Know your partner well.

I read in the newspaper, 'The Star', about a lady student who allowed a man she had known through Facebook to move into her place just after two months.

The thing that I question is how reckless could she be when she herself admitted that she did not even know whether the man was a student or already working. She did not even know whether he had a job. She only presumed that he was rich and later discovered that he was constantly asking her for money. All this ignorance about her boyfriend clearly showed that her relationship must be more for lust than love. Of course, I known love can be blind but definitely not this blind. Love develops through knowledge of a person's strength and the appreciation of them. The woman was certainly not looking at all before she leaped onto his lap.

According to statistics, this is a fairly common case. And the victims are usually from the fairer sex. Some of these ladies must be really hungry for love.

As for this particular lady, she was very soon dissatisfied with her relationship with him. Whenever she complained about it, the man would assault her; punches, slaps and even burns from cigarettes. Why did she not leave him immediately she discovered her mistake?

Looks like the man had a hold over her. He had nude photographs of her. That is another big mistake she made; allowing another person to take photos of her in the nude. He threatened to expose those photos should she leave him.

She did leave him eventually when she could slip out of the house after removing the mobile phone and its memory card from him. It is a lesson she has learned well, hopefully.

According to the news, many vindictive men photograph their girlfriends and their spouses with the intention of releasing copies of such photographs. With the internet available easily, photos can be posted for everyone's eyes.

Apparently, the world is getting smaller and more dangerous in certain aspects. The fairer sex have to be more knowledgeable and be more vigilant; know the possible dangers that lurk in the activities and take all necessary precautions. Certainly, there are times of misjudgement and things go wrong. Well, that is part of living. Nevertheless, just be careful.

Bags can be dangerous to children.

Children are creative. They explore. The go into places no adult would want or dare to go. Because of that we must watch out for children at play.

It is not just bags that present danger to children. Actually, many things are dangerous. Even children playing at hide and seek might want to hide in narrow spaces, spaces too narrow to come out of. This year alone, I have read of two children, each from a different country, squeeze themselves into tiny openings between two walls or partitions to hide themselves from their playmates to find themselves unable to get out of the places. The authorities had to be summoned to help with their axes and hammers.

Coming back to the topic of bags, there was the kid who had this plastic bag which he thought could be used to cover himself. Fate was unkind to him and the parents found the poor child suffocated.

The other day, a friend told me about a neighbour who left her two children in the house while she went elsewhere. The younger sibling decided to hide from the sister by entering a big bag and somehow managed to close it. Or was it the sister who noticed him getting into the bag and closed him inside? This is more probable as it would be difficult to lock oneself in. Anyway, the sister panicked when she found she could not unlock the bag to get her brother out. Her screams of fear attracted the attention of this friend. He went to investigate and found the child locked inside the bag. And the bag was one of those which had combination locks which could only be opened if you know the numbers.

Unable to open the bag, this friend quickly phoned the neighbour to tell her the predicament. However, as she could not remember the combinations, the only way was to break open the bag with a big chisel. Fortunately, he managed to break it open for the young boy to escape from suffocation. The young boy was already weak and sweating by the time he was rescued.

Of course, anything that can be entered and become too difficult to escape from because the door can be too tight or locked is a danger to adventurous children. There was a case of a child trapped in a refrigerator. I cannot remember what happened after that but that is immaterial. The fact is such things can become a danger to our children.

Well, it is obvious that children ought to be taught the danger of playing with such things. Tell them about these things whenever there is news of such dangers. Direct their attention to such dangers and tell them the consequences. Explain to them what can possibly happen when children like them play with such things.

Some people say children are too young to learn such things. That is just not true. Children are clever and can understand such dangers if parents take the trouble to slowly and painstakingly explain with lots of examples how death can occur and what death means; the lost chance to see the siblings and parents as well as their friends, the lost chance to enjoy the many things in life. Use examples that they can understand. If they like ice-cream, tell them there will be no more opportuity to enjoy ice-cream. If they love their grandma, they not have the chance to be hugged and loved by their grandma. These are things children will understand.

Shaking hands can never be still.

"He could not hold his hands steady at any time of the day. It was shaking the whole day as if he had been handling a drill for so many hours. So whenever he is at the shop for a drink, the drink would spill out, shaken out by a constantly shivering hand," my friend told me.

And when he told me he was a drinker, an alcoholic, I knew it must be the visual symptom of a badly burnt liver. However, the guy did not realise his problem as he was stubborn and refused to see a doctor about his hand. Finally, the guy died of a stroke and so to the end of his days he did not understand that he ought not to have drunk that much.

According to this friend of mine, Shaking Hands drank everyday and would urge others to join him in his habit. His friends knew it was not a healthy habit avoided him at such times.

My friend told me he once went out with the guy and he drank so much that by the time he was driven home he could hardly recognise his own home.Upon being asked whether the building beside their vehicle was his home, he said it most probably was. The friend had to dig his keys out of his pocket and see if one of them fit the lock to get it opened before helping him to the door and carrying him in.

For those, who drink they must first understand what an alcoholic drink can do to them. They must be able to control themselves and their drinking to safeguard their health and their dignity. I know what can possibly happen because I was one of those egoistic young men who enjoyed the thrill of beating other drinkers and the alcohol. I knew the high that it could bring. Fortunately, I also knew how to control it by lowering it each time with a big glass of water and a visit to the bathroom to have it passed out. Through this method I managed to stay sober enough to beat other drinkers. I also knew when I had to stop. But be careful, arrogance can meet a drink whose kick comes all of a sudden later when it is least expected. And it could be a knockout kick at a time when you are not safely home and opened to self-indignity or disgrace.

