The Aftermath......Sad

After coming back from a successful BERSIH 3.0 rally in Melaka, I was greeted with tragic news that had befallen BERSIH supporters in our capital city, Kuala Lumpur. News of tear gas, chemical laced sprays and razor sharp blades barricades ( mind you, this is not barbed wires! ) filled the information centre in my brains. I began to feel a sense of sadness running through my heart. It didn't take me long before a phone call from a lawyer friend in KL sputtered out the pandemonium chaos the policemen had made towards the BERSIH supporters group. It was afterall a peaceful gathering to voice the wishes of the people for clean and free of corrupt election. Is that too much to ask for? I find it ridiculously cowardly to disallow the people to gather peacefully at Dataran Merdeka and the rest of the historical ground throughout Malaysia. Melaka was no exception too as it is the local municipality council rather than the policemen who acted like some side road big bully. I guess, in Melaka, it was peaceful with the exception for some troublemakers from the other side of the fence who tried to instigate some BERSIH supporters into reacting to their taunts. I guess, I did not stay back to find out but I do find it to be an exceptional big strange to find the police protecting these hooligan taunters. Hmmmmnnnnn....it kinda make you think whether the police are protecting the public, the tourist, the BERSIH fellas or in cohorts with the troublemakers? Bah! Either way, walk away from such taunts is the best! They can taunt all they want but the fact remains that they themselves are cowards for hiding under the cloak of corrupt leaders and corrupt practises.  

That is why I wouldn't be surprised if there had been "troublemakers" purposely been assimilated into the BERSIH rally supporters with the sole purpose to disrupt and bring the BERSIH rally to a disrepute state. Afterall, anyone or anybody who is willing to attend a BERSIH rally is welcomed. There is no background check and so on for the sole purpose is to gather, sit down in a peaceful demonstration of the rakyat's desire. Anyway, I was sick to my stomach seeing every Tom, Dick and Harry in yellow clothing will be clobbered and brought down. I am really appalled by the total brutal force inflicted by the policemen on the rally supporters. I am sad when I hear news from friends in KL who had swollen eyes, cuts , bruises and even physical pain resultant of the charges by the brute police force. I am realy saddened when even my lawyer friend and his friends were tear-gassed and clobbered by the club-swinging happy policemen. My God, some of the scenes on the media were just too gory and I want to ask the policemen on duty - what would have happened if their roles had been reversed or had the people actually  turned on them? Would they plead for their lives from being bludgeoned, kicked, punched and stomped on? Many on that day had kept to their original plan of peaceful demonstration of the BERSIH ideals but I believe the authorities had erred big time on using force on these people.

Just look at young men and women who were just pulled, punched and whacked up like some rag dolls by the streets! It is so painful to watch and it really breaks my heart seeing people in the PDRM regalias having a field day of brutal force to hack down people after people. Damn you! What provocation are you talking about when a little bit after 3.30pm the BERSIH organisers had asked the people to disperse as the objective had been achieved? My lawyer friend was there to relate to me that it was a little after 3.30pm that the cannons of tear gas cans started flying , sending everyone to run orderly but controlled. It was the charging of these men in blue that had caused many to fall and had injuries. Gosh, looking at the picture of a pakcik getting hurt or a makcik falling down is heartbreaking. To many, it is the consequences of taking part in such rally, to me, that's courage and tenacity to stand for what is right.

I was even told that many young men and women helped these folks to get up, cleaned up their bloodied face and even help to walk together with fellow supporters. So proud of these warm-hearted and great Malaysians from all walks of life and races. Wherever you are, I pray that each and everyone who had participated in BERSIH rally throughout Malaysia had been blessed by the experience and may you stand tall in knowing that you made a difference in someone's life. Most important of all, you had taken the first step of not living in fear, not afraid of undesirable underhand tactics to scare the daylights out of you and standing for what is right & just. 

To the skeptics of this rally, take a good look at our country today. Take a good look at the wastage that had occured and the malpractices that had surround us each day. Take a good hard look at our living conditions and our daily provisions. I see wastages, I see corrupt practises, I see abuse from the top to the bottom of the food chain and I see a perilous, imperious and relentlessly ruthless authorities who would not hesitate to hurt you in any way just to stay in power. To me, that is a breach of the simple ethical living in this country of ours. I love MALAYSIA - always will, always have because this is my homeland. There is no better place than MALAYSIA but the rot has to stop! It starts with you and I ~  

      

BERSIH 3.0 - A humble experience....

