As I am sitting in the library here, I see three books on my table. They are: aircraft performance and design; synthesis of subsonic airplane design and aircraft design: a conceptual approach. You get the drift I suppose. I’m currently in a group project design for an aircraft. As I am attend my lectures for this course, my lecturer never failed to raise (or scream) the points that a) we would most likely all end up working at McDonalds because we are so incompetent and useless and b) we need to realise how important is it for us to be thorough and responsible with the engineering work that we will do in the future.

I’ve had this lecturer since last year so I have expected this from him every time and I always know that he means well. Deep down, he’s a really good man with extreme dedication and passion to the aviation industry. He puts on the tough act and look because it is and it will always be necessary. As a budding engineer, the chances of me being in a design team for a whole aircraft are slim because most engineers do analytical work on the side and design small parts of the aircraft. That’s just how it is but regardless of whether we are designing a screw or in charge of the whole aircraft, we will then do well to remember what my lecturer said, “We are responsible for human lives.”

I know I have written a few posts regarding aircraft incidents, primarily being ‘Fight or Flight‘ and ‘Cable Car‘. Without realising, I expressed two separate emotions in them with one being hope and the other being faith. Natural progression says I should talk about love in this one but how can I still talk about love when details from the Germanwings crash investigations states that the pilot is responsible for bringing the aircraft down and that he was mentally ill. My friend went on to say, “Humans are evil, eh?”. How can I sit here and write about faith and hope in humanity when a man brought down 149 people with him deliberately? I talked about still having hope regardless of what happens and that I will always have faith in humanity but I wasn’t the passenger on board. I am not the one who has family on board. How can say these things when I haven’t the slightest idea of what they are going through? It saddens me.

When I was in Foundation Studies, i.e. the year before I entered university, one of my tutors asked me, “What do you plan to study?”. I replied, “You are going to think I’m weird but I planned to to study aerospace engineering and science majoring in psychology.” He then said, “Well that is rather unique and unusual but you know what’s the common element in that?” I asked, “What?” He responded, “Humans.”

I took it at surface then and didn’t think about it too much but he is right. The common element between psychology and engineering is indeed, humans. In fact, it’s the common element of everything. In a machine driven and autonomous era, humans are still the root of everything. Air crashes still happen primarily because of human error. We can never ever escape from that. Even if it is a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), the people who designed and build it are humans.

You might be wondering, “Why are you still writing about this? There have been so many aircraft accidents and yet you are still writing about this.” A friend in Darwin was listening in on the radio station. When the news of the crash broke out, the broadcaster announced, “Unfortunately I must announce that 2 of the 150 is Australian” and that was the headline they ran with. Do you find that insensitive or it’s alright for an Australian radio company to take interest in their own people first? I then told my friend that news station and radio companies might be desensitized by now after reporting so many cases over so many years. Wouldn’t it be normal to be desensitized?

My lecturer told us the other day, “A lot of aircraft operations are still controlled by pilots and not by a computer system is because of this. If people get short changed by let’s say ten bucks by a human teller accidentally compared to a computer system, they are more likely to sympathize with the human teller and would most likely scream at the machine and be enraged by it. Interesting, isn’t it?”

I am still writing about this because I don’t want to ever get desensitized by this. I don’t want to read news of a car crash in the paper or a fire in a building and think it’s normal and okay. I’m not affected. Everything is good. I don’t want to ever be that! Human lives are lost here! How can we as a human race lose sensitivity on that? Every single human life is important. It doesn’t matter if it’s lost on an aircraft, fire, mugging, cancer and natural circumstances, every single one is important.

Everyday could very well be our last day. If we live our lives to the best of our abilities, then we will have no regrets. If we live our lives remembering to be responsible for people around you, then we will have no regrets. My lecturer won’t realize this but I will remember what he said to me for the rest of my life and live by it. It saddens me that we forget that but I can’t change what some people think.  We can only change ourselves, I can only change myself and that’s as good a start as any.

We must remember that in everything we do. We have to be responsible for ourselves as well as other people. We can never lose sight of that for we are at the root of everything. We connect everything. We are the common element.