However, before any unfortunate incident could materialise, I learned how alcohol can affect our liver and having seen and understand its effects I stopped that stupid egoistic part of me from taking me from my path of good health. Furthermore, there was nothing great about beating others and the alcohol. We kid ourselves when we presume we could do those things. The minute we succumb to alcohol, we ourselves are already one step into a pothole. And the people you beat would never think you any better. As for myself, I am always aware that I could remain the last man standing because I cheated with the cups of water. So what is so great about that?

Know your machines well.

One day, a friend took his brother's car to go someplace. This friend has his own car which has automatic gears whereas his brother's was a manual model. First, when he had to stop at a traffic light, he forgot to press the clutch and the engine died. It so happened that the light turned green immediately after and so he had to put back the clutch in neutral before starting the engine and moving on. In the meantime the car behind him became impatient and honed him, causing his temperature to rise. Fortunately, other than this minor problem, nothing more serious occurred.

When I was told this, my memory took me to more than fifteen years ago when a relative's family member was involved in an accident that need not have happened. Two married couples had gone to Genting Highlands for a weekend of fun. As they were going to leave on a Sunday evening, they met a close friend who drove a powerful, newly bought car there. One of them, the driver, admired the new car so much that the close friend offered him the car to be driven back. So, they exchanged cars.

As they drove home that evening, the driver was so pleased with the handling of the car that he tested its power. And this is where he made his fatal mistake. He had never learned not to test the unknown on a busy highway. Well, fate claimed their lives that night as their car went out of control, skidded and crashed so badly that none of the occupants survived.

The highway is certainly not the place to test anything. It is constantly in use by vehicles going faster than on other roads. As far as i am concerned, vehicles can be as deadly as guns. They can kill if they are not controlled properly; the dead could be their handlers or others in their path. Before we allowed our metal horse to speed or maneuver in any way, we must know it well. We should know how stable it is at certain speeds, understand how fast it can be reined in, and when doing so, does it have the tendency to perform erratically. All these we have to know before we can drive with confidence that our lives will be safe.

In fact, it is not just vehicles alone that we ought to know and understand well before we use them. Electricity, electrical tools and all types of machinery ought to be understood well before we attempt to operate them. Women workers had been known to have their hair caught and pulled towards rolling metal in factories. Understanding dangers is important wherever we may be.

Dangers in reversing a car.

This is not the first time; neither is it the second time nor the third time I have read about someone reversing his car into something behind him.

Why I have done it at least twice in my life. At a parking lot, one of the supposedly safest place to reverse, I drove into a low, big potted plant and was only aware of my carelessness when a thud shocked my senses to get me to instantaneously brake too late as damage to the rear portion of my car had already occurred.

Another time, I reversed from an entrance with the road cleared of any traffic only to be told by that sudden thud again that something had suddenly appeared from a nearby side-road into my path. Fortunately, there was hardly any damage as both cars belong to the tough thick metal variety of earlier days.

I was lucky as all that has happened to me had nothing to do with human lives. However, that is not to say that such tragedies do not take place. Well, only this morning I read in the Star newspaper how a little two-year old girl paid with her life when an uncle reversed his car out of their house in preparation for a trip with her and the family. When the thud was heard, the poor child was down with some brain damage and the hospital could not help her.

It was such an incident that I read of more than twenty years ago that caused me to be very cautious about having children near my car especially when I wish to reverse. In fact, since reading of that similar incident in the late 1980s I reversed into the house so that I drive straight into the road each morning. Somehow, we are more careful when we reverse into our house as we do not wish to crash into the door or the wall. Well, we are more cautious. Besides that I would ensure that my children were inside the house, behind the bars of the metal door, when I reverse in, as I wish to be very sure any damage I make while reversing could only be to the door, the wall or the car. And that is not because I have no confidence in my driving. It's better to be safe than to be sorry, right?

Now, with my children grown up and none of them around most of the time, I conveniently park as most people do; drive straight into the porch and reverse out into the road. However, if there are small children around, we ought to learn from such tragic incidences.

Regurgitation of milk by babies can be dangerous.

Recently, a baby died in the afternoon after taking his milk. It is obvious from this case that anything not done properly, possibly without the right knowledge, can be dangerous.

This seven-month old baby is believed to have choked on the milk given to him. Therefore mothers and care-givers must be equipped with the proper knowledge of taking care of babies.

In this case, the baby had just been given his milk and upon finishing it had immediately been left to lie down in his cot. There is this probability of the baby having regurgitate the milk. If the milk returned to the mouth while it was lying down on his back, it could choke the baby. This regurgitating of milk often happens and care-givers or parents must be prepared for it. To be safe, the baby ought not to be placed in his cot unaccompanied. The adult caring for the baby should look after the child for a while or soothe the back of the baby with gentle strokes of the hand.

I believe this is not the first time a child regurgitates his/her milk. So parents should look out for this probable action on the part of the baby.

Although we encourage play, not everything is safe.

Well, I visited this grandma the other day and found her taking some time to respond to my pushing the bell at the gate. And when she did open the door, between her legs was one tiny little guy with his four-year old mischievous face popping out. Then as grandma reached for the remote controller for the gate, the little one's hand reached out to grab the controller. Before grandma could do anything, the small guy had pressed the controller and the gate started to slide open. But then it stopped. If I had wanted to I could have squeezed my body through, but then I was fortunate to have hesitated for the little one pressed the controller again and it started to close once more.

In that instant, a story of a man crushed to death by such a remote controlled gate came to mind. I had read it quite some time ago in one of the newspapers. The gate had closed before he had managed to go through and the power was great enough to cause him fatal harm.

