Things Could Be Worse

A mother passing by her daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed nicely made and everything picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped prominently on the centre of the bed. It was addressed, "Mom".

Fearing the worse, she opened the envelope and read the letter, with trembling hands:

Dear Mom,

It is with this great regret and sorrow that I'm writing to you. I had elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with dad and you.

I've been finding real passion with John and he is so nice - even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard and motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion, mom. I'm pregnant and John said that we will be very happy. He owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too.

John taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us, and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy that we want.

In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so John can get better; he sure deserves it!

Don't worry, mom. I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Some day, I'm sure we'll be back to visit you so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your daughter,

Julie

P.S. Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbour's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

Sent to Starmag by Juliana Phang

Why Love is Blind

A long time ago, before the world was created and humans set foot on it, virtues and vices floated around, not quite knowing what to do. One day, all of them were gathered together, and feeling more bored than ever.

Suddenly, Ingenious came up with an idea: "Let's play hide-and-seek!" Everyone liked the idea and immediately, Madness shouted: "I want to count, I want to count!"

Since nobody was crazy enough to want to seek Madness, all the others agreed. Madness leaned against a tree and started counting, "one, two, three ..."

As Madness counted, the vices and virtues ran off to look for places in which to hide.

Tenderness hung itself on the horn of the moon, while Treason hid in a pile of garbage.

Fondness curled up between the clouds and Passion went to the centre of the earth.

Lie said that it would hide under a stone, but hid at the bottom of the lake instead, whilst Avarice entered a sack that he ended up breaking.

Madness continued to shout out: "... 79, 80, 81... " By then, all the vices and virtues were well hidden except for Love. Fickle as Love is, he could not decide where to hide. And this should not surprise us, because we all know how difficult it is to hide Love.

Madness counted, "... 95, 96, 97 ..."

Just as he got to 100, Love jumped into a rose bush. Madness turned around and shouted: "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Laziness was the first to be found, because he did not have the energy to hide. Then Madness spotted Tenderness in the horn of the moon, Lie at the bottom of the lake, and Passion at the centre of the earth.

One by one, Madness found them all, except for Love. He was getting desperate. Envious of Love, Envy whispered to Madness, "He is in the rose bush."

Madness grabbed a wooden pitch fork and stabbed wildly at the bush. He jabbed and stabbed until a heartbreaking cry made him stop.

Love appeared from the bush, with both hands covering his face. Blood oozed from his eyes and trickled down his fingers. Madness had stabbed out Love's eyes with his pitch fork.

"What have I done? What have I done?" Madness screamed. "I have blinded you! How can I repair the damage?"

Love answered: "You cannot repair my eyes. But if you really want to do something for me, you can be my guide."

And so it came about that from that day on, Love is blind and is always accompanied by Madness.

Sent to Starmag by Aileen Wang

The Time Account

Say there is a bank that credits your account every morning with RM86,400. Every evening, the bank deletes whatever remains of this that you have failed to use during the day. It does not carry over any balance from day to day.

What would you do if you had such an account?

Draw out every sen, every day, of course!

Well, each of us has such an account. Its name is TIME.
Every morning, Time credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever that you have failed to put to use. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

Each day, Time opens a new account for you. Each night, it burns whatever remains in the account. If you fail to use up all of the day's deposits, you can't keep them for tomorrow. Neither can you draw from what will be put in the next morning.

Time's clock runs non-stop.

To realise the value of one year, ask a student who has failed a grade.
To realise the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of one hour, ask two lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of one minute, ask a traveller who has just missed his train.
To realise the value of one second, ask the motorist who has just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of one milisecond, ask the athlete who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it the more because you have shared it with someome special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember that time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called the present!

Sent to Starmag by Liz Chong

A Matter of Packaging

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months, he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing that his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of the big day, his father called him into his study and told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and how much he loved him. His father then handed him a beautifully-wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with his name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the gift behind.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family. Then, realising his father would now be very old, he thought perhaps he should go home for a visit. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

But before he could make any arrangements, he received a telegram telling him that the old man had passed away and willed all his possessions to him. The young man was needed to return home immediately to take care of things.

