People who crave for power are the worse.

In Malaysia, we have politicians who crave for power to the extent of turning against the ones they were friends with so as to overthrow them as leaders and, hopefully, gain the leadership position for themselves. They instigated other leaders to resign in order that a fresh election be held so that they stand another chance to be elected into a better position. They would be willing to lie and blacken the good names of others to fulfill their desires as they crave for power.

We also have politicians who are willing to risk the peace and harmony of the country by stirring up feelings. They claim to ban a certain word because they wanted to remove confusion among a certain group of people when, in actual fact, the word has been in use without confusion or disharmony among the people for more than four hundred years. Proof that such a word had been in use for more than 400 years was produced by an online news.

It is indeed sad as the ordinary citizens know that they are not confused or disturbed by the use of such a word as the word was even used by Prophet Muhammad's father during his time and is an ordinary word for God in the Middle East. In order to give excuse for their cause, certain leaders have given the word more meaning than it actually has.

Unfortunately, the stakes are high, as it can mean the turning of the tides of political power. The issue can be used to garner as well as recapture the votes given to the opposition during the last election. I believe a political party see it as an opportunity to gain popularity through this religious issue.

It is becoming obvious that this issue is of great importance in securing votes. The people can see the opposition political leaders giving views that the word is a coomon word meaning God in Arab countries; even in Indonesia where for many. many years, up to this day, Christians and Muslims have used the word in their Bible and their Koran without any problem arising among the people as there was nobody who needed to make an issue of it.

It looks like this issue may not only divide the Christians from the Muslims; it may also create a division among the Muslims themselves. Those who do not belong to the party which hopes to use the issue to gain votes would not be agreeable to any kind of violence as most of the better educated Muslims who are also the financially better off ones would understand and desire peace as a peaceful environment brings progress and true civilisation to the country.

As I see it, the ordinary people are peace-loving and united. I have lots of Muslim friends and we can mix very well, discuss things properly and enjoy walks, exercise and work harmoniously. The heat of the issue is only read in newspapers. The confusion comes from those who hope to gain from the issue. The politicians and their small group of supporters are going into the internet to hope cook up the issue sufficiently to achieve their own goals.

God is for everyone. He creates the whole world. All of us are his creations. He loves us all. Some people ought to understand that He would not want anyone to usurp his power and say, "This is my God and we give Him this name which makes Him different from another God, for there is actually no other God. The Christian God and the Muslim God (I am neither Christian nor Muslim.) are the same as it has already been acknowledged that Jesus was the first of the prophet and Muhammad is the last of the prophet. Unless this part which I had been told by a Muslim, is untrue, then, they are one and the same. Buddha never claims to know anything about God.

Yet, Man wants to use God to achieve their own ends, knowing that religion is a powerful tool to achieve whatever ends he wishes. And it is ironic that religion in which God wants peace and good to permeate this earth would beget so much violence in so many parts of the world today. Peace is indeed the most difficult to achieve.

The courage to try.

We may have all the knowledge, knowhow to perform something but if we do not have the courage to go out there and do it, we can never know whether we can ever make a success of it.

Once upon a time, there were two young men who worked for a company which produces a medicated oil and oilment. It was a very well-known established company with its products already established in the market. It had a fleet of vans with employees to covered not just established Chinese medical halls or shops. It's employees reach out to every nook and corner of the Asian market, going to every possible place to advertise as well as to introduce and sell their product.

The two young men whom I have mentioned through their industry and competency in every aspects of sales gained the confidence of the company. Promotion lead them to the chambers where production and marketing knowledge was available. Soon, both of them were knowledgeable as regards the purchasing and use of the ingredients of the products.

As these young men grew in knowledge and age, the wish to have a family arose. In Chinese companies, they do not give sufficient incentives for their more ambitious employees to remain. They do not believe in giving better pay to keep their best employees. That is the one weakness of many Chinese companies in Malaysia.

However, having worked at the same company for such a long time, they knew not of any other work with a better salary to turn to. They were only capable where making oilment or cream is concerned.

So, were they willing to risk starting their own production of such oilment or cream? It was a big question. The knowledge was there. However, starting a business involves more than just knowledge. Do they have sufficient money? Then, there is the organisation. The marketing must be successful.

Of course, they were financially poor, otherwise, they would not have to work starting from the lowest rung. They know the availability of the ingredients, the packaging and the market. Were they willing to start small and strike out from there?

One of them could not see how that could happen. He saw failure from the start. He could not find the courage to give it a try.

The other young man saw it as an opportunity to strike out on his own while he was still young. From his point of view, there was no more room to progress further in the company he had been for so many years. He knew he had only one option left and that was to start his own manufacture and sales. With his knowledge, he knoew he could succeed. So, he resigned from the company and went home to present his plan to his parents. They supported him physically and financially.