Exhilarating and humbleness in my heart are the two words I can describe for my attendance at BERSIH 3.0 Rally in Melaka. I am equally thankful to have a great friend in Errol Gan who came along to lend his support for this worthwhile cause. In order to avoid jamming up the town, together, we walked from Jalan Bendahara and headed towards Dataran Pahlawan for BERSIH 3.0 Rally in Melaka. Many have asked me days before the rally why do I want to do it. The answer is simple: We , as Malaysian , had been played over by the government over the years and they have not only instilled fear in us but intimidate us by the show of the government machinery to bully the people. The only way to go forward is through the election votes and if the election process is even rigged, then, this country is doomed for destruction. That is why it is so crucial for this country to have clean elections hence, the word BERSIH. For many days now, there has been a lot of reservation and hesitation from people even in my office for the need to attend such cause. To me, it is always an individual choice but if the cause is good - why not join in, right? I believe in fairness and justice but for a common good rather than individual cause! That's why BERSIH 3.0 is so important for the future of our generations and for the future standing of our children's children. Some people need to learn real hard on this matter.

I am really glad to see so many younger generation of people taking up their places in such march or protest. I must say that I was pumped up days before the event. As usual., I prayed for God's protection upon my life and the lives of those that will attend today's rally. I am so glad that there weren't any casualties while the police officers were great as there were no provocation on the part of the protesters who were present. I am glad that I came for this rally and when someone shoved a banner to my hands, I was totally committed to the cause of the rally. The shouts of "Hidup, Hidup - BERSIH" got my adrenaline pumped up and I love it. For me, I was glad to see young people of all race, age, shape,  size and colours attending to the rally. I even had a photography session with a few Malay youths and lots of young people. 

As I looked at myself, here stands a 48 year old man holding a banner on one of the demands of the Bersih Rally - that was truly a remarkable feeling! I tell you this, I am humbled by the presence of so many people today at the rally. It is a rarity of expression of our rights and I am really blessed. I took pictures and shook hands with people I have not met before. How great can it get? I get smiles from people I don't know. I get the spirit of camaraderie in such a cause. I get people who wants to take pictures and stand up for a good cause. For a 48 year old man, I didn't do badly. I carried my banner with great pride, joy and great conviction. The readings of my banner is truly for all the media people, the journalists right to cameramen, to the editors and to the loving people. I was joyful throughout and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I really wondered where the older folks had gone. Maybe the threats and the generations of fear deposited in their heads had taken their toll on them.

Anyway, I am just so humbled by the fact that I have made many new friends and humbled that everyone is fighting on the same side for a better Malaysia. I have not loved Malaysia any less but I have gained humility by knowing that we have to get rid and put aside our racist evil behind us if we want to build a greater homeland, our beloved country MALAYSIA. Today, I am proud to be a Malaysian together with our friends from the other races to fight a just and right cause. 

Like I said to a friend a little while ago, I am humbled by the awesome experience. I had no fear and I really feared nothing. This is a right cause and I am very blessed by the people I have met. They had been a blessing in my life today. It just goes to show that we may be diverse in our every day lives but we can come together for a good common cause. Let's build a future for our families and our future generations! STOP the robbing of our future, STOP the racial abuse, STOP the corrupters, STOP the unfair ways!

I say to you this - UBAH ! Repent, change and move forward!     

Weekender specials......

Getting back to Seremban over the weekend was the opportunity to spend some time with the nephew and the niece. As we arrived home, Ashley was at home to welcome us for the weekend. We played with her and she certainly have grown up. As usual, she needed to be warmed up first but after some warm up session, she was alright. However, I laughed at her Rod Stewart voice as she was not feeling well but I am sure that after some medication, she should be okay. The whole day was sunny dry and hot hot afternoon. No matter what, we just wanted to spend some time with the tiny tots, Ashley & Ryan and with Jade, Wei and SLing's mom. It was just good being able to spend some time together.

