Sanity: Minds are like parachutes. Just because you've lost yours doesn't mean you can borrow mine.
Cluelessness: There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.
Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.
Why does God create gaps in between our fingers?
So that someone else can fill them in.
"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."
~Oscar Wilde
For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.
For every truth there is an ear to hear it.
And for every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
~Oscar Wilde
If you love someone, you say it. You say it, right then, out loud. Otherwise, the moment just passes you by.
Never lie, steal, cheat or drink.
If you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love.
If you must steal, steal away from bad company.
If you must cheat, cheat death.
And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.
Your failures do not define you.
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you might be the world.
If you sometimes feel a little useless, offended or depressed... Always remember that YOU were once the fastest and most victorious little sperm out of millions.
Basic principles: "Any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet - he just needs the right broom."
We stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realised they were inside of us.
How terrible it is to love something that death can touch.
"Growing old is unavoidable, but never growing up is possible. I believe you can retain certain things from your childhood if you protect them - certain traits, certain places where you don't let the world go."
~Johnny Depp
The average person tells 4 lies a day or 1460 a year; a total of 87,600 by the age of 60. And the most common lie is: I'm Fine.
Love is feeling the need to bring that person's name up in every single conversation.
All we really want is love's confusing joy.
The road to happiness ain't that complicated.
I'm goofy, I'm clumsy, I burp, I sneeze, I snort and I fart. Love me for me. I am who I am.
Thank you for being there for me even when I'm being a pain in the ass.
Some words are best left unspoken.
Never take me for granted, for the next time you turn around...I might not be there anymore...
It's funny how when you're dead, only then people start to listen.
One good thing about music - when it hits you, you feel no pain.
~Bob Marley
"I told you I'm a wreck."
Reply: I love you regardless.
If I could tell my 19-year-old self one thing, it would be "don't give up bitch, you've got a long way to go."
When everything is telling you to give up, Hope whispers "One more time".
Don't make decisions when you're angry.
Don't make promises when you're happy.
Don't make promises you can't keep. 'Cause it bloody hurts when you don't.
"In the face of true love, you don't give up even if the object of your affection is begging you to."
~Chuck Bass
Sometimes when I say "I'm okay", I want someone to look me in the eyes, hug me tight and say, "I know you're not".
"The word LISTEN contains the same letters as the word SILENT."
~Alfred Brendel
If you tickle me, I'm not responsible for your injuries.
Move on. He's just a chapter in the past. Don't close the book, just turn the page.
People are people. They will hurt you, they will bitch but they will also care about you and love you. So go out and learn for yourself, I assure you. You will never understand this world and its people. Instead, you'll become one of them.
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
I wish people would listen as much as they talk.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Miracle Stone
A man once read in an ancient book about a black stone on the shores of the Black Sea, which could on contact, turn any metal into gold. The stone would be warm to the touch. So he went to the Black Sea and there, found a heap of black stones. He was convinced one of these would be the miracle stone.
He picked up a stone, felt it on his cheek, found it cold, and flung it into the sea. The second stone too was cold and followed the first one into the sea. He did this from morning to evening, every day for weeks, months and then years. Three years passed.
One day he put a stone to his cheek, threw it into the sea and then realized that was the stone he was looking for!
How easily do you get used to what you are doing?
What holds you from not getting conditioned?
How many opportunities do you miss because of your own conditioning?
~Taken from "How full is your cup?: 64 stories that can transform the way you look at life" by J M Sampath~
He picked up a stone, felt it on his cheek, found it cold, and flung it into the sea. The second stone too was cold and followed the first one into the sea. He did this from morning to evening, every day for weeks, months and then years. Three years passed.
One day he put a stone to his cheek, threw it into the sea and then realized that was the stone he was looking for!
How easily do you get used to what you are doing?
What holds you from not getting conditioned?
How many opportunities do you miss because of your own conditioning?
~Taken from "How full is your cup?: 64 stories that can transform the way you look at life" by J M Sampath~
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Eat Your Own Fruit
Some disciples once complained to their guru, "You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us."
The guru replied, "How would you like it if someone offered you a fruit and chewed it before giving it to you?"
How do you learn to draw your own interpretations of life than live by others' interpretations?
What holds you from thinking beyond what has been thought?
