At the Semarak Hill this morning, I met this young man who asked me the meaning of the word 'g-o-n-e'. I told him the pronunciation and the meaning. 'Gone' just means no more, no more to be found or seen. Then, he says, "What about 'Let bygone be bygone?"
So, I told him that by adding the 'by' to the 'gone' the meaning has changed; that 'bygone' is what is past and the sentence means 'let the past be past' and therefore 'no need to bring it up again'. With that he nodded and smilingly told me he was trying to learn some English Language. In fact, that was the second time he asked me the meaning for an English word. Of course, it was my pleasure to help him. It is always heartening to see someone wish to improve himself and God must have sent him to give me the opportunity to help.
Do you know how daunting it is for a grown person to learn a new language. It is all the obstacles that our ego put up. There are all kinds of fears and all of them are imaginary. All the obstacles are imaginary. And even if there are some individuals who would dare to laugh at our mistakes, we ought to realise, the courage to learn is greater than the needless and valueless discouragement that are encountered. Furthermore, any mockery can never be an obstacle unless we allow it to become one. For this reason I respect all those who take up the desire to learn a language at that age. There is the indication of greatness in the act.
I know of a young lady, small in built but very energetic, who knew hardly any Mandarin or English after her schooldays. She only studied the Malay language in school. Today, this lady can speak good Mandarin, although there are still mistakes made every now and then which are sometimes corrected by her children. (Her children are studying in schools with Mandarin as the medium of instruction.) From my observation of her, she readily accepts the correction and sometimes even asks for a repetition of the phrase corrected. Her English was not as good although she could speak the language as if it were her mother tongue, rattling away whatever instructions she wishes to convey without much thought to the grammar or the correctness of the sentence. Of course, there were times her language could tickle those within hearing distance as the meaning brings forth all kinds of different unintentional messages. And the beauty of it is that she takes all these in her strides. It does not stop her from learning from her mistakes and practising the language. She improves.
As I see it, she is one lady who would not allow ego to be an obstacle to her advancement. Many less courageous people would have stopped and called it a day but not this pillar of strength. And this, despite her knowing that she does make mistakes. There was once when someone could not understand what she wanted and I was requested to explain to the other person what she wanted. And of course, when it came to formal letters, I have helped to correct her attempts. For me, it has always been a pleasure to be of help to such great people who can overcome their ego to reach their goals in life. Thank god, I was given the opportunity to help.
Actually, our ego can either take us to greater heights or leave us struggling to get up. It was my ego to be better that helped me to overcome my parents' financial position and the weakness of my younger days. Many have not dared to approach others for help partly because of their ego, partly fearing that others would see their weakness. But then, who does not have weakness? All of us do have, more or less. And unless we realise our weakness, how do we ever hope to overcome them and reach for our strengths? In fact I thank God for allowing me to know my weakness so that I could slowly but gradually work on them to emerge stronger in my later years. Today, I can say that I am what I am because of the efforts I put in in overcoming those weaknesses. But then, if I had denied being weak, I would not have strove to be better.
Showing posts with label weakness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weakness. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A real scumbag!
Never in my life have I ever dreamed of the day when such a dastardly deed such as this could happen in the human race. We have known animals to fight with their lives for the safety of their young. These are the ones who are supposed to possess no brains, nothing to help them think of morals and right moves. With the knowledge of this horrible case, those young of such protective animals are really fortunate to come from parents with a strong instinct for love.
Perhaps, some of you could have already read of the case of this scumbag from Jainpur Village in Faizabad District in Lucknow who had his two daughters murdered to claim insurance money. And the insurance money was not exactly a life or death issue but merely to purchase a piece of land.
To kill his two daughters he gave a neighbour Rs50,000 and his motorcycle as payment so that he would commit that foul act. The two trusting girls followed the neighbour to watch a cinema show before they were shoved into the nearby river to drown. What kind of neighbour could commit such cold-blooded murder on children known to him? This is a case of people descending to the lowest level of depravity; people who are worse than animals I would like to say but they cannot even be compared with those beautiful creatures; no, these are people beyond redemption.
Well, it is true that it takes all types to make a world. And it looks like the worst type is sometimes hardly recognisable or easily identified. Would those two girls who died ever realised the purpose of the neighbour taking them for a show? Would they ever thought their own father would send them to their graves?
would they know that, to their father, the value of their lives is equivalent to just a piece of land? Those poor unsuspecting girls died without even a hint of the cause of their demise.
