek, nasik dah jadik bubur.. sorry no cure.. damage has been done, dah termaktub kat Facebook, dah tak boleh nak tarik balik.. dah tulis macam2.. remarks yang kurang hajar..bigot.. Full Stop..
Permohonan maaf yang takde maknanya:- Former NTUC Membership Assistant Director Amy Cheong, who was earlier Monday dismissed from her post for offensive comments she made
against Malay weddings, sent the following statement to the media on Monday
afternoon, as reported by Channel NewsAsia:
To all I've hurt and
offended:
I am terribly sorry to all who were affected emotionally,
mentally and in all other aspects. I am aware of the pain I've caused through my
insensitive remarks on social media. Please see me as a person offering my most
sincere apology.
There was no racism intended in my post. I was trying to
rest and the noise was affecting me greatly however I do understand that this is
not a valid reason to post what I did. I was wrong and am repentant.
As
soon as I realised how it has affected Singaporeans, I promptly took down my
post and issued my apology. I apologised through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp,
hoping that you could see my immediate genuine regret.
I hope you can
find it in your heart to forgive me for my mistake.
Yours in
repentance,
Amy Cheong
A police report was made against a former NTUC employee over racist remarks
posted on Facebook
Super efficient on the part of her employers, labour union NTUC? Or maybe a
tad insensitive?
In a post that is making its rounds online, local news satire blog The New Nation pointed out how career
site, Jobstreet, began advertising a vacancy for "Assistant Director (Service
Quality), Membership" on Monday afternoon -- the same post that Amy Cheong held
before her infamous Wedding-Gate post.
Call it the nature of social media or the way news spreads lightning quick in
this day and age but that about sums up the Amy Cheong saga.
By Monday morning, Facebook, Twitter and other blog, news and social media
sites were lighting up, triggering a firestorm of online and offline reaction to
her offensive post.
Consider the timeline of events. Late on Sunday (07.10.2012) evening: Amy Cheong makes Facebook
post Monday (08.10.2012), around 3am: First petition
calling for Amy Cheong to be fired springs up on
Facebook 7am: Her post starts going viral on Facebook,
Twitter and social media 9am: Mainstream, online media and
local blog sites begin to pick up on the story 10am: NTUC chief Lim Swee Say
makes first public comment 1030am:Police report filed against Amy Cheong by member of the
public 1230pm: NTUC issue statement of Cheong's
dismissal Sometime in the afternoon: Vacant position
advertised on Jobstreet 530pm: Amy Cheong issues full
statement of apology
Served you right Dol.. Within a space of less than 24 hours, her world has
collapsed -- she's lost her job, her career, her reputation and maybe even her
friends. She is also potentially facing criminal charges and a fine or jail
time.
It's not the first time, and my guess is it won't be the last. Earlier this
year, two 17-year-olds were also arrested after making racist
remarks online.
But this is news in the social media age. Fast, furious and unbridled when
unleashed.
So.. for those yang tengah mencarik kerja atau nak bertukar kerja.. nie ada kekosongan untuk di isi.. baru dipostkan di Job Street to fill up bigot position.. =D
Pagi tadi, baru je post pasal manusia yang nak dahi berlubang.. tapi yang nie lain pula ceritanya.. yang dah sedia cantik.. tapi nak lagiiii cantik.. macam2 lah.. sampai sanggup menanggung sakit.. hishhh tak sanggup mak nengok Jah oiii.. meh kita sama2 baca cerita2 depa nie..
Singapore’s ‘Go Plastic’ phenomenon: In pursuit of
plastic perfection
Jacqueline Koh before (left) and after (right) plastic surgery (Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Koh)
Plastic surgery in 2012 is hot, especially among the young. Fast becoming a
topic discussed as flippantly as what to have for lunch, non-invasive procedures
like fillers can be done in less time than it takes to finish your meal. 8 out
of 10 women in Singapore aged between 20 and 25 will soon have had some form of
aesthetic work done to their faces or bodies, doctors told Yahoo! Singapore. In
the second and final part of our series on the 'Go Plastic' phenomenon,
ELIZABETH SOH and GAIL CHAI speak to local bloggers Peggy Heng and Jacqueline
Koh about their costly pursuit of (plastic) perfection.
They are both attractive female bloggers in their 20s, self-employed and
happy with where they were in life.
Confident, well-spoken, and positive about life, both young women have
supportive families and stable friendships.