Well, at this point I became cautious as i did not wish to be in the footsteps of the man who was crushed to death. In fact that little used the remote controller as a toy and played with it resulting in the gate opening a little and closing again a number of times. Finally, the grandma had enough sense to forcefully take back the controller and opened the gate wide enough for me to enter safely.

I told her of the man who was crushed to death by such a gate and told her she has to be careful with that kid handling the remote as someone less careful could become another victim to such carelessness.

When it comes to children, certain things ought not to be allowed to be used as toys as they could endanger the child or others. Sockets, electrical wires and explosive materials from fire-crackers are certainly dangerous things to play with, be it adults or children.

Conflicting information about plastics.

It was many years ago I read about chemicals from plastic containers leaching into the water. At that time I was using plastic bottles which I had bought with half a litre of mineral water or drinking water. What I did was I replaced the bottles with new ones containing mineral or drinking water that I had bought from the supermarket.

Then, one day I read that those very plastic bottles were not safe for reuse due to the leaching of dangerous chemicals from the plastic; that the only safe plastic containers must be numbered or graded a 7 and upwards to be safe. So I took my wife and children to the supermarket to look for safe plastic water containers to carry water around so that we consume sufficient amount of day each day so as to be healthy. Those plastic water containers were made of hard plastic and were quite expensive at that time.

Now, whoever spread that knowledge must have been out to earn a fast buck from the consumers for recently I read of chemicals leaching out not from those soft plastic containers that I once used each time I finished the half a litre of mineral water but from the hard plastic containers that I paid quite a sum for to escape drinking dangerous chemical tainted water. So all plastics, be they plates, cups or bottles that are hard, contain this synthetic chemical called bisphenol. And according to the experts, bisphenol-free bottles are available in the supermarket. So, it looks like I would have to throw all my plastic containers away and replace them with new bisphenol-free bottles and containers. And according to the information, soft plastic is bisphenol-free. Thus, it is back to bottles used to contain mineral or drinking water once again.

Well, perhaps I should forget about using plastic bottles but turn to good stainless steel containers for my water.

But I still wonder what happened to have us receive the information that those soft plastic bottles could bring along the danger of leaching chemicals when the recent information deem such soft plastic safe.

Beware of unknown fruits.

The God's Crown or Mahkota Dewa plant with white flowers at the nursery.


I was at a nursery when I first heard about this plant, God’s Crown, which is known as Mahkota Dewa in Malaysia. This is one plant that teaches us that knowledge is essential for us to be safe. You see, it is a very nice sweet fruit. And it looks really good and tempting. Yet, should you be given the fruit, I must warn you that a taste of its sweetness will be your last delightful taste on earth, for the fruit is so poisonous that you would vomit and die from it. Some humans are like that too, right? Fortunately, there are none of them around in my little world. Thank God for that.

However, in some things poisonous there still exists some good, even humans. The skin of the fruit of this plant when dried is claimed to be a cancer cure. Just look for the plant’s name on the internet and see its uses.

For it to be a cancer cure, the skin of the fruit is peeled from the fruit, dried thoroughly before it is used to be brewed into a drink. Take the drink. But then the information is not complete. The owner of the nursery could not tell how many times the drink is to be taken.

And the young plant at approximately thirty centimetre is not cheap at twenty-five Malaysian ringgit, but then what else can one expect for a plant with a reputation for being an alternative cancer cure. However, if the necessity is not there and if there are children who may be tempted to taste the fruit, do be extra careful and best of all, do not purchase it.

However, since it appears to be an interesting plant with great possibilities, I hope to find out more from all possible sources. Should I find anything new, you can be sure it will be posted.

Curiosity leads to knowledge.

"Don't touch that!'
"No! Come back here! Don't take the gate remote controller!"
Don't! Don't! and Don't! How is the child supposed to know things? Of course, he wants to touch things, hold them in his hands and use them just as the adult do. He is obviously curious about the feel of things and their usage, even perhaps how such things operate. And if he does want to know how such things operate, you are really lucky for you have a child who is more curious than others, who wants to know more than others, ending up being cleverer than others. Isn't that what we want our children to be?

Yet, how many parents kill that curiosity in a child so often just because they are afraid the children may break something or cause the adults some kind of inconvenience. Yes, "Break that and I'll give you a good spanking." is so often the words that warn the child, using fear to curb his curiosity. "You know I'll have to clean up the mess you leave behind." And that was the way some house-proud parents keep their house spit and span with not a pencil or crayon mark on the wall. All that pride for the price of their child's lack of experience and knowledge. Is it worth it?

"Never mind, my children will have the chance for experience and knowledge at the kindergarten or tuition center where teachers can teach them." Oh, yes, they can but where is the spontaneity of such creativity. What's that? Spontaneity? What's so important about that?

Great works and inspiration bringing wonderful knowledge are the result of a spontaneous flow of ideas and thoughts. That's when the flow is good and natural and expression, be it physical, mental or emotional, comes spurting out without necessity to exhaust oneself. When ideas comes spontaneously, we should immediately work on it and the least we should do is to write it down or have a rough sketch in order to capture it and prevent it from being lost. So often have I lost ideas and expressions just because work or duty prevents me from working on something that emerges spontaneously. At such times, I tried to get back to the ideas that came but they were lost or not as vivid as I would have liked them to be.

Nature has put into our children the urge to know. So, curiosity leads the child to explore and learn all about the things in his/her environment. The curious child learns fastest because he must satisfy this urge to discover and learn in the process. Therefore, every parent should encourage the curiosity in the child except when danger awaits as in a hot iron or an explosive fire-cracker.