~Taken from "How full is your cup?: 64 stories that can transform the way you look at life" by J M Sampath~
The guru replied, "How would you like it if someone offered you a fruit and chewed it before giving it to you?"
How do you learn to draw your own interpretations of life than live by others' interpretations?
What holds you from thinking beyond what has been thought?
~Taken from "How full is your cup?: 64 stories that can transform the way you look at life" by J M Sampath~
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Rip Now While You Can Still Enjoy it
WORDS OF WISDOM from Ajahn Brahmavamso on his 60th Birthday
By Ajahn Brahmavamso
That is my first important point. Don't think peace of mind only comes when you have fixed up all your problems and finishes all your business. All your worrying, all your striving and struggling, has it ever gotten you where you really wanted to be? You can't control the world and change it the way you would like it. Therefore, you can only find peace of mind and achieve the meaning of like by embracing the imperfections of life. How do you do that? By knowing that imperfection is the nature of the world. So make peace with imperfection. Another thing you can't change is the past. Yet lingering on the past, people worry and feel guilty and angry about it. But since you can't change it, the only wise thing to do is to make peace with it. But how do you do that when there is so much unfinished business? You make it finished.
One of my favourite stories is about the abbot who was building the main hall for his monastery. It takes a lot of time and effort to make such a big building, and the construction work was still in progress when the time came for the annual rains retreat. The abbot told the builders to go home and come back in 3 months. A few days later, a visitor came to the temple and asked when the hall was going to be finished. The abbot replied, "It is finished". The visitor was quite stunned and said, "What do you mean it is finished? There is no roof! Are you going to leave it like that? There is no glass in the windows, there are pieces of wood and cement bags all over the floor". To which the abbot unforgettably replied, "What is done is finished."
What a beautiful response that was. It is the only way to find peace in life. If you want all your building work to be finished before you stop to find peace, all your jobs out of the way, all your letters and emails replied to, you will never find peace of mind because there is always more to be done. As I have often said the only place in our modern societies where you find people resting in peace is in the cemeteries, but then it is too late to enjoy it. So I say RIP now while you can still enjoy it. I am making the observation that you only find peace when you realise that what's done is finished. The past is gone; let it go. One of the signs of true spirituality of whatever tradition is forgiveness and letting go. I was once asked how many times you should forgive, and I replied, "Always one more time". That is, forever.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful acts that humans are capable of. In South Africa, just after apartheid had been dismantled and Nelson Mandela had been made president, instead of seeking revenge, instead of punishing all those people who punished him, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Anybody who had done a crime was able to go to this commission and confess what they had done. As long as they were truthful, no matter how horrendous were their crimes they would be given amnesty and forgiveness. It was a brilliant way of dealing with the past.
One of the moving events of the commission was a policeman recounting, in the presence of the man's widow, how he had tortured and killed her husband, a black African activist from the ANC. Can you imagine this scene? There was a woman whose husband had disappeared, probably in the middle of the night, and she suspected what had happened, but didn't know the true story. Now she was facing a man who was confessing in detail how he had tortured and killed her husband, the father of her children, the man she loved. Apparently, this white police officer was shaking and trembling as he recounted the details of what had happened. At the end of his testimony, the widow rose from her seat and went towards him. The guards were supposed to stop her but they froze. She went up to him, put her big black arms around him and said "I forgive you."
Not just the two of them wept, but apparently the whole room.
This sort of beautiful act is one of true spirituality. Both the victim and the perpetrator would move on and become better people. They would learn real compassion, gain real wisdom, and find a real way of moving forward. Now it that woman could forgive the murderer of the man she loved, then each one of us if we really put our minds to it is capable of forgiving anything.
I was once counselling a woman who was dying of cancer. I asked her what was the worst thing she had ever done - an act she might carry to her grace and feel terrible about. She told me she had kissed a man who was not her husband. I said, "If that's the worst thing you've done, you lived a pretty good life." When she saw my reaction, she realised for the first time that it wasn't all that bad. To me it seemed like a small thing, but she had been eaten up inside. It was such a release for her to tell someone.
When you keep small things to yourself, even the smallest things can become huge. When you acknowledge them, especially if you tell a good friend, you can see that they're no big deal and you can let them go. The way to forgiveness is to realise that you're worth forgiving and so is the other person. That realisation is step number one.
