42 .

If only the answer to life, universe and everything is truly 42. I suppose we would all be happy and just continue playing along with our daily playthings may it be work or study or perhaps, just continuing on with our lives. However, Douglas Adam poses us an even more difficult dilemma for us to ponder about. What are asking here? What exactly IS life, the universe and everything? How true of Douglas Adams proposing that it can only be found on Earth within a complex labyrinth of matrixes and codes. At the end of day, it boils down to yourself to determine what you really aim for.

What are the beautiful things in life and how far are we willing to go and get them? It first presents a conundrum for us to clarify the dichotomy between our wants and needs. Which is truly more beautiful? Surely satisfying our wants warrants greater pleasure than meeting our needs. Yet, it is our needs that demand for greater attention. How then do we reconcile such differences and lucidly keep our sensibilities in check and do the practical and absolute necessary? Doesn't it then presents a life that is clinical and sterile without joy. Sense and sensibilities have been debated for a long time, yet there is no true answer that satisfies the critics.

I guess at every stage of our lives, before starting out on a new phase, we have determined our goals and has taken care, perhaps to plan and ensure things will naturally fall into place and according the blueprints we have so carefully drawn up. Before entering into university, we spoke of the wonderful things we have planned to achieved and yet when current reality presents itself, there is a gap and perhaps in my case , i would called it a chasm.

Clearly it presents 2 choices , one to persevere , to grit your teeth and move on. The other , probably what society would name as the coward's way out, is just to allow the tide to drag one out into the open ocean and either drown or get eaten by sharks. With no dive gear to enjoy the coral reefs either. This brings us back to the question . It's not how far are we willing to go . But really , what are the beautiful things in life ? Have we been yearning for right things in life? If you can answer this , the second portion falls into place . You never give up .

This is really not a case of giving up and picking up a new toy to play with. I'm sure corporate organisations do this all the time. Corporate retreats. What do the senior management do at these engimatic gathering at the end of the year ? Everything kicks into a retrospective mode and we relook at our strategic action plans and if they have been in fact been congruent to the demands of the operating envrionment . Or perhaps we take stock of the vision and wonder if has truly served it purpose as the guiding hand in the organisation. By logosif MNCs can do so , so can i . After all , society prizes adaptibility and flexibility than resisting to change. Isn't that what learning organisations are about ? acquiring new knowledge to ensure that organisations do not get mired in their own outdated mental models and establishing a series of systems thinking to more efficiently see the consequences of their actions. I shudder at these words coming out from my hands. They are tainted . GIVE ME SIMPLICITY OF THOUGHT .

As the term draws to a close , we have had time to look at what is working for us and what is working aganist us. So have we been pursuing the right things ? Striving merely for academic excellence seems absolutely shallow yet many including yours truly have fallen into that shallow trap . Perhaps expanding one's social network is another takeway from the 4 years. Or perhaps honing one's analytical skills and learning to seperate the grey from gray . Maybe taken random stabs in the dark might not be such a bad idea afterall *snickers*

We should learn to lead simple lives and stop asking making our brain perform intellectual acrobats . Maybe we are just not cut out for . If only the important questions in life are as simple as how shoes should one own . Perhaps then , the answer can be truly , simply be 42 .