When a danger is encounter, so as not to lessen or dampen a child's curiosity, it should be explained to the child why he was not allowed to touch the hot iron. Perhaps show the child what can happen to anything that touches the hot iron. This can convince the child that things which are hot ought not to be touched. Show the child how the iron when hot could be used to iron clothes. Then, let him know that the iron when taken off the electricity supply can become cold. that is the time when the child could be allowed to feel it, touch it and even handle it. In this manner, a parent can teach the purpose of an iron, when it is dangerously hot and so must be handles with care even when it is cold for it is really heavy.

The day a human loses interest in things around him/her, the person will not follow the developments of this world. He/She will know less and less. Without curiosity, a person loses interest and might as well be dead.

Change is never easy.

Yesterday, I have told about the poor policeman with his burnt liver due to alcoholic drinks. Just as I was going to post it, a friend came. When he saw what I had written, he informed me of a fairly young man, aged thirty-six, who had the same problem. He had a burnt liver but according to this friend of mine, the guy did not stop drinking. It was not easy for him to stop as the shaking of his unsteady hands was worse without the alcoholic drinks. Well, it looked like he had a good excuse not to change, to carry on drinking despite the problem.

Even if the problem was not given the chance to materialise, it is never easy to change. There has to be a superb determination to do so. That was my experience. The drinkers I met were my friends. I met them almost everyday at their homes, at parties and at sports gatherings. Especially when the drinks are free at those sports gatherings, friends were bound to pour me drinks, urging me to bottom up. Upon my waving the drink away, they would insist, demanding that I join them as they knew I could drink. Eventually, there was no alternative but to accept that glass of cool beer but put it aside as soon as their attention was drawn away by someone else. This process of 'letting your friends down' had to be repeated numerous times for a number of months before everyone finally realised that this guy had changed 'beyong redemption'. They eventually understood that there was nothing they could do to rehabilitate this guy back into the drinking club. It certainly was difficult and it took quite a while for the message to sink in.

Looking back, it is no wonder drug addicts and drinkers or smokers find it difficult to stop or change, especially when the other members of the addiction are very close and still around almost everyday. The person who wishes to change is one against many. His/Her change is easily outvoted. Without sufficient determination, a weakness of the ego would have blown down all the bridges to change.

However, determination boosted by knowledge of the problems that could possibly crop up in later years can strengthen our resolve to do the right thing.

That is why I have often told my friends, a visit to see the fate that awaits drug addicts and drinkers in hospitals or rehabilitation centers can be profitable to our young children, to open their eyes to the horrible realities of the kind of life that awaits such addiction. As for gambling and smoking, read and expose to our young the news about those people's plight whenever it appears in our news media. Let them know what can possibly happen so that they can make intelligent choices based on true knowledge in life.

Everything in this world is the parents' audio-visual aids. Use it for the benefit of our beloved children.

Knowledge and understanding is always important.

Yesterday, I wrote on the noble deed of releasing fish, frogs and birds from captivity. Done rightly or wrongly, the intention, which is all important, is certainly admirable.

However, the action can be improved upon with full knowledge and understanding of the birds, frogs and fish that we release. I have often seen good Buddhist who unintentionally cause pain, suffering and death to the creatures they hope to save.

When it comes to fish, there have been people who release goldfish and long-tailed angels into the rivers where other creatures await to get a meal out of them. You see, goldfish have fins that do not give them any chance for survival in the wild. In fact, their features are mostly man-made. Goldfish originate from the carp. Their body became bulky, their fins long, their tails not exactly what nature would want them to have. That is why they move the way they do, wagging their way forward slowly, obviously too slow to escape any predator. To put them in a river is similar to putting a human among some lions in an arena. It is certain death.

Another thing about fish is the way such fish are released, be it into a well, pond, river or acquarium. The temperature of the water holding the fish may be warm while the river water may be cold. When there is such a difference in the temperature at the time the fish is transferred, the fish would receive a temperature shock which could lead to death in a few days' time. This is one of the reasons people who release their fish from a plastic bag of warm water into the cold water of their acquarium find their fish sick and dying after just a few days. The right thing to do is to put the plastic bag of fish into the acquarium or river water for about half an hour to have the water in the bag become similar to the temperature of the water in the acquarium or the river. In this way, the fish will be moving from one place to another whitout receiving any temperature shock and so, will be safe. You see, knowledge and understanding of such matters do make a difference.

When it comes to birds, we ought to get those birds which have a market for them. However, most Buddhist buy birds such as the ordinary sparrows and other dull grey feathered birds which interest nobody except such Buddhists. It simply means that such birds would never have been captured by anyone in the first place, and therefore need no release, if such Buddhist do not purchase them in order to have them released back to the wild.

To understand better, perhaps I ought to go into some details on how such birds are usually caught. The bird-catchers would tie a long wide net in the path of such birds, then send such bird into flight into the net by frightening them. The frightened birds dashed right into the net, getting caught by it, and in the process, many break their necks or are fatally hurt. Since nobody wants to rear such dull coloured birds, no one would have taken the trouble to catch them thus. If there are nobody to purchase them so as to release them, there would have been no market for them and they would have been safe in the first place.

There are also birds which are no longer wild as they have been bred in captivity for so long, away from their natural habitat since the day they were born and therefore do not know where to get or hunt for their food or water. Such birds, the African finches and the canary for example, would not know where to go, how to look for food they have been used to and water if ever they are released. They would most probably die a slow painful death as they search in vain for familiar food. Such birds may be so familiar with the sight of a cat that they may move towards it.

Fortunately, almost every frogs that are release come from the wild and therefore, it is perfectly alright to release them into the wild again.

Another con job.

There are lots of people wanting to con someone out there. I have received so many emails telling me i have won a million dollars that I no longer read the full story anymore. The latest seem to come from Microsoft itself. As I do not have much time for some free cash, I just delete it and I am my happy old self again. You know, being a millionaire just isn't my cup of tea. Today, as I am, I do not even have to bother about locking my doors securely as sometimes I just hope someone would cart away my old furniture so that I have an excuse to buy some new ones. Well, no such luck, fellows.

