You just cannot change people

At the 1967 convocation dinner of the then University of Singapore, MM Lee (then PM) gave a speech to the new graduates.

I quote one interesting paragraph:

"But no single anecdote, I think, illustrates the problem more vividly than this. He recounted the fortunes of a great surgeon who occupies a position of great eminence in civilian life. He was fully aware of what he required by way of his diet. Yet he could not control his craving for cigarettes, and he bartered precious calories for cigarettes. He knew that he would die but he went on doing it. And he died. "

This is not only true of the many many smokers still out there today, but the rule applies to me as well. You see, I love fatty meat, pork lard and prawn heads, all the unhealthy stuff. I am probably going to suffer one day because of this, I try to control but nothing is going to keep me away.

So this is a mental thing, of the mind and rather complicated. I am not going to try to explain this but I think it applies to emotions as well, attachment to certain states of mind that no amount of persuasion nor logic will change.

Not that people will never change, because human beings do have the positive capacity to be influenced for the better. But this needs time, opportunity and possibly strategy. In the meantime, for me, just let things be.

[Post Note on 27 Jun 09: While playing badminton this afternoon, I think there are two qualifiers on my above post. First, that if people show the desire to learn or to change, we must help them, because they have given you a reason to. Second, reflecting on myself, the learning point is to always show to the people around you that you welcome their comments and criticisms, or lose the benefit of their counsel.]