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Sometimes, when there are so many thoughts crowding in my head, I find myself being unable to articulate any of them. Recently, I have been confronted by the idea of luxury vs poverty of judgement, and contemporary issues such as organ trading, war, rich-poor divide are brought to mind.

Who are we to say that organ trading should not be allowed when we ourselves are not the ones inflicted with a failing kidney that would soon spell the end of our existence? Sure, allowing organ trading will likely lead to a commercialization of the act. It will commodify the value of human organs and subsequent impinge on the value of human life. It will lead to the exploitation of the poor by the rich. It will lead to widening inequality. True, true, true, true. But these anticipations, predictions, and forecasts are arguments given by people who have not been struck with an ailing organ and requires an immediate transplant.

These people have the luxury of making 'ethical and moral' judgement. Those affected do not.

The afflicted are struck by a poverty of choices, made desperate by the scarcity of options, and hit by the crisis of impending death and suffering. Can we blame them for doing something that we ourselves might have done were we to be placed in their shoes?

Yet, it is true that we have to consider the bigger picture. Once an exception has been made, others will start clamouring for it too, and it would have been far too late to shut the Pandora's box. Perhaps all these can be summed up under 'vested interests of an individual versus vested interests of the society at large', an ubiquitous theme that appears to be found in every tenet of society.

In international affairs, regional and international issues are often impeded by the irreconcilability of vested interests, usually in the form of opposing national interests. In society, government's interests in maintaining political stability find friction in the form of movements towards so-called 'greater liberalization'. Even in our personal lives, we see centrifugal tensions arising from commitments to a myriad of different causes. It has always been drawing the line between two disparate domains, but how do we decide how much we can sacrifice one for another? And do we have the luxury of even making such decisions?

My trail of thoughts end here.

On another note, and last's night euphoria at completing the Maths paper has been marred by this morning's Physics tuition - it seems like spending two weeks with Maths and neglecting Physics has left me rusty. Alright, must finish Maths by tonight! Otherwise it's doom and gloom come Prelims =(