Love

This is a story used to share by my Moral Education teacher when I was at my prinary school. This story goes like this:

Once upon a time, there was a man, named Jack. He had kept three animals in his house:
 
a dog, a cat and a hamster, and he had kept them in three different cages.

 

Once in a while,
     he would
          bring the dog out for an evening walk or a morning ball game.
          take the cat out and scratch her lovely fur till she purred softly.
          put his hamster in a sophisticated playhouse for it to run and run.

Every meal time, each animal would be given a dish of exquisite meal dedicated to the type of animals he had. He would never give salmon fish to the dog or corns to the cat. Each had its most wonderful meal differently, everyday.

And the animals love Jack very much. So did Jack. To him, they're the most loveable animals in his house.

But, one day, he left the cage open before sleeping. The next morning, the hamster was eaten by the cat and the cat was injured by the dog. The dog was also injured by the cat scratches and it ran away from home.

Jack was puzzled at why his loveable animals turned so violent. He thought it was the food, but then he knew...


HARMONY is not given by segregation.
BENEFITS are not given by segregation.

To instil peace, harmony, unity and happiness, everyone must take initiative to know and understand each other. When we all know each other's differences, we will put aside that, tolerate, and then establish a common ground where everyone is happy.

If, like Jack, we treat people by groups, each group will love you for the benefits you give, but each group will envy towards the treatment you give each other. If that envy grows into a monster, we all are monsters.

Give time to blend and mix, not give benefits to create peace.

Learn to give, dear Malaysians. Learn to love. Humans aren't as ugly as you think, unless you are paranoid.

If Jack didn't want to open the three cages for us to mix, we open ourselves, if not, we just talk across cages, because soon, the cages will not be needed anymore.

Peace, Malaysia.

I love you.

Of Nowadays (Part One)

Maths is a dead subject now. No longer living. I gave my 13-year-old-and-scored-7As-in-UPSR cousin this question: One class as 30 students where 20 of them love Science and another 20 love Maths. How many students love both?

 

He stared at the question and quickly-as-a-matter-of-factly scribbled this:

 

 

30 - 20 - 20 = __
 

"Your question got problem," he frowned.



I looked at him. He was going to take the private school entrance exam and if this question cannot be solved, I have no hope for him to obtain at least a quarter-scholarship (of course there is no such thing as quarter-scholarship).

"Think," I commanded.

He gripped the paper and ran downstairs seeking help from a mechanical engineer father. "Pa, do this for me."

I stared at him ridiculously. "What? I asked you to solve and you turn to your father!"

They both ignored me. Then another shocking news reached my ears:

"Eh, you don't give him this question. You look carefully. Your question is faulty," he said.

*JAWDROPPED*

*

Diameter and radius, who would have not known? My cousin is peculiar. He claimed it was NEVER in his primary school syllabus. It was supposed to be a secondary school syllabus. When I directed him to revise his books, he found it.

"Oh, diameter is like this," he said, drawing a retarded circle and a line jamming through the point of origin. From a clock, it looked approximately like 12.30pm. Then he extended a line from the point of origin and touched the circumference, such that this radius is pointing at 3 o'clock. "This is radius." He smiled.

I took his pen, and drew a radius pointing to 5 o'clock. "Is that a radius?"

"No." He quickly replied.

"Why?"

"It wasn't pointing at that direction," he signified with his index finger pointing to his right.

I was totally surprised. I rotated the paper such that the radius I drew pointed to the direction he intended. "So, my line is it a radius now?"

He scratched his head. "Where got people rotate exam paper one?"

Don't tell me. You should know what your reaction is.

*

Creativity seems to be the latest horror story to any child. I remembered my cousin's face suddenly folded over several times and let out a disgusted noise, "Use my imagination and creativity again?"

I nodded. It was a question of drawing a 10-metre wide circle with only a pencil and a compass.

He quickly turned to his papa and mama, whining, "Pa, Mi, if I give you this and ask you to use imagination and only..." he paused and revealed the tools I have given him to his parents, "this," he said disgustedly, "to answer, can you do it?"

His parents glanced at it.

"I have no time for this. Your cousin gave it to you, so you do it on your own," the mother said.
"What is it? Let me help..." he stared at the question long enough. Then he said, "I don't know. You go ask your cousin."

Then his face glowed truimphantly as if he is the king of answers. He shoved me the paper and tools. "Nah! Papa and mami also can't solve it. How can I solve it!" Then he turned on his computer.

I sighed. My parents are not university graduates, but they are my powerful encyclopaedia. They sometimes can't help me on maths, but they open my minds. I am glad I have such parents.

*

One day, his sister came to me, saying that there's a word she can't understand. I looked at it and it wrote "fertiliser" in Chinese language. So I told her in English is "fertiliser". She stared at me as if I didn't explain anything at all.

"What is fertiliser?" she asked.

Being a 8-year-old toddler, I couldn't blame her much. So I said, "You know, mami has plants outisde? The flowers? Sometimes they need something like tiny fishballs to become bigger and healthier."

She stared at me even stronger. "Huh?"

"You go ask mami. Maybe she can show you," I gave up.

She ran to the kitchen, found her mum and did what I tell her. Her mum came to me, wiping her wet hands on her shirt, "Ah, sorry to tell you, we don't use fertilisers. So I can't show you."

I... collapsed.

*

"Gor gor, how you draw so beautiful?" my cousin sister tugged at my sleeve.

"Come, I show you. You see this...?" then I began how my father and mother taught me about observing power. How the size and perspective matters. How shadow shifts under light. How things must be balanced. How object must be logical.