Below is an email where someone experienced a new way to con some money from your relatives. As they say, to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. So, we can learn from the experience of theis guy. We certainly would not like to learn this first-hand. So. please read on and beware!


Dear all

I cannot stop myself from sharing this with all of you.

Its all started when I received a call from someone claiming that he was from Maxis and he asked me to shutdown my phone for 2 hours for 3g update to take place. As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question him but did what I was told and just shutdown my cell phone.

After 45 minutes I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even introduce himself and tell me his name. I quickly turned on my cell phone and immediately received several calls from my family members. There were other calls as well from the number that had called me earlier.

I called my parents and was shocked to notice that they sounded very worried and asking me whether I was safe. My parents told me that they had received a call from someone claiming that they had me with them and asking for money to let me free. The call was so real and my parents even heard 'my voice' crying out loud asking for help. My parents were at the bank waiting for the next call to proceed with the money transfer. I told my parents that I was safe and told them to lodge a police report.

Right after that I received another call from the guy asking me to shutdown my cell phone for another 1 hour. I refused to do that and hung up. They kept calling my cell phone until the battery had run down. I lodged a police report and I was informed by the officer that there were many such scams reported. Most of the cases reported indicated that the victim had already transferred the money! And it was impossible to get back the money.

Be careful as this kind of scam might happen to any one of us!!! Those guys are so professional and very convincing during calls. If you are asked to shut down your cell phone for updates by the service provider, Ask around! Your family or friends might receive the same call.

Be Safe and Stay Alert!
Please pass this around to your family and friends!

Dangerous fun for children too young to know it.

The other day I read a news item in the staronline in which a one-year-old baby’s playtime ‘turned tragic after he slipped from his father’s arms and fell to his death from the sixth-floor of a high-rise apartment in Pulau Tikus’ Georgetown.

The intention of the father was good as he wanted his little son to view the area below from their apartment’s balcony. Perhaps, he believed that such an experience could remove any fear of height from his son and that could be beneficial to his future. He was not to know that his son’s future was to end there and then. He dinot realize the danger he was putting his son’s life into. By the time he understands that danger, it was too late and forever will the memory of that tragic moment remain in his mind.

Such careless and dangerous thoughtless acts with a child can be seen almost everyday in so many various forms.

We have a parent leaving a child on a bicycle carrier as he/she pops quickly into a sundry shop to grab an item. While he/she is away, all it takes is some movement from the child to destabilise the bicycle to bring child and bicycle crashing to the ground. It is not important what could have caused the child to move. It could be some kind of distraction, an animal knocking into the bicycle, a strong wind or some careless movement of another human. A fall from a bicycle is not just a trauma; it can cause broken bones, brain damage and even cerebral palsy if a clot due to the fall prevents oxygen from reaching a part of the brain for even a short period of time.

There are parents who think it such great pleasure to take a child for a ride on their motorcycles. Let us face it. Any kind of mishap can take place. In such accidents, falls are expected. What is going to happen to that small frail child on the motorcycle? Of course, anyone can see that the danger is as much, if not more than the fall from a bicycle.

I have seen parents throw their babies up above their heads with the hands holding to the waist. Of course, like the baby who fell from the balcony of his apartment, there is no danger as long as the hands do not slip and as long as there is no fall. As we all know, such slips and fall are not intentional. They are not supposed to happen but once in a long while, we have read of them. So, why not play safe, especially when such actions are not really necessary.

It is delightful tosee our precious children have such great fun running all over the place, even on our roads, especially those in housing estates and rural areas. Yet, as adults we understand that roads are meant for traffic. The drivers never want sometime horrible to happen to children but accidents do happen. The important thing is that such accidents can be prevented. So, let us do our part. Let us be more careful with our precious ones.

Oh, yes! Was it yesterday I heard the news of a child who hurt his finger when he playfully put his hand in the way of an electric saw? Well, here is another case where adults got careless and allowed what should not be, happen.

Certainly, each festive season, we have read of the mischievious youngsters who are allowed to play with fireworks and fired away one or more of their fingers as well as other parts of their bodies. Parents have to be vigilant and constantly remind the children the dangers of such things.

As I have always said, the world is our AVA (Audio-Visual Aids). Use it everyday to teach our children the dangers and experiences of others. Show the children what can possibly happen using the television, newspapers, magazines and everyday happenings to stress to them the consequences.

In today’s posting, it looks like some adults too need to pay more attention to the AVA in our world to realise the danger of their play with their children.

Sometimes we get half truth. Let's read a message of peace from Isreal's Prime Minister.

I have always suspected that we do not get all the news and so are unable to get a balanced view of what is happening in our world.

Take for example, news of Palestine children being killed by Isreali bombing. Of course, there will be children as well as adults killed in a war. Innocent people will die. It is inevitable. That is why we pray that there will be no war throughout the world. However, for Malaysian news to imply that there were no Isreali children in war casualties when the Palestines attack Isreal by never publishing bloodied or dead bodies of Isreali children, it is giving a picture of one-sided cruelty which is an impossibility. War is cruel and there is no way bombs can avoid children whenever it goes off in an area. So, always we are given the impression that only one side is cruel, only one side is wrong. Just as in everything in which two sides are involved, it takes two hands to clap. So, let us have a true picture, not half truth. Let us not take sides.

I received an email in which was a speech by Isreal’s prime minister which was never reported in our news media. Well, read for yourself, my friends and be your own judge. Do read on. (If you find anything false and has the proof to verify it, please do so. But, please let us be fair and not say things out of hatred, okay?)