That black woman in South Africa saw something in that policeman who had killed her husband, something she could respect, something worth saving, so she forgave. Remember there's no such thing as a murderer, only a person who has taken a life; no such thing as a cheat or a thief, only a person who has stolen. If you understand that, you understand why forgiveness is possible: there's something more to any person than the bad acts. And that's true of each one of you. No matter what you've done, there's always something inside of you that is worthy of forgiveness.
Worrying about the future
Another thing that stops inner peace is worrying about the future. People often think they need to worry about global warming, the credit crunch, the wars, the natural disasters, AIDS, and the cancers. But it's only worthwhile thinking about things you can do something about. If you can't do anything, why worry? In addition, you can't predict the future. It's totally uncertain.
On one occasion, when I was just a school kid, my mother told me I was going to the dentist the following morning. I told my mum, "Mummy, don't send me to the dentist. You don't love me, you're sending me to the torturer." But try as I might, I couldn't get off it. When I went to bed that night, I was worried and didn't sleep well.
The following morning my mother had to drag me to the dentist, and I was screaming and crying. But when I eventually got to the surgery, my appointment had been cancelled. All that worry, all that crying for no reason. That was a very important experience for me. I learnt there's no point worrying about the future when you don't know what's going to happen. Life is completely unpredictable. When you understand that, you can have peace of mind in the present moment.
You can have peace of mind even when you're dying. Why not? No more worries about taxes, global warming or anything else. Because you're soon about to depart, the problem of the world become irrelevant. When there are no problems, you become peaceful. And because you never know how much time you've got left you might as well be peaceful now. This was Ajahn Chah's great teaching to me when I was sick in hospital. He came to visit me and gave me the sort of teaching you remember for the rest of your life. He told me, "Brahmavamso, you're either going to get better or you're going to die." That really hurt at first because it wasn't what I had expected. It wasn't the usual bedside manner of your best friend. But when I started to think about it, I realised that it meant the sickness wasn't going to last. That was such a relief. Sometimes you meet people who have understood this. The are dying and supposedly in agony, but they still tell jokes. They're happy and peaceful.
You much also make peace with whatever you have to do in life, with your duties and responsibilities. Peace of mind is not achieved by always trying to do what you like. On the contrary, you find peace of mind by making peace with whatever you are called to do.
Whatever your role, whatever your duties, you can always have fun, enjoy it, put happiness into it and make peace with it. You can make peace and have fun with anything, anywhere. Peace of mind is not found by searching for a deep cave, in a perfect monastery, in a wonderful place high in the a Himalayan Mountains. If you're looking for peace that way, you are looking for what Ajahn Chah called a tortoise with a moustache. People looking for the impossible and of course they can't find it. There is no such thing as a tortoise with a moustache.
You find real peace of mind by accepting your life as you have it now, even in the midst of great tragedy. What a wonderful thing that is.
How do you find this peace? Let go of all the past and guilt, by forgiving, don't worry about the future, and learn to appreciate the moment. Do your duty and put the fun into whatever you have to do.
Peace of mind is as free as the air: Drink it, enjoy it, and take it with you. It's always there if you only look in the right place.
By Ajahn Brahmavamso
"Peace of mind is as free as the air: Drink it, enjoy it, and take it with you. It's always there if you only look in the right place."Achieving peace of mind is a lovely way of describing the meaning of life. It is something that everyone aspires to. However, peace of mind is often life the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it tends to be elusive for most people. I would like you to reflect on the times when you were the happiest. You would probably find that your happiest times were when you experienced a deep sense of contentment of peace of mind. But when you reflect on these experiences, you realise they didn't occur because everything around you was perfect. On the contrary, you realized that peace of mind occurred in spite of your surroundings not being perfect; in spite of difficulties, problems and imperfections of life.
That is my first important point. Don't think peace of mind only comes when you have fixed up all your problems and finishes all your business. All your worrying, all your striving and struggling, has it ever gotten you where you really wanted to be? You can't control the world and change it the way you would like it. Therefore, you can only find peace of mind and achieve the meaning of like by embracing the imperfections of life. How do you do that? By knowing that imperfection is the nature of the world. So make peace with imperfection. Another thing you can't change is the past. Yet lingering on the past, people worry and feel guilty and angry about it. But since you can't change it, the only wise thing to do is to make peace with it. But how do you do that when there is so much unfinished business? You make it finished.