But here's something else they have in common -- Peggy Heng and Jacqueline
Koh, both left Singapore for the land of K-pop and kimchi, underwent tens of
thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery, and came back new girls. In
Jacqueline's case, she has shelled out over S$130,000 over the years in a
radical, plastic makeover to transform her body and face.
An endorsement for one, a quest for perfection for the other
For blogger, model and pageant contestant Peggy, 22, the decision to have
plastic surgery came after she was approached by Seoul-based aesthetic centre
Item Plastic Surgery.
She accompanied a good friend to the centre's Singapore branch -- her friend
was there for a pre-trip consultation and she had come along to offer
support.
"The clinic manager recognized me and they asked if I wanted fully sponsored
plastic surgery to enhance my face," said Peggy, "I thought, since I was tagging
along with my friend to Seoul anyway, why not?"
Her parents respected her decision and were supportive after she explained to
them that the clinic was an established and well-known one. Less than a week
later, she was on a plane and on her way to South Korea.
Full-time blogger Jacqueline, on the other hand, had been planning and saving
for months before deciding to take the plunge.
"I already felt before my surgeries that I was very pretty — I just wanted to
be even prettier. From 10/10 to 100/10 to even a million out of ten," she said,
explaining her decision to undergo extensive surgery.
"I also felt I had some lines on my face, and I'm paranoid about ageing. I
have applied facial masks every single day since I was 18, I take any kind of
collagen, powder, bottled drinks," said the 29-year-old.
Her then-boyfriend meticulously researched medical journals, testimonials,
and different procedures before helping her decide on a clinic and the number of
surgeries she would undergo.
Both girls went with friends who also underwent plastic surgery, and both
said that it helped make them more comfortable with the idea as well as
supported during the post surgery healing process.
Transformation vs enhancement
Peggy and Jacqueline both went to their Korean surgeons knowing what they
wanted fixed. Peggy, who had been teased and called "horse-face" when she was young for her
pronounced underbite, wanted a more "three-dimensional face shape" and sharper
side profile, as well as bigger eyes and a higher nose bridge.
"To be honest, I was already very confident in my looks. I just thought, why
not, if I can be even prettier. Even if I had not done the surgery, I wouldn't
feel ugly or bad about myself," said Peggy during a recent interview at the
Yahoo! Singapore office.
"I wanted an enhancement, not transformation. I still want to look like
Peggy, like myself." She decided to go for epi and lateral canthoplasty to widen her eyes for a
"doll-like" expression, as well as cheek and forehead implants using fat from
her own body to give her face more definition.
To correct her underbite, she underwent a procedure to trim her chin line,
and rhinoplasty to raise her nose bridge.
Jacqueline, on the other hand, wanted a more "cute and pretty" look.
"I wanted a cute face more than a pretty face — although guys like sexy more
than cute but I was doing it for myself.. and I wanted something cute, like
Angela Baby," she said with a laugh, referring to the Hong Kong
model-cum-actress.
Jacqueline wanted to look like Angela Baby (Photo courtesy of
Jacqueline Koh)
Unfortunately, Jacqueline's surgeon told her that her face shape would not be
suited to Angela Baby's features, but suggested procedures which would give her
the look she wanted.
Jacqueline also underwent the same procedures for her eyes and nose, but
decided to go for the full works, also doing chin augmentation, otoplasty to
push back her ears, a zygoma (cheekbone) reduction to make her face smaller,
and double eyelid surgery.
"Did I want a transformation? Yeah, why not? "I don't mind if it's going to
be awesome," said Jacqueline with a laugh.
What they also agree on is that nothing prepared them for what they looked
like, post-surgery, and after the anaesthesia wore off.
Jacqueline Koh in the early days post surgery (Photo courtesy
of Jacqueline Koh)
Peggy post-surgery (Photo courtesy of Peggy Heng)
"My whole face was super badly swollen and my eyes could barely open," said
Peggy.
"I felt like I was in a daze, and it was totally surreal, I couldn't believe
that it had happened."
But unabashed, she was out the next day exploring Seoul -- bandages and all
-- shopping, eating, and enjoying the city to the horror of friends and
family.
"My doctor actually told me that moving around after the operation would help
the healing process and improve my circulation. I wasn't in much pain at all, in
fact moving around helped distract me," said Peggy, who remained unfazed despite
receiving many curious looks from Seoul-ites in public.
"At one barbecue place, the Koreans at the next table even congratulated me
on my surgery and treated us to an extra plate of meat!"
Jacqueline, on the other went into a panic post surgery and became
depressed. 'I felt ugly and suicidal'
"I started freaking out and telling the doctor, can you reverse this? Oh my
god, why do I look like that, I don't want the surgery anymore, can you make me
what I looked like before?" said Jacqueline.
