Mumblings of an incoherent mind...
Thursday, January 26, 2006
The Burden of life
What is the reason of life? What role do we play in this great big cosmos? Where do we live our imprint in the sand?
Do we live our lives for ourselves? Or do we live it for others...
I believe that that is the burden of life....the weight that we carry. We are here not to live life for ourselves, but our lives are for others. We are here not for self gratification but to help other people out, and to make society and community somewhat better, to be self sacrificial, the sacrificial lamb. From the day of birth, we should be living for others, it's really quite a hard idea to convey but the crux of it is simply that we were born for others. We live to bring joy to our parents, to make them proud of us. We live to help the less fortunate. We live to provide companionship, friendship and a shoulder to friends.
Perhaps there is a reason why i was brought into this world
Perhaps there is a reason for my existence
Perhaps there is a reason why i am here
Perhaps there is a reason why i ended up in NUS instead of NTU, tho the latter had a much better offer and choice.
and that reason, i guess, is you.
i am here to make a difference...
the thorn in the hand
through some bad luck, or some clumsiness of mine, i had a piece of splinter in my fingers. and somehow or other while looking at the splinter, and trying to remove it, it started to remind me of something that happened in the past.
During one of my courses in OBS, i had to take care of a group of 12 year olds. Noisy, rebellious, naughty, stubborn, hyper and irresponsible were some of the adjectives i'd use to describe them. Eventhough they were 12, i felt like taking soap water and washing their mouth out becuase of all the vulgarities that they were spewing out. not only that, their short attention span meant that they didn't pay attention when we were giving safety briefing which was of perennial importance. i remember asking permission to 'talk' to them from my instructor (i was merely an assistant then, an underling) and i remembered scolding them..or rather talking 'nicely' to them after dinner. i remember the one good person in that group starting to cry even before i had scolded them because she knew i was unhappy...and she thought it was her fault.
then we went out on an expedition. what waws initially a 4 hour expedition turned out to be a 9 hour trek in the jungle as we got lost. however what amazed me was that throughout the 9 h ours, no one complaint. nobody blamed their friends for getting them lost. no one blamed the instructor or me becuase they were lost. instead, everybody took it in good cheer. i remember trekking up and down a hill, going through the same path more than once. what i remember most was one of the path had pokok salak all over (salak trees are like palm trees with thorns on their branches and everywhere else). i remember the ground being slippery and muddy, and some of us fell on our way down. i remember all of my participants trying ahrd to keep their balance and in doing so, grabbed the brances and had inch long thorns stabbed into their palms. but throughout this ordeal, i remembered most their bravery, 12 year old children, braving the pain, taking it in their stride.
it was by luck that we finally managed to find our way out. at that time it was already evening and the sun was setting. other instructors helped to prepare dinner for us. and throughout the night, i remember helping to remove the thorns from their hands, a painfujl procedure but they just gritted their teeth and carried on. some even had thorns in their stomach.
in the end, that was one of the best group of participants that i had....that adversity had made us stronger and had united us instead of breaking us apart.. ¶ 2:06 AM 0 Comments
Do we live our lives for ourselves? Or do we live it for others...
I believe that that is the burden of life....the weight that we carry. We are here not to live life for ourselves, but our lives are for others. We are here not for self gratification but to help other people out, and to make society and community somewhat better, to be self sacrificial, the sacrificial lamb. From the day of birth, we should be living for others, it's really quite a hard idea to convey but the crux of it is simply that we were born for others. We live to bring joy to our parents, to make them proud of us. We live to help the less fortunate. We live to provide companionship, friendship and a shoulder to friends.
Perhaps there is a reason why i was brought into this world
Perhaps there is a reason for my existence
Perhaps there is a reason why i am here
Perhaps there is a reason why i ended up in NUS instead of NTU, tho the latter had a much better offer and choice.
and that reason, i guess, is you.
i am here to make a difference...
the thorn in the hand
through some bad luck, or some clumsiness of mine, i had a piece of splinter in my fingers. and somehow or other while looking at the splinter, and trying to remove it, it started to remind me of something that happened in the past.
During one of my courses in OBS, i had to take care of a group of 12 year olds. Noisy, rebellious, naughty, stubborn, hyper and irresponsible were some of the adjectives i'd use to describe them. Eventhough they were 12, i felt like taking soap water and washing their mouth out becuase of all the vulgarities that they were spewing out. not only that, their short attention span meant that they didn't pay attention when we were giving safety briefing which was of perennial importance. i remember asking permission to 'talk' to them from my instructor (i was merely an assistant then, an underling) and i remembered scolding them..or rather talking 'nicely' to them after dinner. i remember the one good person in that group starting to cry even before i had scolded them because she knew i was unhappy...and she thought it was her fault.
then we went out on an expedition. what waws initially a 4 hour expedition turned out to be a 9 hour trek in the jungle as we got lost. however what amazed me was that throughout the 9 h ours, no one complaint. nobody blamed their friends for getting them lost. no one blamed the instructor or me becuase they were lost. instead, everybody took it in good cheer. i remember trekking up and down a hill, going through the same path more than once. what i remember most was one of the path had pokok salak all over (salak trees are like palm trees with thorns on their branches and everywhere else). i remember the ground being slippery and muddy, and some of us fell on our way down. i remember all of my participants trying ahrd to keep their balance and in doing so, grabbed the brances and had inch long thorns stabbed into their palms. but throughout this ordeal, i remembered most their bravery, 12 year old children, braving the pain, taking it in their stride.
it was by luck that we finally managed to find our way out. at that time it was already evening and the sun was setting. other instructors helped to prepare dinner for us. and throughout the night, i remember helping to remove the thorns from their hands, a painfujl procedure but they just gritted their teeth and carried on. some even had thorns in their stomach.
in the end, that was one of the best group of participants that i had....that adversity had made us stronger and had united us instead of breaking us apart.. ¶ 2:06 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
To have knowledge, or to be ignorant
This was what was going through my mind this afternoon...whether it was better to be iangnorant, or to know what is going on? Some say ignorances is bliss, while others say knowledge is power. How then if the knowledge makes you weak, but being ignorant makes you poor..i.e. you lose out on something?
To have knowledge? or to be ignorant? the choice has already been made for me and it's not good.. ¶ 1:13 AM 0 Comments
To have knowledge? or to be ignorant? the choice has already been made for me and it's not good.. ¶ 1:13 AM 0 Comments