When Ryan came back from his lesson in KL, it was fun to see him, crew-cut, in his white t-shirt , buttoned up to the last button and I felt choked when I saw that. After loosening the button, at least he doesn't look like some China kid from some military school. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa........ Anyway, this fella is just a barrel of fun. Took out a bag of goodies for him and Ashley to share and as usual, the racket starts. But this time, it was more civil and less ruckus. I guess, they must have grown up a lot while we were away. It was fun all the way especially as we shared some glow sticks with them as the evening dawned. It was then off to dinner at a nearby restaurant and the food was fantastically good. Thanks to Wei & Jade for the treats. Dishes ranged from Mongolian duck to some specially stew spare ribs of pork were of great taste. It was really delightful meals and also, we were bowled over by the presence of a red Lamborghini which was parked near the banquet hall entrance of the restaurant. Ah! Another young couple taking a plunge to stay together and create havoc for each other! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa......................Anyway, I was just joking! It is for the better, I guess. I called them brave and responsible young souls for taking up firm action for their commitment to each other! Way to go!

Coming back to the not-so-tiny tots nowadays, they spend time playing with SLing and the family as we packed ourselves in the room. It was fun seeing the glowing sticks glow (they don't glow that long these days! Sigh! ) and making these children happy. All in all, it was fun being able to catch a few days to play with the children. Yeah! I do miss Ryan and Ashley! Gotta get rid of some insane work and responsibilities plus find time to get back to be with these beautiful children. Anyway we are cajoling Ryan & Ashley to eat rice with dishes while dangling the carrot that every time he/she takes rice with dishes we put a sticker to his/her name. Once , they have collected 30 stickers, we would get them something! Great bargain, right? Yeah! Nowadays, children are the smart one, ok? No incentive, no play! Eat rice means big payday at the end of the month! hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...........

To Wei & Jade, thanks again for the meals and the hospitality. Really appreciate all the comforts of home and great family time. It is always a joy to be able to spend time with the family!~

"Kuda" left behind....

Last night was a shocker for me as Jesse Campbell from Team Christina was eliminated from the reality singing show " The Voice 2 ". I seriously thought that this guy is a strong contender to win the competition. I was flabbergasted as SYuen was as Christina Aguilera announced her elimination choice at the end of the show. Again, this is the new twist to the show and somehow, I do get a little teenie bit disappointed with Christina Aguilera's choice of elimination. I mean, I don't get it. Isn't this show is about finding the "voice" that was the best? I don't think I'll received any bricks if I were to say that Jesse Campbell is definitely a very strong contender to win this competition. His voice is versatile, his vocal range is quite good and soothing - a crooner and a crowd pleaser , I presumed. I don't know if this was a stunt to pull in more viewers to watch the show but with decisions like this, I am sure, they would lose quite a few. Christina's reasoning for eliminating Jesse was quite poor and what gut feeling are you talking about , Christina? I read the comments all over the net in regards to her " defending her guts feeling " and I must say, it was simply just poor excuses. I mean, look at the reaction that came out from the other judges/coaches and the general public. Well, Lindsey Pavao didn't even sing well for that matter while I would think Chris Mann would give a good fight to the competition. To be fair, I really thought that this show is much better than "American Idol 11" because of the massive talents that were scouted and given the opportunity to shine but somehow, it's back to pleasing the producers that network bigwits, I guess. Yup! Randy Jackson would have given Christina Aguilera some lessons on picking the right talent,man rather than letting go good talents. Randy would have said to Christina, " You got it wrong , dude! That's talent right there! You got it wrong! " 

Personally, I think, with Jesse gone, the competition is for Jermaine Paul from Team Blake to win it. Jermaine was superb in his rendition of "Against All Odds " - a Phil Collins number. Over the top, some may say it but I thought he did a great stretch of his vocals, man.  Hopefully, he has many more beautiful renditions to belt out for the competition as it would get fierce with singers from Team Adam and Team Cee Lo coming up soon. But for now, I think, Jermaine Paul is the one to beat together with Chris Mann ( reminded me very much like one of the Il Divo guys! ). Seriously, I don't see Lindsey Pavao ( Team Christina ) or Erin Willett ( Team Blake ) winning this competition but we'll never know until the very end , right?  Hmmmnnnnnnnn.... I would pick Tony Lucca, Mathai (Team Adam ) and Juliet Simm, Jamar Rogers ( Team Cee Lo )  to battle it out for the coming stage of the competition. Don't know if this will materialise but this is just my prediction of the other two teams participants.