"I looked like a pig, I totally couldn't imagine that I would look better
after the bandages came off. I felt 'cheated' and depressed about my swollen
face."
Unhappy with the look of her chin, she decided to undergo an additional
procedure the day after her operations to get it fixed.
"I didn't take many pics up close because I felt ugly and suicidal," blogged
Jacqueline.
For Peggy, the most agonizing part of the surgery was removing her
stitches... and not being able to wash her face for four days.
"When my eye stitches were being removed, wow, that was painful. I was
tearing non-stop and crying out in pain. But the worst part was not being able
to wash my hair. I ended up getting ripped off and paying $40 to get it washed
at a salon -- they knew I was desperate," she said.
Danger of plastic surgery addiction?
Post-Korea, both Jacqueline and Peggy told Yahoo! Singapore that they do not
intend to get any more procedures, dismissing the idea that they would become
"addicted" to plastic surgery.
"Been there, done that, I'm really happy with my face. The thought of getting
anymore done never crossed my mind -- that's why I did so many things at one go
-- so I don't have to undergo anything else," said Peggy.
"I don't think I will undergo anymore procedures," said Jacqueline, who added
that she saw her transformation as the end of a long, painful, and bumpy journey
towards reaching her ideal look.
"My husband worried about complications, like risk of cancer, health
problems, so he is not supportive of me going for more surgery."
No stranger to going under the knife, Jacqueline had previously received
breast implants and undergone Vaser liposuction here in Singapore, which turned
out to be a nightmare experience.
"The liposuction was the worst. The doctor was really terrible — the Vaser
liposuction left me with "wavy" arms because the fat was not distributed
properly," said Jacqueline, "I didn't know then that it was a very common
problem, but even a GP can do Lipo, and if they do not have an aesthetic eye, it
can become a disaster."
"I even woke up halfway during my operation and I started screaming from the
pain. I was under twilight local anaesthesia, meaning the area is numb, but I'm
half asleep."
Hate mail
Both girls have blogged extensively about their plastic surgery experience at
their blogs jacquelinekoh.com and thy-dowager.blogspot.com, responding to floods
of enquiries and e-mails from curious readers.
"When I was doing my research, I was looking for a real-life experience but
there was nobody. Forums were not detailed and the information on forums can be
fake. I had a very difficult time doing my research -- every girl was unwilling
or evasive. So if I can share my experience and help others, why not?" said
Jacqueline, who receives over 200 e-mails a day asking for advice and help.
However, she is also worried about how young some of her readers asking
questions are -- some just 14.
"The first thing I ask (my readers) is how old are you — it's very very
important that you don't undergo surgery because it's a trend. It doesn't work
like that -- what if you're older and you don't want to look like that anymore?"
said Jacqueline.
"In your teens, you can't see the consequences — they want instant results,
think everything is going to be fine and dandy, but it's not like that."
And while she gives advice, she refuses to disclose the name of the clinic
where she had her surgery done.
"I don't want random people to flood his (her doctor)'s office and blame me
if there's a bad job. Queries from readers can get invasive, if it's too much I
just block them."
Peggy Heng pouts and frowns to show her face's flexibility
(Yahoo! Photos / Gail Chai)
Peggy says that 9 out of 10 of her readers and feedback has been positive.
For haters, she's learnt to simply brush them off.
"I've always been controversial, there are always people criticizing me, my
face, my looks. In my line (as a model and pageant contestant), this is
something you have to deal with, so I am not worried," said Peggy, who used to
be bullied as a child.
"I recently won a beauty pageant, and of course people said I'm fake so it's
not "real", but who cares, I won anyway, not them."
Likewise, Jacqueline says that "a very thick skin" has helped her ignore
naysayers, despite her husband's concern about some of the nastier e-mails
calling her "fake", "plastic", and some even threatening her.
"He's protective about me -- he doesn't want other people to think badly of
me, but I'm happy go lucky, and I tell him it doesn't affect me at all."
Both girls said that their decision to go public about their surgery,
however, is not for everyone, especially if one has low self-esteem.
"There are definitely still social taboos against plastic surgery. But you
don't owe anyone an explanation --the surgery was done to yourself," said
Jacqueline.
I would say don't talk about it or confess anything unless you're very very
secure, because the criticism can be really bad."
"At the end of the day, you have to love yourself first. I know it's cliche,
but if you don't already love yourself, no plastic surgery in the world will
make you more confident or feel truly more beautiful," said Peggy.
