WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

It happened last night. I was driving my son to his school for his night tuition when I heard my daughter asking him this," So, have you told mom about it?"

"About what?" came my son' reply.

" About what happen between you and your teacher la."

"There's no need to tell. It 's not important !"

"Go on, tell mom," my daughter kept on pushing him and she was giggling her way through.

"It 's not important! Can you please stop it!" My son sounded a bit upset.

Well, that really fed on my curiosity. Thus, when we reached the school,I did what every Mom in the world would do. I looked him full in the face as I spoke,"I demanded to know what happen."

Reluctantly he said,"Okie dokie mom." Here goes..

It was in school during recess. My son was playing with his friend, Shazwan and his cousin, Hariz when they saw the poor cat ( sounds familiar?). It was a cute little kitty but all four legs were dirty. Really dirty. So, the three kids decided to play noble by cleaning the kitty's legs. It was the right thing to do but was not nobly done (sounds familiar?). What do you think they did? They just soaked the poor cat in the school's fish pond! That was when the teacher caught them! The cousin; Hariz somehow managed to save himself by fleeing the scene. Unfortunately, the other two panicked and were forced to stay put!

"Ahah! Said the teacher, " Gotcha! You little monsters! Abusing this cat, eh?" My son and his friend were too scared to say anything, let alone explain. They simply let the teacher went on and on berating them.

As you can guess, yes, the two were punished by the teacher. The punishment...well...I would say, was rather cruel. The teacher made them stand facing each other, then she "glued" them by simply tying their neckties together into one knot! To move around, they had to do it together or else the other would choke!

Well, what can I say. They were misinterpreted by the teacher.Just like when my boy misinterpreted my neighbor 's son the other day ! Oh dear! Pity him and his friend.

Again, let me emphasize on the importance of the need to listen first before you pass judgments. Sometimes, it just contradicts what it appears to be. I think you understand what this means.

(p.s. God works miraculously;  as the saying goes :"What  goes around comes around !" 

My son is nicknamed  " Hero Kucing" by the sister. Now, that's funny!!)

THE COBWEB

Who would have thought,

The thin strings,

Without nails and pins,

Could stand strongly,

Capturing the victims.

It had been marked,

By The Almighty,

The weak ones,

Do not always,

Face total rout.               

(p.s. This is the English version of a Malay poem. I translated it for I found it simply intriguing. Could not remember the source though! Anyone knows?)

yahoo.search

SEIZE THE DAY

Life is tough. Sometimes, we wonder why some things happen the way we least expect and most of the time, we get to do what we loathe doing.

This is my story.

There was a day when I was dreaming myself away at the balcony of my hostel. There I was actually stressful and thinking of a good way to ease up my mind. It was then I saw the man. He was like any ordinary man whom we tend to see everyday. He was a worker there whose job was to keep the area clean and so forth. I saw him everyday, sweeping, pushing the leaves into piles and finally seeing them into ashes. He had become somewhat a familiar stranger to me.

That day, I did not just see him. It was more than just looking. From the balcony, I saw the man doing his usual routine; picking, sweeping, shoving and burning the dead leaves. Then, I noticed something that I thought I had missed before. I saw this man after a while just standing there and looking blankly around him with the broom in his hand. He stood still, staring into the compound for quite sometime; just watching the trees and the leaves.... the dead leaves, which kept on falling and falling.

What I saw hit me straight to the heart. There I was thinking that life was so tough and I just could not take it anymore. But that man, whose job was merely to clean the compound, nothing more, was also complaining to himself...about his life, his job, perhaps.....about himself.

Who is luckier, the man or us? Yes, work is never ending story and it gets tough everyday. We get to do new things, meet new people, take up challenges, solve major as well as minor problems and many more. At least, we do different things everyday. That man, however, is stuck with the same things day by day.... just leaves, leaves and more leaves everyday. Don't you find it kind of too boring, too mundane ?

So dear me, for a while, forget about whatever thoughts that you have about how hard your life is. You are not just working hard, but you are also contributing to life. Yes, everyone is complaining, let them. But you my dearest self, will keep on working ( for as long as your body can take it !) because you are still very much needed out there.

So back to business and SEIZE THE DAY !!!