In a way, we see that when people buy insurance for us, it is not something to be happy about. There could be a motive. For, when people hope to be the beneficiary and receive money from such an insurance, the motive cannot be said to be good. There would be greed and perhaps the hope that the insured would die soon.
In buying insurance, the insured must be the one to desire such a protection, either for himself or herself; or the loved ones. When it is the insured decision, then there is no thought of achieving money through insurance which can only emerge through greed.
It would be interesting to study those two scumbags, the man and his neighbour, on how their minds work but that would take up too much space. For example, I wonder if greed and a thinking mind could have lead those two scumbags astray. Was greed too great to fend off and did the mind help greed to overcome intrinsic love? I wonder.
Perhaps, some of you could have already read of the case of this scumbag from Jainpur Village in Faizabad District in Lucknow who had his two daughters murdered to claim insurance money. And the insurance money was not exactly a life or death issue but merely to purchase a piece of land.
To kill his two daughters he gave a neighbour Rs50,000 and his motorcycle as payment so that he would commit that foul act. The two trusting girls followed the neighbour to watch a cinema show before they were shoved into the nearby river to drown. What kind of neighbour could commit such cold-blooded murder on children known to him? This is a case of people descending to the lowest level of depravity; people who are worse than animals I would like to say but they cannot even be compared with those beautiful creatures; no, these are people beyond redemption.
Well, it is true that it takes all types to make a world. And it looks like the worst type is sometimes hardly recognisable or easily identified. Would those two girls who died ever realised the purpose of the neighbour taking them for a show? Would they ever thought their own father would send them to their graves?
would they know that, to their father, the value of their lives is equivalent to just a piece of land? Those poor unsuspecting girls died without even a hint of the cause of their demise.
In a way, we see that when people buy insurance for us, it is not something to be happy about. There could be a motive. For, when people hope to be the beneficiary and receive money from such an insurance, the motive cannot be said to be good. There would be greed and perhaps the hope that the insured would die soon.
In buying insurance, the insured must be the one to desire such a protection, either for himself or herself; or the loved ones. When it is the insured decision, then there is no thought of achieving money through insurance which can only emerge through greed.
It would be interesting to study those two scumbags, the man and his neighbour, on how their minds work but that would take up too much space. For example, I wonder if greed and a thinking mind could have lead those two scumbags astray. Was greed too great to fend off and did the mind help greed to overcome intrinsic love? I wonder.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
What are you working for?
Here is a true story of a young man who could not decide what he wanted out of work. After studying for his secondary school certificate, he decided to get a diploma in computer science. He wanted to enter for that course as he was interested in computers.
A year later, he decided to quit the course when he saw some of his ex-schoolmates working and earning a salary. Those friends had their own money to spend. He so much wanted to be in the same situation as those friends. His parents could not do anything to persuade him to stay on with his studies as he felt he could also earn a lot of money working like his friends. Furthermore, he felt that what those friends were earning then was sufficient for him.
So, he started work for a company. Then he noticed that some of the workers who were doing the same type of work as his friends were being paid more. He discovered that those better paid people were better qualified than him and his friends. He suddenly realised that qualification is important. So he enrolled himself in a distance-learning course. He was a salesman from morning until evening and studied at night. Unfortunately, he had a weakness for video-games. That was a problem. It was a difficult choice for him, to study to improve his salary or relax with his video games. Eventually, video games won over his heart and he spent more and more time at them instead of his studies. Of course, a reason or excuse given for turning to video games was that once upon a time there was a guy in the neighbourhood who could help him with his studies whenever he encountered difficulties. Apparently, the helper has gone to live elsewhere leaving him without much needed assistance.
And he wanted to give up the studies. He has forgotten the better salary. He no longer thinks of a better salary. After all, he still has a job. It is not that he is jobless or unable to support himself.
Well, it looks like he does not actually know what he wants out of his work. Perhaps he does not even know what he wants out of life.
A year later, he decided to quit the course when he saw some of his ex-schoolmates working and earning a salary. Those friends had their own money to spend. He so much wanted to be in the same situation as those friends. His parents could not do anything to persuade him to stay on with his studies as he felt he could also earn a lot of money working like his friends. Furthermore, he felt that what those friends were earning then was sufficient for him.