I have moved houses a few times in my lifetime and each time that happens, I have a list of things that I must definitely bring over. Overtime, I have forgotten what’s on the list but I know it largely revolves around the electronic gadgetry, stationery and books.  See, I grew up in the era of Gameboys and Playstations but I also had an upgrade every now and then. So, I had the Gameboy Color initially and eventually, I now own the Playstation Vita as a portable gaming console. So, my electronic gadgetry changed constantly. There wasn’t a permanent usage of a particular console.  It was probably the same for books as well. I wouldn’t have a specific book that I must keep or bring. It’s not that I’m not sentimental or anything but as long as I know where they are in the storeroom, then there’s no need to bring them with me wherever I go whether it’s in the same country or in another continent.

However, there was always one thing that I would bring. It was my Sony Discman (a portable compact disc player), that is until now, I had left my Discman at my sister’s place and chose not to carry it with me as I moved out and stayed with my friend. I owned it since the age of 9 and had always used it regardless of the iPods that I owned. I would always put a CD in there, plugged my headphones in, sat back and just listened to what the CD has to offer.

People reading this must be wondering, “What decade do you live in again? Is it the SIXTIES?” Well, the Discman doesn’t date back that long. It was probably in the late 90s that it took off. I remembered telling my father recently and told him that I wanted to go to a Sony shop and asked if they still have the Discmans and then buy one. He looked at me, almost as if to say, “Are you serious?” I guess that’s a fair question but then again, a large of part of me love to romanticize and treasure the value of sentimentality.

My friends know that I listen to music constantly. In fact, as I am writing this, I am listening to one of Westlife’s first album on my iPod. I recently took up the guitar and also trying to learn how to play by hearing the rhythm in the songs as well. So, I really do enjoy listening to various kinds of music so I adapt to whatever platform that music is being released on and listen to it on them. From CD to iTunes to Spotify, I have tried all of them. My Spotify probably has over 2500 songs somewhere in there.

Don’t get me wrong. Thank goodness Spotify was created and now, I get to discover so much new music but something is missing, I feel. Gone were the days I go to the store, look through the CDs that are available, see what’s intriguing, buy it, go home, read the album booklet, put it into my Discman and be surprised by it. Times have changed. Everything now is instantaneous. If you don’t like something, skip it. If you want something, just download it the next second. Everything just flies by in seconds. There’s no wait, no anticipation, no human touch and no deeper appreciation of the tremendous work the artist puts into her or his work.

Colin Hanks, gave an interview on Jimmy Kimmel and talked about the evolution and also downfall of Tower Records, one of the biggest record selling store of all time. He did a documentary around it and said that, at the end of the day, this documentary is not about the music industry but rather it’s about the human story. It’s about how a family came together to sell records and had fun doing it. I find it absolutely interesting and also contemplated on my own way of listening to music. Of course, that translates into reading books as well as playing games.

We go out into restaurants and what do we see? There will be kids playing games on the tablets and just not talk to other kids. Instead, they will just concentrate on their screens. Board games like Monopoly, Uno and Battleship were created as physical products but instead has now gone onto the digital platform too. On trains, people take out their Kindles and read their books, swiping page after page and that’s just it, isn’t it? Will we ever return to the world where we touch and grab onto the experience of papyrus and CD albums or even play Monopoly on a board whilst rolling the physical dice?

But it comes down to what we want as a generation. Unbelievably, I left my Discman at my sister’s house. This was something I carried with me for 12 years without hesitation. All of a sudden, I decided to not take it with me. Maybe I will grab it another day but for now, it stays there.

I think what’s important is for us to be a little more aware of what we listen, play and read nowadays. We used to have a physical product reminding us of the hard work people put into these things. A record or be it a CD reminds us that music is such a gift. A book as a person once puts it, “A good book will make you want to reread it again, but a great book will make you want to reread your own life.” A simple board game adds meaning and joy to the interaction between children.

We need to remember this even though now they have gone digital. We need to remember the human touch. Think of the last time you picked up a CD. When was the last time you entered a record store? How did it feel like?

Yes, things are now “untouchable” and “unfeelable” but at the end of the day, it’s not about what it is but rather, it’s about the human story.

So I was doing some work for this society I’m in and I was trying to find inspiration and come up with a topic for the students to discuss about. Then, I remembered this email that was sent to me months ago. I pulled it up from my inbox and read it. I couldn’t believe I didn’t read it before because it was truly amazing.