With that, that young man started his own production of oilment and cream which brought him popularity among the people where he frequently sold his product. His sales was good as the oilment and cream were effective. His company did not become as big as the company he had worked for, but his income from the sales was and is many times the income he could ever get under the employment of any other company. His is a very small localised company but he is so much better off as his own boss. There is so much pride and confidence with his own effective products, products he had improved on as chemical companies discover better ingredients.

This is a story to show how knowledge alone is insufficient for success. Confidence through one's ability is not enough. There must be courage, the courage to burn your boats and reach out for the possiblities that lie ahead.

Of course, there is no guarantee of success in everything we do. However, if we do not gather our courage and venture forth, we would still be standing at the same spot forever. How would life be like then?

Some weaknesses are blessings in disguise.

There was this boy who attended a wedding party where food and drinks were available freely. Naturally, with so much delicious food in view and constantly invited to taste them, he did. He took so much that he almost had a stomachache. Then, just as he was going to take a breather outside, someone pulled him aside and handed him a glass of golden coloured liquid foaming at the top. It was of such an attractive colour that he took a good look at it.
"Take this drink, young man. Try it and you may want another." he tempted.
"What's that?" the boy asked.
"Well, it's beer and it's like the advertisement said 'A man's drinks.'So are you aman or a mouse?"
Challenged by those words, this young boy took the beatiful Y-shaped glass and sipped the golden drink. It tastes queer, something different from the usual sweet or sour drinks but he could take it. Slowly but gradually one drink went down his throat. Then, another and very soon he had downed a few glasses.

Gradually, he felt his face, then his body getting warmer and warmer. Slowly, his head became lighter. The world seem to be changing and his feet was becoming unsteady. The burning sensation got worse. There were goose-pimples on his body. Suddenly, there was this urge to vomit and he rushed outside just as he threw up. The vomit smelled somewhat terrible. His stomach was not feeling too well. his whole body was not feeling too well. Then, as he felt the breeze from the outside brush his face and body, he felt an itch over his whole body. It itched all over, causing him such discomfort. He rubbed the places that itched and those places became hotter and itchier. Even after the knockout sleep that mercifully took away his senses, he felt that that upon awakening. For the remainder of that day and the next four to five days, he suffered that itch.

Later, he learned about the drink. He discovered that alcoholic drinks can cause allergy. Was it worth having anymore? Certainly not! He would not want to experience such a long discomfort for such a drink anymore.

His body had a weakness. It was allergic to alcohol. As a result he had experience rashes and itchiness. So, he would distance himself from another alcoholic drink. As alcoholic drinks bring more disadvantages than advantages to our health, being allergic to alcohol was a blessing in disguise.

Scientist have found that a little wine made from red grapes can help people with heart problems. However, taken to excess, it can be dangerous.

Besides that, people who drink alcohol seldom control their intake. As a result many drink till they are drunk. I once saw a man in a hospital whose hands could not stop shaking due to some nerve problem due to taking too much alcoholic drinks.

There is too much calories in alcohol. Many have what is commonly known as beer bellies. That and the calories which bring the possibility of diabetes would definitely not be good for us.

So, it is good to be allergic to alcohol.

Sometimes we need to play rough.

I must admit I am no angel. Even after realizing the existence of God, karma and reincarnation, there have been times when some of the things I did, especially when I was young, were nothing to be proud of. They are things I ought to be ashamed of. Nevertheless, I must insist that sometimes such deeds are necessary.

One of such deeds was carried out on a rugby field. I was in form four then and was a member of a rugby team. As I was then comparatively quite powerfully built (I had been into weight-lifting.) with good stamina too, (I was in my school’s Cross-Country teamas well as the Round-The-House Relay team.) I was chosen to be the hooker who is the player right in the middle of every scrum.

In one of the games we played against another team, there was this huge opposing player who always puts out his hand with his fingers stretched forward to dig into our eyes. After a few of us got hurt by him, we decided to put an end to the nonsense. The referee was unable to do anything as it happened so fast as the ball was carried towards the touch-down line. He was the biggest guy on the field and, individually, we were no match for him. The only way to seek retribution was to unite as a force to teach him a lesson and indoing so put forth a message to him. We knew we had to do it again and again until this foe understands that we were going out for him.

So, the next time one of us managed to tackle him down to the ground, everyone of us moved in, pretending to get the ball when our actual aim was to kick him and hurt him enough to have him think why we were acting that way. We had to make him realize he would never get away with jabbing his fingers into our face and our eyes.

I took us three, or was it four, times of dealing out such a punishment before he got the message that we intended to teach him a lesson. Eventually, he stopped poking his fingers into our players’ faces. When that happened, we stopped our punishment.