One of my favourite stories is about the abbot who was building the main hall for his monastery. It takes a lot of time and effort to make such a big building, and the construction work was still in progress when the time came for the annual rains retreat. The abbot told the builders to go home and come back in 3 months. A few days later, a visitor came to the temple and asked when the hall was going to be finished. The abbot replied, "It is finished". The visitor was quite stunned and said, "What do you mean it is finished? There is no roof! Are you going to leave it like that? There is no glass in the windows, there are pieces of wood and cement bags all over the floor". To which the abbot unforgettably replied, "What is done is finished."
What a beautiful response that was. It is the only way to find peace in life. If you want all your building work to be finished before you stop to find peace, all your jobs out of the way, all your letters and emails replied to, you will never find peace of mind because there is always more to be done. As I have often said the only place in our modern societies where you find people resting in peace is in the cemeteries, but then it is too late to enjoy it. So I say RIP now while you can still enjoy it. I am making the observation that you only find peace when you realise that what's done is finished. The past is gone; let it go. One of the signs of true spirituality of whatever tradition is forgiveness and letting go. I was once asked how many times you should forgive, and I replied, "Always one more time". That is, forever.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful acts that humans are capable of. In South Africa, just after apartheid had been dismantled and Nelson Mandela had been made president, instead of seeking revenge, instead of punishing all those people who punished him, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Anybody who had done a crime was able to go to this commission and confess what they had done. As long as they were truthful, no matter how horrendous were their crimes they would be given amnesty and forgiveness. It was a brilliant way of dealing with the past.
One of the moving events of the commission was a policeman recounting, in the presence of the man's widow, how he had tortured and killed her husband, a black African activist from the ANC. Can you imagine this scene? There was a woman whose husband had disappeared, probably in the middle of the night, and she suspected what had happened, but didn't know the true story. Now she was facing a man who was confessing in detail how he had tortured and killed her husband, the father of her children, the man she loved. Apparently, this white police officer was shaking and trembling as he recounted the details of what had happened. At the end of his testimony, the widow rose from her seat and went towards him. The guards were supposed to stop her but they froze. She went up to him, put her big black arms around him and said "I forgive you."
Not just the two of them wept, but apparently the whole room.
This sort of beautiful act is one of true spirituality. Both the victim and the perpetrator would move on and become better people. They would learn real compassion, gain real wisdom, and find a real way of moving forward. Now it that woman could forgive the murderer of the man she loved, then each one of us if we really put our minds to it is capable of forgiving anything.
I was once counselling a woman who was dying of cancer. I asked her what was the worst thing she had ever done - an act she might carry to her grace and feel terrible about. She told me she had kissed a man who was not her husband. I said, "If that's the worst thing you've done, you lived a pretty good life." When she saw my reaction, she realised for the first time that it wasn't all that bad. To me it seemed like a small thing, but she had been eaten up inside. It was such a release for her to tell someone.
When you keep small things to yourself, even the smallest things can become huge. When you acknowledge them, especially if you tell a good friend, you can see that they're no big deal and you can let them go. The way to forgiveness is to realise that you're worth forgiving and so is the other person. That realisation is step number one.
That black woman in South Africa saw something in that policeman who had killed her husband, something she could respect, something worth saving, so she forgave. Remember there's no such thing as a murderer, only a person who has taken a life; no such thing as a cheat or a thief, only a person who has stolen. If you understand that, you understand why forgiveness is possible: there's something more to any person than the bad acts. And that's true of each one of you. No matter what you've done, there's always something inside of you that is worthy of forgiveness.
Worrying about the future
Another thing that stops inner peace is worrying about the future. People often think they need to worry about global warming, the credit crunch, the wars, the natural disasters, AIDS, and the cancers. But it's only worthwhile thinking about things you can do something about. If you can't do anything, why worry? In addition, you can't predict the future. It's totally uncertain.
On one occasion, when I was just a school kid, my mother told me I was going to the dentist the following morning. I told my mum, "Mummy, don't send me to the dentist. You don't love me, you're sending me to the torturer." But try as I might, I couldn't get off it. When I went to bed that night, I was worried and didn't sleep well.