One of the lines read,

“When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.”  Martin Buber

I truly find that not just amazing but yet profound. It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not. It doesn’t matter if you are a Catholic or not. I think we all have those moments while we are are conversing with people, you feel that somehow, the conversation feels different. Somehow, it’s enlightening but also heart warming. Call it a God connection, a spiritual connection, serendipity or the human connection but undeniably, it’s something special.

I think it’s truly amazing when you talk to someone who also wants to talk to you. You put aside the selfish desires. You put aside things you want people to do. You put aside your past conflicts. You put aside the misunderstandings. At that moment in time, you come to the person as you are. Who are we, you ask? We are humans. We are all different and unique in our own way.

“Every person born into the world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique….If there had been someone like her in the world, there would have been no need for her to be born.” Martin Buber

Don’t you just find that amazing, eloquent and profound? I truly do. Think about it. If there had been someone like you in this world, why are you born? You can say, “Well, there are plenty of terrible people in this world.” but I would think you are missing the point. We are all in this world to do special things and be great beings but we ignored that calling and ended up on the path other than the straight and narrow.

I forget sometimes when I talk to someone and that he or she is special. I just forget and talk to him as if I’m forced and just trying to get by the day but it’s already a gift to be able to talk and express oneself. On top of that, we are able to talk to people! We can talk to others!

It doesn’t matter where you come from, what background you have or what family history was written in your past, as long as you are honest, sincere and kind to people regardless whether they are doing the same thing, they can certainly feel it. And maybe one day, they will also be the same way when they talked to you as well. Then, you will feel that special surge of electricity again.

For far too often, we only think about ourselves and the world revolves around us when talking to others but have we stopped to ask, “Wouldn’t it be really sad if I am the only one in this world?”

So, how are you recently? Has it been stressful? Has it been tiring? Do you feel the weight of the world is bearing upon your shoulders? Do you feel troubled by relationships? Has studies been overwhelming? Do you feel you just don’t have any energy left? Have you reached the breaking point?

Well, that’s a lot of questions ain’t it. I think a lot of us has reached one of those points in our lives, haven’t we? The whole world seems to be falling apart around you and you are left standing on the tipping point on the mountain. It’s not a pretty sight when everything you hold dear near to you seems to slip away.

I remembered the times I had those moments. It hurts so much that I just feel like crying and just let go. Three years ago, it got so bad that I messaged my dad about it. Well, that was a first. I have never told my father about my troubles and worries and for me to do that, something has to be really wrong. These days, I’m much better now as I have gotten used to the hectic times and business that is ultimately balancing between sleep, social and university life. Of course in the midst of all that, you deal with emotions of relationships within friends and family. But one has to ask, what do you do when you reach the point where stress now has engulf you in flames instead of pushing you to do better in life?

You close you eyes.

You breathe.

Remember that you are, alive.

You rest.

Don’t look at the crumbling world around you but look at yourself.

I think we all have things to very much be thankful for in life. There’s plenty we don’t realise we have. A house to live in. A chance at education. A future. Food. Water. Friends. Family. Of courses, if you believe, you have God too. What’s not to like about life? But there’s always the idea that your house is not a home any more. The situation where education is so intense that it doesn’t feel like a gift any more. The current situation is so bleak that the future seems like a dark place. Everyone seems to have food and water so why bother. Friends? Family? Who cares? We all have been in rather unfortunate circumstances.

What we need to do is be honest with ourselves and sometimes it’s a hasher reality than we think it is. We just aren’t equipped enough to deal with stresses on our own. We just aren’t good enough. We like to think that we are capable and we can beat the world at its own game but the truth is you and I aren’t. If we are tired, accept that we are. If we have a breakdown, then we do. There’s nothing wrong with that. We can only get better if we are humble enough to accept that.

Remember this. In the midst of smiles and flowers, we feel happy but it is in pain and sadness that we truly grow. That can be your thought of the day.

You know. I used to be pedantic about things and get overly worried about people. In my head, goes a million thoughts about you should do this, you should do that, don’t do this, maybe see this person. I realised by doing that, I offer no help or whatsoever and I’m being rude myself. I still give advices and push ever so slightly but I also learned that we need to trust people that they can handle things on their own. I trust that you will be able to handle it when it comes down to the breaking point but just know that, if you ever need help, a friend is just a phone call away.

Have a good day wherever you are!