Well, rugby is a rough game, certainly not for true gentlemen. We had to play rough to stop any more injury from him. We proved that a bully can be stopped if everyone can be united to accomplish a goal.No, we were not proud of what we did. But we were proud of what we achieved. We taught a bully a lesson, we stopped further injury to ourselves and we learned the benefits of being united. So, even in such a rough and tough game, lessons can be taught and learned.

It was a lesson which I did apply to real life every now and then especially when faced with gangsterism as a discipline teacher. That is another story I may tell you one day.

What the ears do not like to hear, say it not even to a friend.

There was one time I told someone frankly what I believed she ought to do, although it was something that indicated her weakness. Of course, since it exposed her weakness, she was not happy with me.

From then I learned not to be so forthright with my words. Nowadays, I keep words that may not make others happy to myself.

I should have learned that a lot earlier. I had a childhood friend who used to end the day asking me the faults I see in him so that he could improve himself with this friend's help. I thought that was good. Furthermore, he appeared grateful for the advice I used to give him.

As time went on, this friend became a martial arts expert. One day, a quarrel between him who was the chief instructor and another instructor. He demanded that the other instructor resign. He told the meeting that he himself would resign if the other instructor refused to do so. As we can see that the other instructor was not going to resign. And to make him go we would have to sack him which would have created problems as it was a personal quarrel between the two. To overcome this, some of the other instructors and I did not agree as we hoped that an amicable solution could be found. When that happened this friend refused to look for another solution. So, he resigned.

From that day onwards, I could see that there was this little rift in our friendship although we still met and talked.

It is pretty obvious that no matter how sincere the words are, if they can hurt, harm can be done.

Therefore, wise people usually do not express their feelings openly. They listen to the general public's views before they say what is in their mind, perhaps, diluting their criticism and ending strongly with praise.

Sometimes people who are good with flattery are more welcome than those who are frank. Right or wrong, flattery uses words that are music to the ears of the receiver. Flattery arouses smiles and joy while the barren truth is sometimes too rough and painful to the receiver's ears. Therefore, such painful truth has to be shellaced with a little honey if the purpose is to not hurt too much but to assist.

The problem is that sometimes the truth hurts and we need to be careful with the words. We have to think first before sending criticising words forth for as someone once said, words can be sharper than the sword.

When humans crave for power, sensitive issues are nuggets to them.

In a dream I saw God and He told me too many people on planet Earth are playing God and instilling fear and nonsensical stuff into people even when they know the truth. He said that what he had heard about Malaysia and the use of the word 'Allah' is most disturbing. These people are really confused about him, he said.

"Did I not send Jesus down to Earth to teach them about me?" he asked.
I agreed that that was what the Christians and the Muslims profess as I know that they accepted Jesus as the first of the prophets.

"Did I not send Muhammad to remind the people about me?" he enquired.
"Yes, you did and they created a religion and called it Islam." I told Him.

"Islam or Christianity, what's the difference? Am I not still the same God?" he demanded.

"Yes, God. Of course, you are God, the one and only." I told him.

"Then what is this I heard about their fighting over a word to refer to me." He was really annoyed. "What's a name but just a word. How can the minds of some of my followers not be able to understand that? Furthermore, if the Muslims want to refer to me as Allah, why not allow the Christians to do the same? After all, are they not talking about the same God, me?" God said, indignation clearly expressed on his face.

"Yeah. In fact, there is this Muslim who does not want another religion to use it because the word Allah refers to the one and only God," I told Him.

"Isn't that ridiculous when the Christian God of Jesus is myself too. Why must I be given two names just because humans created two religions? After all, as my prophet Muhammad had said, Jesus is the first of the prophet and he himself is the last. Are these people trying to say that Muhammad was wrong, that Jesus's God is different from Muhammad's God?" God shook his head in disgust.

"There are Muslims who claim that the word 'Allah' can only be used for the Muslim religion," I told Him.

"What nonsence!" he exclaimed. "Do such people not have the knowledge that the word 'Allah' is the combination of two words and in Arabia and Egypt it just means god. In fact, the Arab Muslims, Arab Christians and the Jews have been using the word 'Allah' for centuries and they had no problem with it. These people who say that there is a problem with Christians using the word has an agenda of their own. I don't like it when people use a word which refers to me to achieve their own miserable human goals." God was unhappy.

"You know, there are knowledgeable Muslims who have told these people that the word 'Allah' has been used to refer to god years before Islam and Christianity came into the world. Those people would listen to them. But unfortunately, I think, the knowledgeable ones are the minority." Hearing that, God shook his head.

"In fact, there was this Christian Father who told the court that the term 'Allah' had been used by Christians in this region for about 400 years." I continued.

"And they took it to court, right? The High Court handed down a decision to allow them to use the word to refer to me, right?" He questioned.