Anyway, I am still "smouldering" the pain of seeing Jesse Campbell off the competition. Rats! He was a good singer just like Javier Colon, last season's winner. Very winnable talent, hands down! Anyway, only time will tell who the winner will be but it is still a fun program to watch. Anyway, I was really impressed with all these singers ability to croon out nice songs and tunes, man. Such a delight , actually. My choice of winner - Jermaine Paul or Chris Mann.

May the best "Voice" prevails!~

Babysitting joy!

I'll tell you this much - I love babies! Luckily the "factory" for my wife and I had "closed operation" for many years and now, we are contented with the fact that we will continue to love other people's babies and children instead. We have two lovely grown up children of our own and if we can raise them to where they are, we are kinda happy. Anyway, last Saturday, we babysat Caitlyn and her brothers, Dave and Caleb. When we were asked earlier by Din & Abby if we could babysit their children over the weekend, SLing and I leapt to our chance to take care of the little ones. Honestly, it would be a great honour and joy to be able to take care of their chidlren. You see, they are really wonderful children while Caitlyn with her curls and what not is just so adorable and heart-warming. As for Dave and Caleb, well, these are my Rangers boys, so, they are by themselves delightful, courteous and nice in their own special way.  

That evening as they arrived, Din & Abby dropped off their 3 little musketeers at our place. As SLing and I ushered the children in, Caitlyn was awake and in her bubbling disposition. We quickly bundled their parents off the door and into their car, waved them good bye as they sped off  to their special evening. We fed the children with the food that was bought by Din & Abby and then we got down to "business" - the games, the laughter, the movies and the footbal match. SLing and I took turns to take care of Caitlyn while she slobbered her saliva on the mattress laid out at the living room. She was really so cute and fun to be with especially her antics of rolling on her stomach and sticking her head up. She made SLing and I laughed as she smiled to us or made baby sounds as we played with her. Hmmmmnnnnnnnn.....suddenly I felt ironically old when mentioning this........hahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

Anyway, with the fan spinning its nice breeze and wind, Caitlyn soon felt asleep and as she laid on her stomach with her hands to the top, it reminded me very much of how our children used to sleep when they were young. She looked serene and calm. Yeah, I am reflected on the fact that we all go through this in our life time and it was a theurapatic thingy for me. Prior to sleeping, I have put Caitlyn in my hands and rocked her to sleep with my Dunlopillo arms and small pats. It was such a joy being able to cradle a baby to sleep and know that she is really such a delight. Yeah! When she is awake, she would squirmed and moved so much but she is an easy baby to take care. We gave her plenty of water to drink and somehow, she was such a good baby and drank the water easily. Easily, she was such a delight to play with or even coaxed her to sleep. However, her salivating ways will be there for a while. T-shirts, hands, handkerchief and matress were slobbered with this pretty girl goodness of saliva! Hahahahhaaaaaaaaaaa...... what a scene! As for the boys, we entertained them with " The Three Musketeers" movie on the IPad and a short scene of " Sherlock Holmes". They were mesmerized by the movie and had a great time lazing atop the laid out mattress at the living room. Realy, both Dave and Caleb are a pair of well-behaved young lads, ridiculously funny but clever little boys. Dave has grown up so much, actually. He is  responsible, polite, humorous and so tanned while Caleb is still the brightest spark as he is - witty, smiley and humorous. Love these two boys!

 

For me, I watched the epic football match between Liverpool and Everton on the telly. Exciting match with exciting children in the house also! What a great night! They boys celebrated the goals as they watched the movie! Terrific multi-tasking,man! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa............... That night, as Din & Abby came by to retrieve the kids, it was kinda sad to see them leave the house. Kinda miss those tiny tots just like I miss my own nephew, Ryan and my niece, Ashley. Ok! Gotta make time to visit my adorable nephew and niece this coming weekend, cuddled and loved them as I have loved these children all these years! Yeah, the experience of babysitting the children had enriched my life a lot and it feels good to be able to cradle a sweet baby in your arms. Somehow, I still can't understand how some women would just dumped such sweet babies in the dumpster or leave them at the door or in boxes. Seriously, I really can't understand nor will ever understand the so-call logic of baby dumping. Hopefully, one day, as they cradled one of these beautiful ones in their arms, they will understand how beautiful and precious such life had been ~

I wonder....