(p.s. wrote this in 2009 when I was in Bangi, after cracking my head doing assignmentsSS...ZZZzzzzzz. So, I went to the  balcony to "blow the cobwebs away". That was when I saw the man and ideas came flowing in!! )      
 

S - I - R

Again, writing time. Location? Could not believe that I had the opportunity to be here. To witness an exciting, challenging, high quality as being put in words by the organizers and should I say, one of the best competitions in Malaysia; 2012  NST National Spell It Right Challenge! Actually to tell you the truth, I just could not identify what ran through my mind. Kind of like not feeling anything. How strange! Must be due to all these excitements !!
My daughter? Let me look at her. Well, like many other primary school participants; hundreds of them, my daughter seemed quite nervous. Oops.. the challenge was about to begin... Ha! Ha! False alarm! Just some kids snapping photos on the stage.

All around me I saw only tensed up faces of the participants unlike when they first arrived. Guess the whole meaning of the challenge had dawned on these kids and on the parents too. On me at least!Nevertheless, it was just so interesting to see what was going on around you. Different emotions were revealed, intertwined with tense and excitement. Some could be seen discussing in groups, some just shied away with a dictionary in hand, some were still being guided by their parents to spell out words and some were just talking away and away including my daughter. No , no wait!She was doing some practice too.Dear God, please help her through. I did not remember seeing her looking any  whiter than this !!

You know, it was not about winning or losing. It was about pushing up her self esteem to a certain extent. I met up with the teacher in charged of the selection of students in her school a few weeks before the challenge. The moment I saw her I cried out. "Teacher, I think you have chosen the wrong student! My daughter is not cut out for this. Believe me! The teacher looked at me and said, " Why don 't we give it a try? Let her in and we' ll see how far she can go." Looking at her now, I guess she deserved this kind of exposure. She needed to be out of the shell once in a while. To experience real challenges in life. Success and failure. Pain and gain.
After some briefings from the organizers I heard the long awaited words being announced!

Let the games begin! 

(p.s. Words for my beloved  daughter : You still have a long way to go. Take charge and stay focused.

THE SWEETEST THING

The sweetest thing happened today. This could be one of those rare experiences that you would never forget. I just got back from work. Well, knowing me, I just could not stand an eyesore porch. Thus, I began sweeping here and there.. Little did I notice the small commotion next door. The next minute when I looked up, a wet and shivering little kitten was being carried away by my son from what to me seemed like “young predators” next door. Wahhh... what do you know....my son, the only son that I have, was putting on a heroic act by saving a cat from being continuously “water jetted” by the neighbour’s kid and his friends. My son boldly walked up to these youngsters and rescued the poor cat from the horrible scene. My, my...was I proud of him! 

However, it was a totally different story for my husband. He was not at all pleased. He passed some remarks which I believed must have hurt my son’s feelings. Why wouldn’t you when your son dried his dirty wet hands by simply wiping it over a clean white t-shirt. I would have done the same.However, the timing did not seem right. I think you can guess what happened next. My son went running into the house crying. I was a little heartbroken but I dared not say anything for fear of making the situation bitter than it already was. Save your comments for later, so I told myself.Then, I saw my neighbour’s son holding some white paper towels and he was looking at me with this guilty look on his face. Was it due to his earlier act or the scoldings my son was getting? The little kitten? Much to my dismay, it was then following me around! 

The story did not end yet. What happened next was indeed unexpected and completely provided a twisted ending to this story. I nearly flipped when the young lad told me that what I saw was actually not like what it seemed to be. In a very low, naive and full of regrets voice , he explained that he was actually trying to clean the cat which he rescued from the drain. Being naive as he was, I think he must have felt that water jetting would be the best way to do so. Oh dear! We had misinterpreted his noble act and intention! Could not blame us though for he used a water jet!! I must agree that his intention was a noble one but the action was somewhat not nobly done. 

So, what do I learn from this ? First, always show some appreciation towards whatever good deeds your kids do or should I say, tell or perhaps show them that you are proud of them even though what follows next is a great pain to your eyes and ears. Praises first, comments later! Second, never, never, I repeat NEVER judge a person without doing some forms of reasoning out. Always remember, sometimes things are not like what they seem to be. Most of the time, people take up certain actions for certain reasons. So, what more can I say, a valuable lesson is indeed learnt today!!

Written on April 13, 2012.

(p.s Later that day, my beloved hubby had a difficult time making up to my son ! Ha ha..again , no comments!)

