Friday 29 June 2012

Daily Surprise


Each day holds a surprise.
But only if we acknowledge it can we see, hear or feel it when it comes to us.
Let's not be afraid to receive the surprise each day holds 
whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy!

by
Henri J.M. Nouwen

St. Peter's Church - Malaka, Apr 2008.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Up for a Challenge


我最喜欢的回忆是克服困难的过程
任何一个在生活中勇于面对挑战的人都会同意。

--- 建筑大师贝聿铭

My favourite memory is the process of overcoming difficulties/obstacles,
anyone who dares to face challenges in life will agree.

--- Architect I.M. Pei

Taken from Wikipedia
In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed, as one of the Grands Projets of François Mitterrand the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon.[31] The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion.[32]

The Louvre Palace and the Pyramid, which was completed in 1989 (by night)

The Louvre Palace and the Pyramid, which was completed in 1989 (by day)

Thursday 21 June 2012

South America on a shoestring

Real travelers love South America.
It’s as if the continent was built for travel;
it’s the sort of place that presents you with challenges every step of the way and rewards you with euphorias you have never imagined. ... 
It seems like the entire continent approaches life like a good road trip: with the windows rolled down and the music up loud.
It’s a subtle approach to uncertainty that will surely infect you. And as for the music – it’s the one thing that never leaves your side.
With every adventure, there is a soundtrack. ... In the end, don’t think of South America as a place. Rather, it’s something you turn yourself onto, that engulfs you and changes you – your state of mind, your outlook on life.
As soon as you step foot on South America soil, the tran...sformation begins.

Lonely Planet
South America on a shoestring

 

Monday 18 June 2012

Ignorance, Not a Pretty Sin

One body - four limbs, one head;
                     four limbs - two legs, two hands;
                                           one leg - one thigh, one knee, one foot;
                                                                                                one foot - five toes;
                                           one hand - one arm, five fingers;
                     one head - multiple brains, two ears, two eyes, one nose, one mouth;
                                                                                                          one nose - two nostrils;
one mouth - one mouth!

St. Peter's Church - Malaka, Apr 2008.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Revelation of an Icon

The future belongs to the people, and gradually, or in one strike, they will take power, here and in every country.

The terrible thing is, the people need to be educated, and this they cannot do before taking power, only after.
They can only learn at the cost of their own mistakes, which will be very serious and will cost many innocent lives.
Or perhaps not, maybe those lives will not have been innocent because they will have committed the huge sin against nature; meaning, a lack of ability to adapt.
All of them, those unable to adapt - you and I, for example - will die cursing the power they helped, through great sacrifice, to create.
Revolution is impersonal; it will take their lives, even utilizing their memory as an example or as an instrument for domesticating the youth who follow them.
My sin is greater because I, more astute and with greater experience, call it what you like, will die knowing that my sacrifice stems only from an inflexibility symbolizing our rotten civilization, which is crumbling!
I also know - and this won't alter the course of history or your personal view of me - that you will die with a clenched fist and a tense jaw, the epitome of hatred and struggle, because you are not a symbol (some inanimate example) but a genuine member of the society to be destroyed; the spirit of the beehive speaks through your mouth and motivates your actions.
You are as useful as I am, but you are not aware of how useful your contribution is to the society that sacrifices you.

by
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/FitzpatrickChe.jpg

Monday 11 June 2012

Life

A constant good life could be...bad...
because there is no experience to wise it!

A constant happy life could be...senseless...
because there is no sorrow... to mature it!

A constant peaceful life could be...boring...
because there is no conflict... to color it!

For life itself, the joy of wisdom can only come to us when we face it!

Cameron Highlands - Perak, Jul 2011.

Saturday 9 June 2012

The First Act of Every Morning

Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: 
I shall not fear anyone on earth.
I shall fear only God.
I shall not bear ill toward anyone.
I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
I shall conquer untruth by truth.
And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering. 
by 
Mahatma Gandhi

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Parent Nowaday

I wanted to write a blog about Youth Today.  But then I realized I need to talk about Parent Nowaday before I can write about Youth Today.

At a kopitiam, I sat down and ordered my food. Quietly, I turned the pages of the newspaper.

Then, I heard a sharp command from the table at my back "Open big big, can not, you must have it!" literally in this english sentence. In reflex, I turned my head and faced the table behind.  My face must had a certain expression. I think the mother saw the expression on my face, she toned down her command and sharp voice to say "You have to have this!".
I went on to read my newspaper.  Not sure why, I truned my head to the table behind again.  This time I saw the father, after finished his food and not helping the wife, pull out a cigarette from his pack and started lighting it, right in front of the whole family while the rest were still eating.

I am astonished by the scene.
The table at my back was a Chinese family of four, a father, a mother, an elder son and a daughter. The son is most likely around 5-8 year old and the daughter is pre-school age.  The Parent, a young couple in their mid to late 20s'.  They looks like any average Chinese family, the father seems to be able to provide for the family and the wife seems to be a young and innocent house wife.