"Yes." but they were not happy with the decision." I explained.

"Well, if a court had made a decision, the leaders of the community must respect the court's decision. Even if they disagree, they must go back to the court and not show contempt of the decision made."

"Oh, yes! There was this so-called leader who criticised and questioned the judgement. He justified his criticism with the saying that the judge was merely a human being.And being a human being, he cannot be 100% impartial." I told Him.

"Of course, the judges are human beings but they are learned beings put there by the leaders themselves. So, in time to come, everyone who loses a case would show the same contempt of a judgement by using the same reason, that the judges are human beings and therefore cannot be 100% impartial. I created every human with a mind to think correctly, you know? If we are not going to respect our judges and the court, what is the purpose of having them. Are you people going backwards to the days when might is right?" God asked.

"Yes, my God. Looks like that is what is going to happen. When people craze for power they would use any means to influence others to their warped way of thinking. According to Malaysia Kini, an online survey was done and it looks like the pro-government blogs are trying to use this issue to blacken the Muslims of the opposition parties. And I believe they are willing to stoop to conquer as the stakes are high and this issue looks like a very sensitive and promising one for changing the tides of political fortunes. Please God, help us all," I had to appeal.

Interest and Awareness is essential.

The other day, a relative of mine watched the news on television. Oh! How horrible! The previous Prime Minister’s wife is dead. Shocked and unable to contain the news further she told a friend at the morning market.
Later, this relative commented about that Prime Minister’s wife’s death to her husband. Upon hearing that, the husband told her she had heard the news wrongly. It was the previous Prime Minister’s wife’s mother who had died.
“Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. “Are you sure about that?” she enquired.
“Of course, I’m sure of what I heard,” the husband told her.
“Then what I told my friend is wrong. How embarrassing!” she put her hands to her head in despair.

This relative has the habit of listening to unattentively to the news. That was not the first time she got the news wrong. The trouble is that she did not give the news reader her full attention. And she is always so eager to tell others of what she had heard that she often beat the news reader to the end of the particular news. As a result she often jumps to her own conclusion before the news reader could finish the sentence on the news.

There are two possibilities when such a consequence can come about. The person could be not fully aware of what had been said or she had already speeded ahead and formed her own conclusions.Both can lead to getting wrong facts or knowledge.

When it comes to children, they ought to be made to realize that attention in class is important. Discuss with them the reason some people seem to remember or understand things easier or better than others although most children in the class are of almost the same average intelligence. In fact many clever scientists and great intelligent people were once deemed to be weak in their studies.

So, we have to get our children to realise that the difference lie in the interest of the persons in their studies. When the people are interested, they pay greater attention to what is being said. They are aware of what is being explained. Awareness of the logic of the subject brings greater understanding and understanding needs no great memory to retain the subject in the mind. And certainly, they can never get their facts wrong.

However, it is possible that we need to study or understand certain things which are of no interest to us. However, this does not means we cannot generate interest in the topic. Yes, when interest does not come naturally, we have to generate it for our own benefit.

To say that was easy. Right. But, it is easy. All we need to generate that interest is to realize the importance of that particular subject in us, in our future, in our lives. Take for example, the English Language. Since we know it is the international language important enough to make the difference between a good career in an international corporation and a position in a small local company, it would be a great incentive to have us put in effort to master it. That’s right. To generate interest that does not come naturally, there has to be a sufficiently good incentive. So, look for such an incentive.

Sometimes, the incentive may not be direct. It can come through wanting to impress somebody. Although indirect, it serves its purpose, sometimes even better than a direct incentive. A girlfriend can be the push for a guy to do even better just as a boyfriend can be such an energetic force to propel a girl to excellence. Overcoming fate-placed obstacles could be other possible incentives. Dale Carnegie, Napolean Hill, Norman Vincent Peale and many others who have looked into the success stories of many successful people and found that fate-dealt poverty, loss of a beloved and even failures to be incentives to strive for a successful future.

So, incentives are actually what is created by our own mind. For example, if we are born poor, we could use that unfortunate situation as an excuse to remain excusably poor. However, we could also refuse to accept the situation and put in every possible effort to effect change. ( In my previous postings, I have at least one student who did just that. Last week, as the regional manager of a big corporation, he came to my house to invite me to his wedding.He is what I would call a self-made man. He did it despite the odds.)

Enough said about incentives.. With incentives, interest is ever present. Studying of any subject becomes easy.

When a child pays attention in class, there is very little need for revision or tuition. There is more time for rest and recreation, resulting in better development of the child.We have a happier child with greater achievement when there is full attention in class. The self-esteem is also great as teachers like such children not only for their attention but also for the response to questions and results in examination.

As can be seen from the relative’s inattentiveness to the news, paying attention becomes a habit and such habits are beneficial in every aspect of our lives.