Must read and pass it on!
Israel prime minister's speech to the UN gen Assembly not reported.
Netanyahu's Speech to the UN - A Worthwhile Read. This speech is not reported in the newspapers. I guess as usually the leaders are not willing to take the stand to do what is necessary to uphold world peace. What a shame?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech to the UN General Assembly- Courtesy Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland. I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.

The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events.

Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth. Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.

Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee. There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people. The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments. Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews. Is this a lie?

A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself. Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered. Is this too a lie?

This June , President Obama visited the Buchenwald oncentration camp. Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie?
And what of the Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie? One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration. Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own. My wife's grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis. Is that also a lie?

Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state.
What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations! Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You're wrong.

History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others.

This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries. In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims. It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times.

Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated. The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death.

The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century. The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day. Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future. And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope. The pace of progress is growing exponentially.

It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet.

What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come. We will crack the genetic code. We will cure the incurable. We will lengthen our lives.. We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.

I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment. These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise.

But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time. And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after an horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind. That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction.

The most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge? Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom?
Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood? Will the international community thwart the world's most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism?
Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime. People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall. Will the United Nations stand by their side?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging. Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.
For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities. Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks. We heard nothing – absolutely nothing – from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.

In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza . It dismantled 21 settlements and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis. We didn't get peace. Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv. Life in Israeli towns and cities next to Gaza became a nightmare. You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.

Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault, Israel was finally forced to respond. But how should we have responded? Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country's civilian population. It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II. During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties. Israel chose to respond differently. Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians – Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers.

That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances. Israel , by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas.
We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave. Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy's civilian population from harm's way.

Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn? Israel . A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot. By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals. What a perversion of truth. What a perversion of justice.

Delegates of the United Nations, Will you accept this farce?

Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies, when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat.
If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity. And in condemning Israel , this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace. Here's why.

When Israel left Gaza , many hoped that the missile attacks would stop. Others believed that at the very least, Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense. What legitimacy? What self-defense?
The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us –my people, my country - of war crimes? And for what? For acting responsibly in self-defense. What a travesty!
Israel justly defended itself against terror. This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?

We must know the answer to that question now. Now and not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow. Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.

Ladies and Gentlemen, All of Israel wants peace.

Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace. We made peace with Egypt led by Anwar Sadat. We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein. And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of Israel , will make peace. But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace. In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples – a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted that resolution. The Arabs rejected it.

We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years: Say yes to a Jewish state. Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people. The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel . This is the land of our forefathers.

Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.. They shall learn war no more." These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city, in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem . We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland. As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own. We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity.

But we must have security.. The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel. That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized. We don't want another Gaza , another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.

We want peace.

I believe such a peace can be achieved. But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran , that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order. The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.

Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the "confirmed unteachability of mankind," the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them.

Churchill bemoaned what he called the "want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong.”

I speak here today in the hope that Churchill's assessment of the "unteachibility of mankind" is for once proven wrong.

I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history -- that we can prevent danger in time.

In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage. Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.

Teach our children the dangers of drug addiction.

Many a time, I have shown how the whole world can be the audio-visual aids for our children to learn and improve themselves.. Is not this a wondrous thing?

The world is also full of bad influences for our beloved children. However, what is bad can be turned to good use. Take for example, drug addiction.

Where I live, there was once a family who had one of their children struck down by such an addiction. The parents were good, hardworking people. Unfortunately, no one warned them of the dangers of not bonding well with their children. Despite that, with the exception of this one child, their children did quite well, working just as hard as their parents to earn a good living. Of course, the neglect in bonding did result in some damage and none of the children did well in school, mixing with the wrong people when they were young. They were lucky that only one of the children fell into the drug trap, never able to escape from its deadly grip.

As a parent who believed in using the environment and its many possibilities as aids in teaching, I did use the poor addict as a living example of what could eventually happen to someone who becomes addicted to drugs. Well, at least, he serves a good purpose to society as a lesson for others.

That is not to say that I allowed only the worst possible eventuality to be my teaching. In fact, I did do my part to help. I was friendly with the young addict. He was a friendly addict, greeting me often. There were times, the young man approached me and I would talk with him, sometimes going into his problems. I often stressed that he should feel lucky that he had a brother who cared for him. On his part, he should strive to overcome his problems. I let him know that I was willing to help him if or when such help was needed to rid himself of his problem.

In fact, the elder brother was very caring. He did put him in for rehabilitation. After anumber of years in rehabilitation, he was allowed to return to his brother. However, those who peddle drugs never allow a ‘customer’ the chance to be free of his addiction. On bikes and cars, they would come to his house to lure him away from his home so that they could break down his restraint from drugs. What his brother did was to take him to wherever he needed to be himself so that such destructive forces had no opportunity to move in. And most of the time, the elder brother even chained his left leg to the right one so that he could not speed out of the house the minute someone outside gave a signal for him to be smuggled off to unsafe territory. The brother did a lot for that brother of his, even to the extent of being thought cruel to have him chained thus.

A few inevitable times, this chained brother did manage to disappear before he was noticed by the family. The poor brother had to hunt all over, in almost every addict's haunt for that brother of his.

Whenever my children see this addict, I would explain to my children why the family had to put chains on him, why the poor brother had to run out to search for him and how drugs can cause such misery not only to the addict but also the whole family.
There was once this addict saw me and stopped my car. I asked him what he needed. He asked for money. I knew from the brother that even those pushers would not supply if there was no money. I knew that it would be wrong to give him any. So, I told him a necessary lie. I told him that I have finished all my money except for a few coins in my trousers pocket.. I could not persuade him to return home. So, when I reached home, I telephoned his brother.