First of all, I have high regards to my own parent.  However, I am not very fond with the Chinese Parent Nowaday. My parent, both not finishing primary school, hardworking farmers, grown 10 children and all are self independent.  My parent was upmost concerned about our educations.  Even as poor as their time, my parent tried all their best to put food on the table, put all their kids through school (until the kids were not able to proceed) and most important, act and talk like "Parent". My parent never try to convince us we must eat, or we must go to school, or we must be independent.  Instead, my parent taught us that if we don't eat, we will be in hunger; if we don't go to school, we will stay as it is; and if we don't be independent, we will have to face all the consequences for our own actions. 
What I am trying to say is, as the Parent, one must be the example before one can make the children listen, out of respect, not out of fear.

When I saw the scene at my back, it striked me as why our Youth Today is as our youth nowaday.  My niece once said to me "Well, it is not all the parent's fault!".  I told her "I am sorry.  It is not all, however, the Parent's Fault starts FIRST! It is before the fault of the School, or the fault of the Society".
I always wonder - Did all these young couples thought of what Kind of Parent they Should Be before they brought their children to this world? Did they ever think that they need to sharply command their children to EAT? Did they ever think that smoking right after food in front of their children while they're still eating help to convince the children to be good in their table manner, in the future, and in their view of the parent and in their lives?

I remembered once I was on the table eating with my dad, talking was not allowed, sipping soup or eating noise was not allowed, and I was having trouble holding my chopstick properly where my index finger pointed to another person on the table (in Chinese culture, it is very bad to point the index finger to another person during meal).  My dad, quietly, slot his chopstick, hit me right at my index finger.  He said, "Be manner!". I was in pain but kept quiet.  Why?  Because my dad was the one person I think has the best table manner.
 

Monday 4 June 2012

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free/One

I wish, I knew how, it would feel, to be free
I wish, I could break, all the chains, holding me
I wish, I could say, all the things, that I should say
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear

I wish, I could share, all the love, that's in my heart
Remove, all the bars, that keep us apart
And I wish, you could know, how it feels to be me
    Then you'd see, and agree, that every man, should be free

I wish, I could be, like a bird, in the sky
How sweet, it would be, if I found I could fly
Well I'd soar, to the sun, and look down at the sea
    And I'd sing, cos I'd know, how it feels, to be free

I wish, I knew how, it would feel, to be free
I wish, I could break, all the chains, holding me
I wish, I could say, all the things, that I wanna say
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear
    Say em loud, say em clear
    For the whole wide world to hear

One love, One blood, One life, You got to do what you should
One life, With each other, Sister, Brothers
One love, But we're not the same, We get to carry each other
Carry each other, woah, woah, woah, woah
 
I wish I knew how, it would feel to be free
I wish I knew how, it would feel to be free


By 
Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker

Sunday 3 June 2012

A Lady named Liz

At one point in my life, I was pretty confidence. While there, I stumbled - not in the sense of abilities, but in the sense of values. 

From there on, there were many doubts.  And I tried to comprehend it through all the meanings behind those most powerful statements such as:
1.  "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what we want, it is the realization of how much we already have. We most time actually do not need that much."
2.  "The happiest of people do not necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way."
 3.  "It is true that we do not know what we have got until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives."
 4.  "When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
5.  "The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can not go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches."
Well, it is meaningful.  It is understood, however, it does not resolve the doubts.

As we born, we are instill with values which our family and cultures practice day in and day out.  Over time, it becomes so firmly embedded in us that we might not even know these values are there in us and affecting us in every way we make decision everyday.

My journey came to a cliff, which I could not back up and go backward.  Well, should I jump?
Three incidents happened subsequently.

At that point, I thought - a calm mind is the best for any decisions.  Thus, I halt everything in my life.  Other than eat, sleep, yoga, read and write, I practically do nothing, not even travelling for 3 months. And there I realize, I was living Statement 1.

Then, I felt that calling from Myanmar again.  This is the 3rd attempts to go Myanmar.  Well, it feels fated as it could not have came at a more appropriate time. After 3 weeks in Myanmar, I learnt one absolutely different thing - the thing about people trying to find meaning in their life, the thing about life is suffering taught through Buddhism, the thing about poverty is a suffering in life, etc; all these things that we were taught and embeded in us to form our values, it has a different face in Myanmar.
I am not saying Myanmar people is not poor, I am not saying Myanmar people is not suffering, I am not saying values we learn is wrong; all I am saying is Myanmar people is happy, positive and "trust" that their future is in good hand despite they are being put in such situation. Myanmar people gone beyong believing it; Myanmar people are trusting it and living Statement 2.

I came home, feeling Statement 3. Strange, but true that something is there for me, but I feel so stupid because I do not know how to get it.  

Faith it is. Coincidence it is, a close friend hears what I said, tells me an experience and my mind opens up, and I met Liz.  Timing it is that I was ready to open my mind, as I need the key.  And Liz, my key holder, showed me The Other Me that I have never faced for the past 38 years. Liz showed me why I have never been able to let go Statement 4.
I feel peace finally.  I am happy today and I am heading to Statement 5.

Belum Rain Forest - Perak, Dec 2009.