A few mornings ago,  I received an email from one STS ( Sabah ) student who sent a heartfelt email thanking my friends and I for our contribution to his studies. In fact, the monies collected will go a long way to pay for his study fees. As I sat there reading the mail, I will never know what our contribution had meant to that person but I guess, it will make a difference in his life as a servant of God who had pursued a calling from God to be equipped with the Word and served in one of the remote areas in Sabah. Like I have said so many times, I have given out much without complain over the years; be it my finance, my resources , my talents or whatever is available to me , as they say it, but it has never stop me nor my friends from giving for the right purpose/cause. Giving for the right purpose /cause is important and that's a fact. More importantly, I have always asked myself, are we giving with the right heart attitude? Many a times, people in authority always use the phrase "God loves a cheerful giver" to ransom our thoughts but the truth of the matter is that both the attitude of the giver and receiver are of great importance.I don't know about you but it is important to me that the receiver receives my givings with much gratitude and use the help given responsibly and with great accountability just as I give whole-heartedly with expectations that it has helped the receiver being blessed. You may say this is far-fetched but think about it. Didn't God expect that from us - just as He gives life to us to be in this world? We continue to shudder and hide in our cloak of pretentious concoction of what we call life and then say that we should not be too critical of what we have given away and que sera sera- what will be, will be. What I am saying is simply that being accountable, doing things with integrity, responsible and gratitude are virtues that should be possessed by both the giver and the receiver. Mind you, I am not talking about just finances but virtually every aspect of our lives - be it in our time, our resources, our talents, our sacrifice and even the little things we contribute.

That is why we live in perpetual ruins when  we continue to lose this perspective of life. We see spiritual foundations being set up like some money making organisation with some big shot self proclaimed status quo of CEO, set of arrogant, bungling & self-proclaimed advisors aided by apple polishing, nit-wit supporters. Alas, we have many little Napoleons running our spiritual foundation these days. Interestingly, we all know from history that Napoleon did win many battles with a lot of bloodshed, gripped of fear and he created pain, anguish and slaughtered the lives out of so many out of his own indulgence and hunger for power and craze to stay in power. In simple words, he created his own ghost and monster. Even in his latter years, he was even afraid of his own shadow for that matter. His advisors and cohorts were no better than him.They have created a monster in Napoleon by feeding to his whims, fancies and sugary diabetic-laced with death ideas & proposals. Earlier in history, the down fall of King Louis XVI and the bloodied iron-clutched hands of Maximilien Robespierre and Jacobins did nothing to teach Napoleon nor the people to walk through that path again. Well, the country was bankrupt and left in ruins. The very institution of the country collapsed and the poor rebelled bringing many to the cold steel of the horizontal blade.  These advisors fed his ego, his eccentricity, sugary-coated advices and simply wormed through the ladder of the establishment by throwing the genuine leaders off the ladders. In simple terms, these leaders created a monster they could not control or is it that the monster itself was already having its own tentacles of power at its side. Sadly enough, these web of deceits caused an upraising amongst the people and like they say, the rest is history. Heads rolled onto the receiving baskets as the glistening guillotine runs its course along the back neckline severing the pulsating arteries and the thick base of the neck. We all could learn a thing or two from history lessons at times. The interesting part, none were spared while Napoleon was sent to exile in Elba hence the famous quip, " Able was I ere I saw Elba". Interestingly enough , if you read it straight and backwards, it is the same phrase. It only shows the manipulative intelligence level of the adversary we face each day as leaders like this stays at the top of their game each time.

I am sad for the fact that blind allegiance of leadership sometimes will create a monster in itself. Past glories can be a learning point for striving to do better but never a yardstick for success. If we scream at the top of our lungs that grace is new each day , why can't our actions and attitude shows the same instead of continuing to do the same offence day in, day out? Hurts are real. Anger is real and people stepping out of our religious foundation is real. Everyone to his/her own reason of leaving but the manner of leaving is important. If one left on an extremely hurtful note, how could God's foundation be glorified or is it good riddance to bad rubbish mentality by the already weakening and slimy leadership? There has to be a re-conciliation of where has the point gone wrong. Two parallel points do not meet while humbleness and willingness to listen will help a long way. An arrogant attitude, a harsh word or even a distasteful action can scar people for life. We all live on a fragile line of humility, mentality and sanity. When a religious foundation which is suppose to help us grow in our spirituality fails to even address such attitudes, where else would the hurt, the spiritually-bashed up and even the victims go to get their healing when the very healing foundation they go to is the one ripping them apart week after week? The obvious answer is they walk out from one foundation to another foundation and the roller coaster ride begins all over again because the baggages are not cleared in the first place. Lives are lost while I pray that lives will be healed and restored by the action of re-conciliation and the willingness to push aside pride, egoism and even wishful thinking.

