The winter is cold, but hang in there brother!

Ah how times have changed. In the first decade of my dear younger brother, Jevin's life, he had to put up with my hurtful ways. 7 years younger than me, he would be helpless in conflicts with me, for I made him submit either with physical superiority or cunning blackmailing when arguments got tiring. In a surprising reversal of roles, he has now become the boss between the both of us, at a tender age of 15. How did the tables turn so drastically? Well, to put it briefly, I turned over a new leaf and Jevin entered the years so commonly marked by teenage rebellion.

It was another one of those times when Jevin would give a cold shoulder to my humble, peaceable approach. I had arrived home in the midst of Jevin’s tuition, and went to say hi to the tutor - my friend – and Jevin. After which I promptly left them to resume lesson.

To my shock, after the tuition, Jevin accused me of staying too long behind both him and the tutor, such that the lesson was adversely affected the duration I was there. “Huh?” I was dumbfounded for a while. “I just greeted you and my friend out of courtesy, and also because I was excited to see you both”, and while I replied him I half-wondered if he could have been stressed out from the peer and teacher pressure in the highly competitive Catholic High Secondary where he studies. Couldn’t he have just spared a few seconds?

“You want to say your own things you just say. I don’t care already”, he quickly dismissed my defense. To me, that was haphazardly unreasonable, like looking for trouble. I resolved to reach a peaceful resolution, without ignoring the episode. I wanted to understand his perspective. Sadly, for the next two nights, whenever I approached him, he nonchalantly ignored me, leaving me rather dejected. What do you do when your brother casts you into the winter cold?

Me wants to communicate goodly

Taken from http://www.state.gov/m/a/os/65759.htm

Communication is ordained as an essential element in human community, and this can be inferred when one ponders about the functions of the mouth, ears and eyes. Thus it has been so, from the very beginning, that no man be an island. I am not excluded; in fact everyday on this densely populated island brings a flurry of activity, and activity, communication - mornings with parents, texting, emailing and facebook-ing friends, listening to professors in class, asking peers questions, ordering food from the canteen uncles, and meeting friends face-to-face. Such interactions can be pleasing, delightful affairs, like when you chat with a friend with whom you 'click', or they can be utterly confusing, as in several lectures on engineering topics which I've had. They can be boring, like when army guys never stop talking about army stuff, or they can be awful experiences, which we all hope we'd never encounter.

As such, effective communication is eagerly desired, so that every encounter is - no, not always a delightful one, for effective communication is not practiced to eliminate sorrow towards despairing news or heated exchanges, but definitely can prevent misunderstandings and hence unnecessary negativity. Effective communication then, is eagerly desired, so that the fullest potential of every cordial greeting to hour-long discussion, small talk to heart-to-heart talk can be brought out.

For me personally, effective communication is a key to understanding and appreciating individuals, each one of them a unique person who enjoys community, loves acceptance, cherishes relationships, and wants to be heard. I am not excluded. So is not effective communication the way to enhance relationships, whether the preciously-valued or the highly-essential ones? The impact is not only within the realm of relationships. In many other aspects, the fruit of effective communication are bigger, juicier and sweeter, the results better, the grades higher, the familial ties stronger, the friendships deeper, sales higher, the employers more impressed and the listeners more influenced. Amazing isn't it?

Hello!

This blog is created specially for ES2007S, a Professional Communication modules being taught at National University of Singapore. It also happens to be my first blog. Who knows? I might grow to fancy blogging and create my personal blog for family and friends to enjoy in future : ) For now, may the visitor be enriched by the musings and perspectives shared in time to come.

Some tips for newbies at this url: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/01/30/starting-your-first-blog-29-tips-tutorials-and-resources-for-new-bloggers/

Picture from: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/02/28/9-tips-to-start-blogging-successfully/