Eventually, this addict rode a motorcycle and had an accident. According to the doctor, his bones were so brittle as a result of drug-taking that he died as a result of the impact.

I told my children about his death and how death was partly due to drug-taking. Such incidents ought to be used by parents to teach their children the dangers of drug-taking. And if we can show them the body of the dead person, that visual impact can help drive in the very essential knowledge of such dangers.

Parents can prevent cigarette smoking!

As I teacher, I was very concerned about my children's health, especially those of my gymnasts. One of the devil's tool in bringing down the good health of children is cigarettes. (In an earlier post, I had written about one of my promising gymnast's fall from possible fame.)

One of the things I used to show my students in order for them to understand the effect of cigarette smoke on their body was to light a candle or a kerosene lamp. A glass funnel is then place over this light. After some time they can see a thin layer of smoke stain on the glass. I asked them to imagine what would happen if the funnel were their throat and lungs. With the funnel, we can use a soft brush and sop to clean the stain off. Can we push a long enough brush down our throat and into the lungs to remove the stain?

I would also point to the yellowish stain on smokers' fingers and teeth. with merely a little smoke grazing the nails and teeth, such yellow stains can be seen; what about the amount of smoke puffed into the throat and lungs?

Another object I used to demostrate this was the wok. I would show them the bottom of the wok and asked them whether they know where the thick layer of black soot came from. Yes, most of them were intelligent enough to know it came from the smoke. Well, what about the smoke that goes into the throat and lungs of smokers?
After years of smoking, how thick would it be? Would it not caused the air-passages in the lungs to be narrower limiting amount of precious oxygen bearing air reaching the various organs and cells of our body?

When it came to my children, I am a walking example of a healthy individual who does not smoke.

Whenever we found smokers around, I reminded them of the foul tobacco smell and got ourselves to move away from such a lousy smell.

Sometimes, it was just impossible to avoid such cigarette smoke. When it happened, I would have my children be aware of the foul cigarette smell on our clothes. How can anyone be comfortable with such a smell emitting from a person while the rest of the world bathe often to feel and smell clean and fresh while some even use mild perfume to have themselves smell presentable.

The above methods were used by me to educate my children on cigarette smoke with success as they do not smoke, and nowadays they are the ones who pull me away from smokers.

I did tell them about my once promising gymnast's unfortunate fate so as to have them aware of the results of smoking cigarettes.

There is nothing pleasant about cigarette smoking. And what is important here is that it is the truth. A first timer at cigarette smoking would cough and choke on the smoke. It would definitely be unpleasant. With the above awareness in place earlier, there is no way your child can take up cigarette smoking.

Well, the danger is out there, for cigarettes can lead to other drugs. Plan to overcome this danger and awareness removes it from our children.

No Healthy Earth, No Healthy Us!

Perhaps, nobody has ever shown you something as mundane as the water from a waterfall and the river below it. Let's watch it. Think of the soothing sound of cascading water as it rushes down onto the rocks below. Look at the calming patterns of the flowing water as it moves down the stream. Watch the water go around rounds easily and gradually slows its pace and carries on unhurriedly towards its destiny, singing softly as it goes along in tune with nature. And I know it, you must have wondered how I could call that a river. I know. I know. In actual fact, it was a river until human beings had the temerity to renovate it into a big, rocky drain. Well, that the trouble with humans. They think they can do a better job than nature. As a result, we have cut down too many trees, remove too many hills, drove a lot of animals out of their homes and destroyed so much natural beauty besides endangering so many animal lives. And nature, pushed against the wall is already fighting back with melting snow, threatening to raise the level of the water on land and in so doing, lessen the amount of land around the coast. Actually, I was being dramatic. Nature did not fight. There is no need to. When the earth can no longer sustain life, we are the ones to die. The earth remains to lick the wound we had inflicted and without us around to cause further damage, the earth will heal itself. Trees will grow, oxygen will be plentiful, carbon will decrease, the ozone layer will thicken and its holes will be patched up again, no more green house gases, temperature will be normal again and the ice-bergs at the poles will stop melting. It was our own foul deeds that caused the green-house gasses which over-warmth the earth causing the melting of ice in the poles. With more water surface, there is increased evaporation and the return of the evaporated liquid as rain, causing flood in various parts of the world. On the other hand, with less shade as a result of deforestation, there is greater heat burning up the earth. So, despite the amount of rainfall, the world gets hotter and hotter. This is aggravated by the destruction of the ozone layer reulting in holes in the ozone layer. These holes allow more skin-harming, cancer-causing ultra violet rays to penetrate to the earth surface. Indiscrimate burning of rubbish and forest, burning of petrol and use of air-conditioners have cause an increase in carbon in the atmosphere and this has created the release of green house gasses. Thus, there is an increasing amount of carbon dioxide and lesser oxygen due to our destruction of nature's oxygen producing factories, the trees. Fortunately for our world, there are some who are aware of the harmful effects of our actions. The United Nations with 189 country heads firmly committed to work together to build a safer, more prosperous and equitable world for all by 2015, it started its Millennium Campaign with the Millenium Development Goals initiated at its September 2000 Millenium Simmit. One of the goals was 'Ensure Environmental Sustainability'. The Art of Living Foundation together with the United Nations' Environment Programme, World Alliance for Youth Empowerment and Sri Sri Agricultural Institute for Science & Technology came forward in support of the United Nations Millenium Campaign. Through 'Mission Green Earth, Stand Up Take Action' The Art of Living, in 2008, began to call for people's support for the planting of trees and reporting on their growth. So, don't neglect our earth. This earth needs us just as we need this earth. No healthy earth, no healthy us! That is the simple truth we are faced with. So, it's up to everyone of us to help the earth heal itself.