Until and unless affirmative corrective measures are administered, I see that the very human institution we have called the religious foundation will fall to pieces. Leaving congregation is real. Hurting congregation is real. "Divide & Conquer" tactics are real. Blame shifting is equally real. Tiring charades and puppetry skills are real too. Empty promises and talks are real & unvisionary while  blundering arrogance had been the order of the day. When will it all end? I wonder....... I really wonder....       

Fun Night!

Simple dishes, great family time and wonderful fellowship - these are the ingredients for a great night of gathering of friends and family. Wednesday night's gathering was simply filled to brim with laughter, fun and just sitting around chatting up among friends whom I have come to acknowledge as family in this ol' heart of mine. Many envy at our togetherness, our united stand , our commaderie spirit and our unabashed admiration for each other. I guess, the special thing about this group of ours is the mutual respect we have for one another - the respect of recognising that each of us have different talents and capabilities, the respect of honoring our families, the respect of differing school of thoughts, the respect of being able to argue & clash ideas respectfully and the respect of acknowledging that we need one another to move forward. These are people with big hearts and are not afraid to say their piece of mind either intellectually , spritually or even physically. We are not intimidating nor use rough house tactics to scare the gall bladders out of people but we are no pushovers or suckers for any manipulative schemes or any con artist job we have in our society today. I guess, we are just a bunch of truly rugged, roughed out and seasoned people.

To be able to celebrate SYuen and BLing simultaneously was actually the reason we had gathered together so merrilly. There were no fancy food stuff but simple fares such as the Hainanese chicken rice, nourishing soup, roasted duck, tom yam lala ( brought by On Tin & Bee Ling ) and fruits ( dragon fruit, watermelon ( brought by Steven & Wan Sin ) , mangoes (brought by Jason & Shirley) and guava fruit ( from Errol & Jessica )  adorned our dining table that night. From our friends arrival, it was GO all the way. I guess, I am so proud that mom's chicken rice and chilli sauce had been consistently good and it was pure joy seeing friend and family enjoying this meal. Spinning back the wheel of time a few days back, I have called my mom to tell her of my plan to invite friends over for chicken rice meal at my house to celebrate SYuen birthday. She was eager as usual and was a willing patner to cook the rice, chicken and soup for us. She bought the best ingredients - chicken, ginger, herbs, Japanese cucumber, bird's eye chillies and started doing her stuff. It was tremendously rewarding to see her doing all this and the good sense of Hainanese pride well up so easily. I guess, when you cook from the very depths of your heart, your meal will turn out exceptionally good every time. Like I said, mom's cooking comes up tops each time. So grateful to her! BTW, BLing's tom yam lala was also a hit and so did the bought roasted duck! Stupendously delicious!

Then the two cheese cakes were presented to both SYuen & BLing! Wow! Thanks to Errol & Jessica, they bought some really nice tasting cake for the both of them. I am so blessed by their generosity and their great friendship. It is not about the cake but the heart that comes with the cake. It was delightful and thoughtful indeed. The cheese cakes tasted wonderfully good and I know that many were very blessed. It was great spending good time together and these are nights that you cherished a lot. I am really so blessed to have friends like these people - from the young to the energetic old! It was great fun indeed.~   

Forward.....

