If I were to think like Magritte and create a room filled with ordinary objects in everyday life that are representational of my own personal values, what would they be? The seven objects I have decided to include into this room are a traditional fan, a pair of shoes, a flowerpot of red poppies, a first aid kit, a foundation makeup brush, a mirror and a soft toy bear. This is a dull room with the only source of light shining through a full-length window in the middle. Unlike Magritte, the size of the objects does not determine the significance and importance. The distance of the object from the light source does. 

Pot of Red Poppies

Poppies are flowers of forgiveness and are often symbols of remembrance days. By depicting poppies in a flowerpot that can be placed in our homes instead of in the wild, I actually want to bring about the message of bringing forgiveness closer to our hearts and self. Everyone makes mistakes, and what makes them continue on with life is forgiveness and acceptance from others. Rejection and stagnancy brings about no benefit and no progress. Therefore, forgiveness is very important and thus why I placed it under the beam of sunlight coming through the windows. 

Another hidden message that I wanted to convey through this pot of poppies is of how we, as humans, should learn to forgive not only humans but also other living things, such as animals as well. One reason why more people are inclined to buying pets from pet shops and not adopting one from a shelter is because of the distaste generated from the feeling of the dog being "old", "used" and "ugly". Although shelter dogs do have had such a past, but don't they deserve a new chance at life as well? Why shouldn't they have the right to enjoy the lives of any other normal pet dog? This is the other reason for me including this pot of red poppies as the only living object placed in my room.

First Aid Kit

The First Aid kit I placed in this room is a symbol of one's health and also care between each other. Being in the St. John Ambulance Brigade CCA myself, I have often seen people who fall ill or get injured due to improper care of themselves and the lack of precautions taken. Health is extremely important to us; without good health, we will be unable to do anything with joy and with ease. This First Aid kit is a reminder for us to  be aware of our own physical (and mental) health and should we ever get injured, we should seek medical care immediately to prevent further worsening of the wound.

Traditional Hand Fan

Instead of putting a modern and more widely used electrical wall fan, I placed a traditional, manual hand fan on the wall instead. This is due to the double meaning I intended behind the word 'fan'. Everyone knows that Singapore is a very hot and humid country, and I sweat very easily as well thus a fan which provides wind and relief would be of utmost necessity to me. The other meaning would be that of devotion. Fan in this case would mean an idol's fan, and I have looked up to the same idol for a few years counting. Devotion is important- not only in an idol-fan relationship, but more in pursuing your own dreams and passions, which is the key factor to your success.

Mirror

The mirror here simply represents self-esteem, self-consciousness and self-awareness. These three factors are very important in contributing to our outlook at our own lives and also how we present ourselves to others: such as the confidence we exhibit in our daily actions. The mirror can also be a symbol of self-reflection. Without reflection, we will never improve ourselves and this will cause us to lag behind in society. Therefore, the values which the mirror contains are important and necessary to our personal improvement.

Soft Toy Bear

This soft toy bear is one that I bought last year when I went to China for my GCP. It was the first time in my life that I am going overseas without my parents, and considering my medical condition, it was an extremely tough decision for the approval to be given. Therefore, my elation was over the moon when the decision was made. This soft toy bear thus is an extremely memorable souvenir to me. However, this soft toy bear also conceals another meaning, and that personal value is endurance and perseverance. Whenever we meet difficulties, no matter how hard the challenge is, we should always "bear with it" and hold on until we complete the task. This is important for us to set new milestones in life and to step out of our comfort zone to arm ourselves for new challenges ahead.

Pair of Shoes

Have you ever heard of the saying "To walk in someone else's shoes"? This pair of shoes represents my personal value of empathy (and possibly a hint of sympathy). Empathy is important our society. Empathy- the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. If empathy is practised, you will be able to understand the feelings of people better around you; treat the people you care the way they wish you would treat them; understand unspoken parts of communication with others; learn how to motivate the people around you; less trouble dealing with interpersonal conflict; find it easier to deal with the negativity of others and so on and so forth. All in all, empathy is a necessary life skill and is a particularly important personal value to me, thus it being the second closest object to the light source.

Foundation Makeup Brush

Personal grooming is important and vital. Through grooming oneself, you will not only learn to appreciate more of yourself but also learn more about yourself. You decide the image that you want to present to others, and the impressions you create. Like its name, the foundation makeup brush is the foundation to all makeup, thus why I chose it instead of other products such as the lipstick. Without its roots, a tree can never stand tall. 

There's another meaning behind this brush, and this is the message reflected through the broken foundation powder which I included into the room together with the brush. Makeup products have to be tested first before they are deemed safe for human application, and most of such products have underwent vivisection, in other words, testing on animals. These animals live for the sole purpose and benefit of humans, and many of us are unaware of that. We continue using makeup products that have been animal-tested, even those big branded ones. These lab animals are harmed, forced, uncared for and once tested, killed. Their welfare is non-existent. The cracked foundation powder represents the feelings these innocent animals have, if they could express their thoughts. I hope to also spread more awareness about such a cruel method of cosmetic testing to consumers like us, especially females who are the main buyers of cosmetic products.