"Can you fold paper swan?" she meant paper crane.

"Yes."

"Can show me?"

"Yes."

"Now?"

"Later."

"When later?"

"Till you know how to draw," I gave an evil grin.

You know what's best about an innocent child? They will give whatever it takes to get whatever they need. I soon saw her struggling to draw and ask me about the pictures. But I pitied her because she had to draw on newspapers.

"Meimei," I called her. "You don't have papers to draw on?"

"No. Papa mami din buy also," she shook her head with her sorry eyes.

I reached my file and gave a stack of A4 papers. "Nah, draw for me, every day."

She gladly took it.

Creativity is something to be explored. Seriously. If you have the tools, you make wonders. Don't ask your children to read, read and read. That's not learning.

*

One day we went to Sushi King. Me and her mami craved for baby octopus. So I grabbed a plate.

"Gor gor, what's that?" my cousin sister words glued together, sounding like "wazzat".

"Baby octopus," then I added before she put any wild imaginations on it, "it tastes very nice!"

Her papa suddenly said. "You don't eat one lar. Really one, you don't eat."

I ignored him and cut a tentacle for her. She cautiously put it in her mouth and grinned. "Nice lo."

Sometimes, as a parent, you have to give chance to your kids. Don't go laying conclusions when your kids have no exposure on them, unless it is not beneficial.

Looking Out of the Window

Have you ever looked out of the window?


Outside, it is so shiny and sunny,
with the greens, reds and blues of nature's beauty.

You sat by the window and stared and stared.
     Every bird which flew by,
     every flower that bloomed away,
     every trickling water from the grey fountain,
- each sparkle of Mother goodness was enough to hammer in your heart.

You wanted to go out from this dark cold room.
     to touch the colours.
     to feel the wind embracing your body.
     to inhale the fragrance of spring.

Or you wanted a blue Adonis butterfly
     to land on your petty fingers.

It's a dream of heaven out there.

*****

Then, you stepped out of the window
fell on a pungent shrub with violet bells.

You squeezed the carpet grass
and plucked the thorny rose.

Canary flew by and you thought it was a phoenix
spreading its fiery wings and casting light to the darkest corners.

You turned back and saw where you came from:
A wooden shed with neat four windows.

As Long As the Candle Stays

You stand on the crossroad. You don't know where to go. You asked people and they tell you the same thing: "Where I go, you go."

Ever heard of the poem "The Road Not Taken"? It's both a good and bad thing. It's what we called 'Life'. Life is interesting when there are choices to be made. If you don't, what life are you having besides the life of others?

Ahead, you must not be quivering over the words by your kin. Think. Think hard. If it comes to your expertise, your profession and you think you can perform well at the end of the road, then take it without doubt. Don't ever hesitate. Did you know a moment of hesitation will cause you a lifetime of regret?

I was once a Science student, bravely announcing to public that I am taking 'Marine Bio' as my field of study, after I discarded the idea of being an Astrophysicist. Teachers congratulated me, friends pressured me. I love the sea. I am an Aquarian, who cares?

My doctor even told me that I have to learn intensive scuba-diving and submarine engineering, but I still stood still over my choice. For me, the candle ahead of me is shining brightly like a star and I was determined to go straight.

But now, a Banking and Finance student. Who pressured me? Nobody did. It was a gradual and yet abrupt transition (paradox...). I took Biotech after I failed to receive 8 scholarships (till now I don't understand why those 8 failed), then I switched to Biochem, then Biomed, then Chemical Engineering, then Computer Science (thinking of inventing Quantum Computers), to Journalism, Accountancy and finally, Banking and Finance.

I changed it because I see something else. I am versatile enough to learn any course, but the world isn't versatile enough to contain my wild heart. I can only choose one, or two if possible. Then I began to research on the market.

Financers are all around me. Without finance knowledge, you don't even know when your bank is cheating on you. Well, that's not the point. The point is, I see my candle light dimmed and sometimes even obstructed by an unknown force.

Then I realised. In my home country, you can take Science field, but you have to be superbly PRO and work in Multi-National Company to move faster, or else, you will be trapped in 3 major fields: Fishery, Forestry (Palm oil) and Mineral (Petroleum).

I don't want those three.

So I make a tough choice, that made my mum cried because she worried I cannot cope it in the future as I was so 'science-based' till I do my own experiment and research at home, even argued a point in Wikipedia. And of course, she once told me to take business. She thought she was forcing me to take Business.

Nah, it wasn't. And she said, study well, no course offered in the university is wasted. Or else there won't be that course after all.

And so, here I am, a Banking and Finance student, finding new fun and horizon in my future. Ahead, I saw my candlelight again.

Then I realised something awful.


The candle never changed. It won't changed for a person. It stays there. It's just a matter of changing perspective. No matter how, you still reach for the candle. Don't blow it. Don't question it. Your friends might threaten to take it away, or force you to see it at the other perspective. Not good. You have to see it for yourself.

As long as the candle stays, your choices remain open, that's what I can say. Both choices are equally good. My friend said my science was good. But it wasn't that good after I realised I have talked so much about science that - psychologically - my friends thought I was 'science-minded'.

Try talk 2 different topics or choices at once at equal length, equal depth, equal width. You will be surprised your friend would say:

'Go and choose one and say la. I am confused to hear two topics alternating every day!'

Now, for that statement, what choice you choose?

So, the choice is yours. The candle is yours. How you burn it, how you shine it, how you look it, depends on you. Nobody can help that.



[PS: currently too many people asking for my advice. My lame advice can be above. If not, sorry for wasting your time over here. Let you punch next time I see you.]