Someone told me the other day that I cannot save every one in this world. I say without hesitation that this person is correct but I want to say something else. So, I told this person this: " You are correct, my friend and cruel it may seemed; that is absolutely true and undeniable. But the fact remains that if we cannot save every one, the least we can do is to save one person or as many as possible, right? " That person thought long and hard as I battered not an eyelid as I looked intently at that person. This is the hopelessness and lossness that surrounds us each day. We give up easily and we "teach" and meticulously "pass on" this legacy ( or rather "lei ker see" Cantonese for "it's your problem" ) to our future generations and we continually whacked our future generation why they turned out like that. We are so battered and bruised left, right and centre each day that we put up so many physical and soul barriers just to get some thin grace of comfort or some breathing space from the torrential mental and physical torture. Funnily, when battered , bruised and cornered, the next reaction is important but 9 out of 10 times, we squandered the opportunity to make things right and follow the stream of hypocrisy, lackadaisical attitude and couldn't care less attitude. Anyway, many times, we do not know who we hurt, clobbered and even pounded to pulp during our climb up the so-called ladders of life to the road of power, uncharted prosperity and on the highest hill experience or who did we cross along the way or even our detractors who are just out to make our life difficult but many a times, these things will come back to haunt many of us. So, when the boomerang theory comes back and whacked us where it hurts , we screamed father and mother, grandpa and grandma till we turned hoarse with exhaustion looking for some comfortable willing listeners to wallow in self pity and even sweeter plans of getting even. Well, I've got news for you - own up your mistakes, be a gentleman  and pray that people will forgive you each day as they move on in their lives. If they don't, you can't blame them because a cut is a cut - it takes takes time to heal. You will never know how devastated one life could be until you are in their shoes. Believe me, it takes years and years to heal but God is gracious but my foot is also on the ground - it does take years to heal.

Even I sometimes feel that being humbled and kind hearted can be a disadvantage as people will just continue to run you over and try to quash all that you have to offer in the society we are living in today. But it's always proven that being humbled, count your blessings and being kind-hearted would look like a fool to others but not in the eyes of our Creator. It is a tough road but the rewards are out of this world! I have also thought of being harsh and vocal instead. I realised that I have been misunderstood and mistaken many times. People just brand you in one category frame and whatever you say or do from now onwards will be in that window frame of categorised character.You are marked for life as being what you are as people draw the window of character on you.  Many lives are mistaken and many mistakes makes lives stronger, I guess. There is a difference between standing hard on the right thing and simply being pig-headed. A wrong is a wrong and the best reaction one could do is repent, apologise and make a genuine fresh start of NOT repeating the same mistakes over and over again. There is no shame to admit that one is wrong or one's view is simply out-dated. Saying you are wrong doesn't mean the end of the world to you like the world is teaching our young people of this. Look at the suicide rates - that should be one indicator. Yeah!Yeah!It will never happen to me or my family - that's what you will say. Hmmmmm......read up and see the statistics, you will be shocked! Anyway, admission of mistakes makes you a better person than you ever know yourself. Yeah, you'll be part of the ridicule for years by the people but heck, it's not the people's perception of you that matters -It is God's perception of you that is important.  Do not let bruised ego, proudness and pure pig-headedness caused others to fall and fail before our eyes. There is also a huge difference between genuine repentance and half -hearted/scripted repentance just to calm the storm. Afterall, we are human beings. Let it be known that no one is exempted from this! No one human being is higher than another. It is just the title that makes us grow big. At the end of the day, from dust we came, to dust we will go, right? We all lie in one way or another to keep our skin intact and away from the prying eyes of the people but we cannot lie from the Maker of our lives or even the people that our Maker send to warn us. Try not to look too innocent when you read this because whether you like it or not, that's the honest truth. It hurts , right? My point is simply this :  You can lie to some people all the time but you cannot lie to all the people, all the time.

I have learned over the years that I will continue to make mistakes in my life and I am still paying for many of the mistakes I have done. I am not ashamed to apologise or be the first to admit my guilt when I am wrong. I attributed this quality I have inherited from my parents. Being GENUINE is the word. It takes genuine and true friends to point out your mistakes and correct you at where you are. I am deeply privileged and humbled by the fact I have many whom I have come to call  "family" who would refuse to give me sugary coated news or sugary treats when it comes to facts of reality in all facets of my life. From the bottom of my heart , I appreciate that a lot. Friends like these who tells me of the storm ahead is better than those who would tell me that the storm is still far away and let's party on! You get my drift! Some people say that I am a hardened man. Indeed, I am,  for the lines on my "beautiful" face is not from some surgical corrective measures practise but by the years of many many hardship. I can't compare it with the many before me who had gone through so much and I really salute these daily heroes. The fact remains that true and genuine friends will get you straightened without having to conjure up this excuse and that excuse. You are probably asking: What's the point of all these?

The answer is our future generation. What message do we want to propel to them in their young lives today? Afterall. they do see, they do hear and they do put things together!