Monday, August 28, 2006
Contentment is the realization of how much you already have...
This is a touching and inspiring story I once heard.. Read on if you wanna know how to feel happy each day of your life... Hee..
Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad, real bad, and you wish you were in another situation? You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, everything seems to go wrong... Read the following story... it may change your views about life.
After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is. I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.
He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India... that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback. He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.
You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child's hand been infected?? No, it was done for two simple words : - - - TO BEG! The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg. Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered withsand, robbing bits from one another. The natural reaction of hunger.
Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily necessities. Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate.
For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25. He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of...
Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have. Don't you agree? Now if you have a moment to spare, think about your life. Think about the chances you've been given, the precious gifts you've been endowed with, the people around you who love you with all they've got. Why do you still always hate your life and wish for it to be better? Why?
I find it puzzling that people are never contented. Perhaps it's just greed that makes us want something better than what we already have, rather than cherishing the present. Well, I'm definitely contented with my life. My parents, my friends, myself, my past, my present, my future.
I dun wanna live my life with regrets.. & I wanna die smiling, knowing that I have led a contented and fulfilling life.. =)
Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad, real bad, and you wish you were in another situation? You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, everything seems to go wrong... Read the following story... it may change your views about life.
After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is. I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.
He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India... that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback. He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.
You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child's hand been infected?? No, it was done for two simple words : - - - TO BEG! The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg. Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered withsand, robbing bits from one another. The natural reaction of hunger.
Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily necessities. Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate.
For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25. He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of...
Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have. Don't you agree? Now if you have a moment to spare, think about your life. Think about the chances you've been given, the precious gifts you've been endowed with, the people around you who love you with all they've got. Why do you still always hate your life and wish for it to be better? Why?
I find it puzzling that people are never contented. Perhaps it's just greed that makes us want something better than what we already have, rather than cherishing the present. Well, I'm definitely contented with my life. My parents, my friends, myself, my past, my present, my future.
I dun wanna live my life with regrets.. & I wanna die smiling, knowing that I have led a contented and fulfilling life.. =)
~Summer~ 3:08 PM
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The end of 16 years of school life..
~Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments.~
I guess this really depicts how I felt when I finally had to bid farewell to Hall 6 after four good long years here. I mean, wow, I actually spend four years of my youth here! But if you were to let me start all over again, there is no other place I would rather be. Absolutely nowhere else.When I was still a freshie, I came into NTU as a girl with an abundance of energy and positivism for the future that lies ahead. As someone who loves to make new frenz and do things with a passion, no doubt soon I dove straight into hall life, immersed myself amidst its rich culture and relished in the joy of getting to know so many hall mates of which some will become my best pals in decades to come. While I dedicated myself to endless commitments here, the one regret I would have was to neglect a deeply loved one then, & silly me only realised how much I needed him when all was gone & lost. But well, life moves on.
Perhaps everything in life really happens for a reason. I met Junwei, fell in love and soon we were together. I took up sports and recre games, & I really LOVED being the softball pitcher during my 3rd and 4th year. I saw it as a challenge to myself (like Benson says, it's only between you and the gunny sack =p)
and I knew if I wanna win, I gotta win myself. Who cares about the batter, I'm going to get you out anyway. Haha. Trainings were long and tiring, but well worth it and really, you'll miss them lots when next time you can't even find time to train. Like softball, darts was another game I saw as a challenge to myself. I just find it sooooo satisfying whenever I shout "Check out" and left the other party stunned. My 3rd year was good, when I won 6 out of 7 games. But 4th year was even better, when I won all 7 games I played and left behind a tiny legacy of my own. My only regret was that it was still not enough to bring Hall 6 to the semis. But well, I have absolute faith that one day we will get in!!~Back to hall life, well, my closest bunch of frenz are of coz the LCBs!! (aka Lao Cha Bos). We had steamboat sessions, clubbing sessions, drinking sessions, mj sessions, & even Salsa and Hip Hop sessions wif the 32 LCBs. Haha. Life was shiok and carefree in those days, even though the endless projects were dreadful sometimes. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to initiate gatherings & hold a group together if they don't want the bond to fade. I do think that the LCBs are a special group of gals, and after we all grad together, we will still remain a very close, crazy, spontaneous bunch of frenz. Come to CS, well, I must admit I spend much more time in hall commitments than school commitments. But, being the OGL of Apollo will always be a vivid and sweet memory in my heart. I love the CS foc and I love playing all the games that we did. Too bad all good things had to come to an end. Glad I found my 'kor' after that foc too!
Thinking back of the good old days, I can't help but sigh at the thought that 16 years o
f school life has passed me by. Even if I want to, there's no more going back and all I can do is look forward to the next phase of my life. I'm glad that my years in school have been greatly cherished and I'm proud to say that I do not have much regrets. Will always be grateful for the things I have learnt in school, but even more grateful for the things that school did not teach me. Things like compassion, love, determination, friendship. Thanks to the people who have stepped into my life, coz' you are the ones who taught me all these precious lessons.
~Summer~ 12:30 AM