So, he started work for a company. Then he noticed that some of the workers who were doing the same type of work as his friends were being paid more. He discovered that those better paid people were better qualified than him and his friends. He suddenly realised that qualification is important. So he enrolled himself in a distance-learning course. He was a salesman from morning until evening and studied at night. Unfortunately, he had a weakness for video-games. That was a problem. It was a difficult choice for him, to study to improve his salary or relax with his video games. Eventually, video games won over his heart and he spent more and more time at them instead of his studies. Of course, a reason or excuse given for turning to video games was that once upon a time there was a guy in the neighbourhood who could help him with his studies whenever he encountered difficulties. Apparently, the helper has gone to live elsewhere leaving him without much needed assistance.
And he wanted to give up the studies. He has forgotten the better salary. He no longer thinks of a better salary. After all, he still has a job. It is not that he is jobless or unable to support himself.
Well, it looks like he does not actually know what he wants out of his work. Perhaps he does not even know what he wants out of life.
Friday, March 13, 2009
A family is only as strong as its weakest member.
This morning, I attended the knowledge session to listen to the introduction of Patanjali in The Art of Living Centre in Kedah, Malaysia.
In the introduction is a story of how Patanjali had a thousand people gathered towards the South of Vindiya Mountain in Southern India. He told the listeners that a screen would be placed between them and him. That was the condition for imparting the knowledge. Besides that no one was to move out till the full knowledge had been completely taught.
Everyone was absorbed in the knowledge. With each new knowledge, a new realization came and the enthusiastic energy was so great they found it difficult to contain themselves. Still, they maintained their discipline.
But then, as fate would have it, a young boy felt the need to answer nature’s call. Quietly, thinking no one would notice, he went to the toilet. But when he started to move, the collective consciousness was broken. People turned their heads, looked towards the movement and started to wonder.
“Who’s that? What happened? Who is going out? Why is Patanjali behind the screen? Yes, why is he there?” And some of them lifted the screen to look for Patanjali. As they did so, the place burst into fire and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine people died. Only the boy who went to the toilet survived.
The one who survived was the weakest link in the group. He disconnected the strong chain of discipline the group had formed. He disrupted the collective consciousness. Without the togetherness, people in the group started acting as individuals with their doubts and curiosity. The fire in the story was a symbol of the kind of tragedy that can befall a group when its collective strength was destroyed, destroyed by its weakest link. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
In a family, it is also true that it is only as strong as its weakest member. A weak father, a gambler or a drunkard, can easily break up a family. A weak mother, on personal pursuits and neglecting the family can also cause chaos. A pampered child who merely wants personal demands met can bring problems to the parents and the family. Therefore it is in our interest to love, nurture, help, look into the welfare of and be responsible for every member of our family.
In the introduction is a story of how Patanjali had a thousand people gathered towards the South of Vindiya Mountain in Southern India. He told the listeners that a screen would be placed between them and him. That was the condition for imparting the knowledge. Besides that no one was to move out till the full knowledge had been completely taught.
Everyone was absorbed in the knowledge. With each new knowledge, a new realization came and the enthusiastic energy was so great they found it difficult to contain themselves. Still, they maintained their discipline.
But then, as fate would have it, a young boy felt the need to answer nature’s call. Quietly, thinking no one would notice, he went to the toilet. But when he started to move, the collective consciousness was broken. People turned their heads, looked towards the movement and started to wonder.
“Who’s that? What happened? Who is going out? Why is Patanjali behind the screen? Yes, why is he there?” And some of them lifted the screen to look for Patanjali. As they did so, the place burst into fire and all the nine hundred and ninety-nine people died. Only the boy who went to the toilet survived.
The one who survived was the weakest link in the group. He disconnected the strong chain of discipline the group had formed. He disrupted the collective consciousness. Without the togetherness, people in the group started acting as individuals with their doubts and curiosity. The fire in the story was a symbol of the kind of tragedy that can befall a group when its collective strength was destroyed, destroyed by its weakest link. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
In a family, it is also true that it is only as strong as its weakest member. A weak father, a gambler or a drunkard, can easily break up a family. A weak mother, on personal pursuits and neglecting the family can also cause chaos. A pampered child who merely wants personal demands met can bring problems to the parents and the family. Therefore it is in our interest to love, nurture, help, look into the welfare of and be responsible for every member of our family.
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