Mistakes: Who's to be blamed for these?

Very often, accidents happen. Or things go wrong. The results of some plans turn repugnantly shitty. Usually, we turn the accusing finger at someone.

Could the problem have arisen because of us? Our first instinct is denial. How could we point the accusing finger inwards back at ourselves? It's certainly difficult!

Have you ever tried to turn your own finger towards yourself, turning akwardly at the wrist to do so? It's more difficult than pointing straight outwards, isn't it?

Someone pointed out that pointing outwards accusingly at someone else would have three other fingers pointing at ourselves with the wiser thumb neither here nor there.

The act of putting the blame on someone else is obvious in most vehicle accidents. At such times, just watch how each driver would put the blame on the action of the other while trying to justify his/her own right action.Usually, both eventually end up the losers with the welders and mechanics the winners.

Rare is the man or woman who would graciously accept the blame.

Closer to home, parents sometimes complain about the sweet tooth of their children. The blame falls on the poor innocent children.

Did anyone ask how the child acquire a taste for sugar and all things sweet?

I know of a parent who fed her very young child with chocolate malt sweetened with lots of sugar. As the parent was a relative I told her the disastrous effect sugar can have on our health. I talked about diabetes and cancer as well as everything else yours truly have read and learned about.

Perhaps, on the defensive (I should not have talked too much.), she said the child demanded it, throwing tantrums should the parent refused to comply.

Feeling that perhaps I had caused her enough anguish, I said no more as I wished to allow her time to think of what had been told. According to my experience, even adults rebel against good advice when they are pushed too hard.

The thing here is, who introduced the delights of sugar to the young child who is still so innocent. He could not read; so it was not from some written material. He is still very much within the control of his parents. He certainly could not demand for something he had not been introduced to; just as Adam would not have known the taste of the forbidden fruit is he had not had his first bite.

Perhaps, it is time our education system teaches us that it is alright to admit to our mistakes as long as we learn and understand from them; helping us to face them not so much with guilt as with realisation that we should exercise more care or concern and gather more knowledge to avoid commiting them.

When it comes to more dangerous mistakes, our educators could use the mistakes of others who could no longer be saved from the mistakes' disastrous results, to show the consequences of such mistakes.

Let's take a child who has lost some fingers due to playing with fire-crackers or explosive powders. Point attention towards that child. Use his/her mistake to teah others. Show a video or pictures of such a victim and tell the children how he lost those fingers. However, that may be insufficient to prevent a similar occurance. Talk about the consequences of having one finger less or two lost fingers, maybe three or four stubs for fingers or none for any finger-licking-good.
Let them realise how much they are going to forfeit for just that one stupid mistake which they obviously have no need to make.

If such a mistake should happen to a kid; let's ask ourselves, how many people are to be blamed? The authorities who allowed such dangers to be imported or manufactured? The smugglers? (If it is illegal to import or sell the substance.)The retailers who sold it? The education system which did not teach about it? The parents who were not vigilant enough? The naturally curious, adventurous child? Who's to blame?

Sorry, that's not mine.

Recently, I have received e-mails from a number of people unknown to me informing me how fortunate I was to have struck gold without purchasing any mining tools or entering a gold mine.

Wow! Very soon I would be able to afford the Mercedes which had until now been appearing only in my dreams. I would be in a position to purchase the beautiful double-storey bungalow which could perhaps attract some pretty gals to visit me. With the huge sum of money available through this lottery win I would be able to furnish the bungalow with the best luxurious furnishings any person would envy. Wow! Wow! And Wow!

Wait a minute. Not that I do not believe I can have such fantastic luck. I can consider myself one of the luckiest guy in the world. And that was confirmed by one of the most beautiful girl in the world. (Sh! I’ll not tell you who that is. It’s my secret, okay?) But then, I am also one of the most down to earth guy who just does not believe in getting something for nothing, especially when it comes to cash. How in the world could I be winning a lottery I never bought?

That is a question which tells me somebody must be pulling my legs. And which stranger would be so good as to do that? Certainly, that is not possible unless I am willing to close my eyes, go to sleep and cook up such a dream. After all, such things come from dreams. But the unfortunate thing is, I hardly ever dream. Usually, I am too exhausted when I drop my head on my pillow to have such a luxury. So, no dreams, no belief that first-prize lottery tickets with my name and email address written on it would drop from the sky; therefore no hope whatsoever! Delete the e-mail. Forget it, I am not their sucker.

But then, there are some who would jump into it, hoping some mistake by some person had resulted in their good luck. Who knows? Then when Ai Wei here reads about it, he would regret his whole life not grabbing the cash when somebody wanted to drop some into his lap. Maybe but no;not this guy!

Hah! Through others experience, I have sufficient knowledge to be a wiser man. You see, I have read in newspapers of people who, like me, have been told about their lottery being the first-prize winner; how these people had to sent a sum of money in order to have certain procedures carried out so as to transfer the huge sum of money into their account. Sorry, but eventually it was the informers who struck it rich and not the owners of the non-existing lottery.

Well, others can always hope. However, I would like to caution them. As for me, there can never be any such luck. It just is not possible! Period! You know, this guy is stupid enough to believe what is mine will be mine and what is not mine can never be mine; even if a kind stranger were to be good enough to hand some cash over.No wonder my mother used to tell me “Son, you are not born with a silver spoon in your mouth. So, forget it! Stop dreaming.”

In my heart, I told her, “No, in my mouth is a golden spoon. Just you wait and see.”

“Gosh! I’m still waiting. A little bit better but nothing golden yet.” Was that her voice?

"Hey, I still have many more years to go. Wait and see, okay?"