Moves for Life

Contrary to popular belief, chess is a serious sport, and it is a game that young people should be encouraged to take part in. It is an important game in many respects, the main benefit being that it contributes to the development of strategic thinking as well as concentration, analytical skills and problem solving. These are traits that are very important for school going children.

Honoured guests,

Chess is by far one of the oldest and most played games in the world. It cuts across intellectual, age and language barriers and can therefore be enjoyed by people from across the world. It has stood the test of time, and even new technology-driven games have not killed the game of chess, which makes veteran players like myself very happy.

I learned to play chess under unfavourable conditions, while on Robben Island serving a 10 year prison sentence. Political prisoners used to sustain and strengthen themselves during incarceration through sports like soccer, rugby, table tennis, morabaraba, bridge, patience and casino card games as well as chess. We used to make chess boards from thin cardboard and chess pieces from corks.

Given the opportunity, I would have loved to learn how to play at an earlier stage of my life. That is because knowing how to play the game can prove to be invaluable for any young person. That is why we want to convince parents and teachers that chess is one of the most powerful educational tools available to strengthen and enhance a child's mind.

No amount of video games can teach a child the same level of patience, strategic thinking, concentration, analytical skills and the attention to detail that they would gain from this timeless intellectual game. A successful chess player will not only successfully analyse the situation in front of him or her, but will draw lessons from a host of previous actions.

Chess therefore enhances the ability to make thoughtful, considered, strategic decisions under pressure. These are the same skills that are essential for effective examination performance at school, and also for decision making when one is entrusted with serious leadership positions at work or in the community.

Most importantly, the fact that advanced chess players demonstrate increased expertise in the making of tough and abstract decisions, makes them excel in subjects such as mathematics. The reason is that chess helps one to significantly improve memory. This skill can easily be transferred to subjects where memory is necessary such as mathematics.

As government, we will promote this game in schools so that we can ensure that children who enter grade one matriculate with Mathematics as a subject.

Honoured guests,

It is evident that chess is more than just a game or a hobby. It is a way of life. You will then understand why we are encouraging young people to play chess at an early age.

In summary, the benefits that accumulate from the teaching and promotion of chess in schools include the following:

1. The game teaches patience. You have to give the opponent time and space to think and make his or her own move.

2. It teaches that a decision must be an outcome of a serious thought process.

3. Chess teaches discipline, for example as chess players would know, "touch is a move". When you touch, you must move, you have to be disciplined.

4. Chess teaches fairness. You alert the opponent before you strike, and keep them informed of your moves and intentions. Players know that once the king is under threat you alert your opponent by saying "check". When you are convinced that he or she can no longer protect the king, you say "checkmate" to indicate that you have closed the game.

This decorum will teach the children that an opponent during a sports game is not an enemy but just a contestant that they must cooperate with. They will learn to deal with opposition of any kind in a mature and tolerant way.

These are benefits that should make us all promote this important game to our youth.

- Remarks by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma at the Gala Dinner of Moves for Life Chess Programme, Gallagher Estate, Midrand

True Training

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own", or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one's "real life" is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight; but it's hard to remember it all the time.

- C. S. Lewis, The Quotable Lewis

Training will not be an interruption of my life. Training will be my life, if only for a time.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

"That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God." - Ecclesiastes 3:13 (NIV)

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

The next 9 months of training will also be a good time to fast from the internet (on weekdays) and spend more time reading the Bible and praying.

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)

Links: Discipline and Security (23 Oct 10), Training and Development (14 Nov 10), Training vs 'Tekan' (3 Dec 10)

Determinism and Free Will

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will." - Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India (1947-1964)

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)

Discipline and Security

To be a captain in the lives of offenders committed to your custody, you must first be a captain of your own life. If security is the foundation for rehabilitation, how much more is discipline the foundation for personal development!

"The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair... The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." - Proverbs 1:1-3, 7 (NIV)

Wisdom before wife, discipline before development!

Links: True Training (25 Oct 10), Training and Development (14 Nov 10), Training vs 'Tekan' (3 Dec 10)

Oct 15 to 21

Oct 15: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." - 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV)

Oct 16: "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." - 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)

Oct 17: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men - the testimony given in its proper time." - 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV)

Oct 18: "I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands." - Psalm 119:60 (NIV)

Oct 19: "Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do." - Jeremiah 42:3 (NIV)

Oct 20: "The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden." - 1 Timothy 5:24-25 (NIV)

Oct 21: "But godliness with contentment is great gain." - 1 Timothy 6:6 (NIV)

More Precious than Rubies

Proverbs 31:10-31 is about the wife of noble character. But more importantly, it is about wisdom. Indeed, the book of Proverbs is more than just a book about the complete wife. It is a book about the complete life.

"Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her." - Proverbs 3:13-15 (NIV)

"Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." - Proverbs 8:10-11 (NIV)

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." - Proverbs 31:10 (NIV)

Instead of focusing on finding a Proverbs 31 woman (who cannot be found anyway except by God's grace), why not focus on being a Psalm 112 man? This is the way of finding wisdom, 'fear[ing] the LORD [and] find[ing] great delight in his commands' (Psalm 112:1, NIV).

God does not promise to give each of us a wife (or husband). But God does promise to give each of us wisdom - if we ask Him!

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." - James 1:5 (NIV)

Seek wisdom before seeking a wife (or husband). Wisdom before wife!

Daily

Things could be better. But then, they could be worse - but for the grace of God!

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."" - Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV)

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

"Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway." - Proverbs 8:34 (NIV)

"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" - Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" - Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)

First things first. One step at a time. One day at a time.

O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

Oct 8 to 14

Oct 8: "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." - Colossians 4:6 (NIV)

Oct 9: "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD." - Psalm 119:1 (NIV)

Oct 10: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." - Psalm 119:9 (NIV)

Oct 11: "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." - Proverbs 24:27 (NIV)

Oct 12: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

Oct 13: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." - Psalm 119:32 (NIV)

Oct 14: "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)

Today

Today is the day my York friends begin a new academic year.

Today is the day one of my church friends enters Officer Cadet School.

Today is the day I enter the Home Team Academy and start training to be a uniformed prison officer for the next 9 months.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." - Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)

Links: Why Prisons? (6 Oct 10), 9 Months (9 Oct 10)

10 reasons why NS was for my benefit

On 10 Oct 10 (10/10/10), coming to 4 years after I completed my national service (NS) on 5 Nov 06, here are 10 reasons why NS was for my benefit - not all to do with NS in and of itself.

1. NS gave me the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds.

2. NS gave me the experience of working in a uniformed organisation, something which will come in handy as I start work with the Singapore Prison Service.

3. NS gave me the experience of working as a junior officer in a uniformed organisation.

4. NS led me to start this blog on 29 Sep 05, 400 days to my operationally ready date (ORD).

5. I became a Christian during my NS days (I think).

6. In any case, I was baptised during my NS days.

7. NS taught me to trust in God, especially through Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

8. NS meant that I would stay with my family in Singapore in 2005 and 2006, in the years immediately after my father passed away in 2004.

9. NS meant that I would go to York in 2007, which in hindsight was exactly the right time for me to go to York.

10. NS, and the news that my application for Masters funding was unsuccessful, meant that I would return to Singapore for good in 2010. I'm gradually seeing God's hand in this.

Given a choice, I would probably not have chosen to do NS. But God had other plans. Better plans. To take a verse out of context, 'surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish!' (Isaiah 38:17, NIV)