When he arrived home, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's papers and came across the still-new Bible - just as he had left it years ago. With tears brimming in his eyes, he opened it and flipped through the pages, As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with a dealer's name - the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired.

On the tag was the date of his graduation, and these words: "PAID IN FULL".

How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Sent to Starmag by Jesslyn Mok

Written in Sand or on Stone

Two friends were walking through the desert. At some point during the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other on the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying a word, he wrote in the sand: "Today my best friend slapped me on the face."

They continued walking until they came to an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started to drown, but his friend saved him.

After he had recovered from the ordeal, he wrote on the stone: "Today my best friend saved my life."

The friend who had slapped then saved him, asked: "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, But now, you write on a stone. Why?"

The other replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase the hurt away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, so that no wind can ever erase the deed."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.

Sent in to Starmag by Cindy M.T.

Memory

by an ordinary granddaughter
of an extraordinary grandfather

It all started
with a phone call
From my father alone
and no other
With that one call
my whole world fall
I'll never see him again
My Grandfather

To him I write this
with all my heart
For he's my idol
my inspiration, my core
Throughout my childhood
he cycles to the mart
To buy me things
he knows I longed for

I missed him dearly
my heart torn to pieces
To not be there
when he needed me most
Now all that's remained
is reminiscence
Now all that's remained
is the memoir of a ghost

6th December 2007

If I were to have super powers...

If I were to have super powers, what would it be? Would it be the ability to fly, or maybe to be invisible, or perhaps, just perhaps the ability to read the mind of others?

I have long been intrigued by stories of people who possess the ability to levitate, to make things move with their minds, to know what the others are thinking just by looking into their eyes, or to control the movements of others with a doll and a piece of the person's hair. All these, the Gypsies, voodoo, witchcraft may exist somewhere in this world, but I have yet to come across any of such things. These are some of the super powers that I would like to have, but the one power that I would want most is the power to read people's mind.

You are now entering the deeper side of my mind, the side which I have never revealed to anyone. not even my parents nor my sister. I have always wanted to read the minds of people around me, for many reasons.

As a student, naturally, I would always look for ways to gain better grades. In fact, I sometimes would hope for the easy way out. The more I think about it, the more I wish I can read the teachers' minds. This way, I'll be able the know what questions will be coming out for the exams. What's more, if I can read the minds of others, I'll read the minds of students who are good in school subjects. So I will not have to study for exams. I can just count on other people to study and I'll simply read their answers directly from their minds and use them as my own.

Besides cheating in examinations, my mind reading power can also be used to gain immense wealth. When people use their passwords to gain access to their money in their bank accounts, I can steal the passwords just by reading their minds and take the money. Or maybe, when people use their credit cards to buy stuff online, I can extract their credit card's PIN from their minds and use the PIN to buy things online, too. Then I won't need to pay for the things I bought. Instead, all my expenses will be borne by the credit card owner.

Another way in which I can use my super power is to cheat in gambling, especially in casinos like those in Genting Highlands, Las Vegas and such. Remember the movie "The King Of Gamblers" by Stephen Chow? Ever since watching this movie, I've always wondered what sould it be like if I can read my opponent's mind and know what are his cards and thus play my cards to win. I'll also be able to adjust my bets accordingly to maximize my gains and to minimize the risk of losing my money.

Furthermore, if I have the power to read minds, the person whose mind I would really like to read is the boy whom I admire. Laugh all you want at this silly idea of mine, but I believe if you have this power, you will also do the same thing as I, whether you are a girl or a boy. I've constantly wondered what he is thinking, whether or not he realise that I exist, what he likes and so forth. If I know his favourites, his dislikes, his wants, his needs, then I'll be able to know my way to his heart and do things that pleases him.

These are some of the naughty things that I would like to do...if only I have the power to read people's mind. I guess after you read all these, you will definitely feel thankful that I am unable to read your mind. Otherwise, you can just imagine the things, the information that I'll be able to extricate from you. Right now, only you yourself know what you are thinking. So, you can just put your mind to rest.

Ideas by Nyon Yan Zheng
Written by Nyon Yan Ru
For an essay competition in Johor Matriculation College