Food For Thought

Sometimes,  when we have reached the 'acme of perfection' , we have also actually placed a burden on our shoulder. Seems comfortable to be among the stars but it comes with a price ; pressure . The pressure builds up when you fail to also understand the cycle of life; the ups and downs. Life is not always beds of roses.That is the reason why we sometimes need to experience failure, to actually teach us to come to terms with what life is really all about. With this comes inner strength. Not just that, we become wiser.

As in the case of Perry, I think what he needs is the normal life of a teenager. Not just about getting straight A's, satisfying the parents and some of his own needs (himself). He needs to know that life is not just about doing well in academic, but it also comes with challenges in real life situations. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of the real world demands.

However, Perry was mistakenly put in the mess by his parents. They thought that what they were doing were efforts to nurture and support him. He did not need to do anything in the house except to study. What his parents failed to see was depriving him of his own household chores had actually made him become useful for academic purposes only. He was like a walking puppet with no life meanings. His world was condemned only to become nothing more than an object of pride to his parents. He knew that he could do much more but he could never think of backing off. How could you when your parents had gone to some great extent to make sure everything would go well? So,what's left in him? Nothing but a bitter soul and pure anger.

(12 April 2012) 

 

(p.s In response to a text written by Joseph Allen and Claudia Worrell Allen on 'Escaping The Endless Adolescence ' 2009). Discussed in all five classes.

The Jackfruit Tree

I looked out at the tree, somewhat feeling disgusted.  
"Why did abang plant you in the first place?Why did he allow you to grow gigantically next to the fence? Look at your leaves, they are not just at your feet but everywhere in the compound!" 
I mumbled under a deep breath. I just could not suppress this anger anymore, not just towards the tree but abang as well.

“Abang..” so the conversation started. “Why don't we just cut down the nangka tree? I cannot stand the leaves and the smell anymore lah abang. I've grown tired of collecting the dead leaves..” My husband chuckled and sheepishly replied, “Take it as a good exercise for you...and by the way, nobody asks you to, so, why not let the leaves be.” Then as usual, he buried his nose into browsing the internet.

Thanks. Thanks a lot!!

Everyday, I would look at the tree with brilliant ideas of how to get rid of it. You ..nangka tree.. will be demolished sooner or later!

But surprisingly, this tree bore fruits all year-round and I must admit that they were wonderful and sweet fruits. Although my heart was full of hatred and resentment towards the tree, I could not bear to see these fruits wasted on the ground. So, there I was offering them to my neighbours, friends, passers-by and those who asked. Sometimes, when the same people came and asked for the fruits again, I would jokingly say, “No, no worries. Take as many as you wish. You can even cut down the tree and bring it home!” Then, we would laugh at this silly idea. Little did they know that I meant my every single word !

Now and then, abang would ask, “So, how many nangka did you give away today..how many new friends did you make?” And I would remain the same. Indifferent. Why bother? My ultimate mission was to get rid of that tree. Giving away the fruits was just the beginning.

So, there I was being self-righteous and selfish in my own way until I met this one family. Encik Hussin, a man who took up a part-time job to do lawn mowing came to my house one day requesting for some nangka. Gladly I told him to come later in the evening. That evening he came on his bike, followed by a car. I was introduced to the family as his relatives from Kuala Pahang.

“Wahh..they came in a car. That means more fruits will be taken away this time and you nangka tree will take some time to bear new ones. I will have some peace of mind as I will not see your fruits rotting on the ground for a few weeks then.”

While waiting for Encik Hussin to pluck the fruits, I had a short conversation with the family. They told me that these fruits were for a kenduri kahwin in their village. They were so grateful and repeatedly thanked me before leaving with the car bonnet full of nangka fruits!

Abang came back from work as they were leaving. I happily explained to him that those fruits were meant for a kenduri. “In a way, the pahala would also be extended to us !” I told him."Isn't this great abang. We are doing huge good deeds by just giving away some of these fruits.” I stopped short the moment these words were spilled out. Then, the whole meaning of the existence of The Jackfruit Tree struck down on me. It was actually there to extend friendships and good deeds.

Abang winked at me and cheekily asked, “ So, when exactly do you want me to cut this tree down?”.

 (p.s. Written on 22/3/2011)

Inspired by my true undying 'resentment' towards the jackfruit tree planted by beloved hubby! Ha ! Ha!