The following morning my mother had to drag me to the dentist, and I was screaming and crying. But when I eventually got to the surgery, my appointment had been cancelled. All that worry, all that crying for no reason. That was a very important experience for me. I learnt there's no point worrying about the future when you don't know what's going to happen. Life is completely unpredictable. When you understand that, you can have peace of mind in the present moment.
You can have peace of mind even when you're dying. Why not? No more worries about taxes, global warming or anything else. Because you're soon about to depart, the problem of the world become irrelevant. When there are no problems, you become peaceful. And because you never know how much time you've got left you might as well be peaceful now. This was Ajahn Chah's great teaching to me when I was sick in hospital. He came to visit me and gave me the sort of teaching you remember for the rest of your life. He told me, "Brahmavamso, you're either going to get better or you're going to die." That really hurt at first because it wasn't what I had expected. It wasn't the usual bedside manner of your best friend. But when I started to think about it, I realised that it meant the sickness wasn't going to last. That was such a relief. Sometimes you meet people who have understood this. The are dying and supposedly in agony, but they still tell jokes. They're happy and peaceful.
You much also make peace with whatever you have to do in life, with your duties and responsibilities. Peace of mind is not achieved by always trying to do what you like. On the contrary, you find peace of mind by making peace with whatever you are called to do.
Whatever your role, whatever your duties, you can always have fun, enjoy it, put happiness into it and make peace with it. You can make peace and have fun with anything, anywhere. Peace of mind is not found by searching for a deep cave, in a perfect monastery, in a wonderful place high in the a Himalayan Mountains. If you're looking for peace that way, you are looking for what Ajahn Chah called a tortoise with a moustache. People looking for the impossible and of course they can't find it. There is no such thing as a tortoise with a moustache.
You find real peace of mind by accepting your life as you have it now, even in the midst of great tragedy. What a wonderful thing that is.
How do you find this peace? Let go of all the past and guilt, by forgiving, don't worry about the future, and learn to appreciate the moment. Do your duty and put the fun into whatever you have to do.
Peace of mind is as free as the air: Drink it, enjoy it, and take it with you. It's always there if you only look in the right place.
"He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me" --those who are free of resentful thoughts sure find peace. -Gautama Buddha
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Blindfolded Outcasts
By Leonara Chin, 19
SMK Green Road
I was walking up the stairs of the auditorium, where the finals of the district level dance competition was to be held in a few hours, when a shabby teenage boy ran down to meet me.
"Miss Lee, they won't let us in," the boy named Jake frantically said to me.
I frowned, but nodded as we walked up the stairs together. There, four other teenagers were waiting for me.
"Miss Lee?" they called out in unison when they saw me. I smiled at them before walking up to the broad-shouldered security guard.
"Hi, we are one of the groups performing today, please let us in," I said calmly, while trying to maintain a stern eye contact with the guard.
The guard cocked his brows, as if suggesting otherwise.
"Do you need to read the legal papers that I have?" I pressed further, with a hint of frustration.
The burly man snorted before stepping aside. I waved to the five teenagers to come over, and we entered together.
"Woah...", exclaimed Jake as we stepped into the huge hall that would be the venue for the dance competition.
"In about an hour, this whole place will be filled to the brim, can you handle that?" I reminded them gently.
"Gee, M's Lee, I d'no, I'll prob'ly be shakin'," Emma grinned, some of her front teeth missing.
"Stay calm! You will not be seeing anything, remember?" I assured her.
Emma nodded and took a deep breath.
Just then, a group of haughty looking guys walked by. Based on their flashy outfits, they were contestants too. Their instructor, crinkled his nose and spoke in loud voice, "I don't even know how these people got into the finals."
"Mr Adams, let's just leave. I can't stand the smell of poor people," the boy standing in the front said.
When the group left, it was clear that the confidence level of our group had been shattered.
Sam looked confused and immediately smelled himself. "But I washed up, I don't smell today," he said softly.
"It's not your fault...", I tried to say.
"No, Miss Lee. They are right, we can never win. We don't belong here," another girl named Kate interrupted me.
I was going to reply when a voice behind me beat me to it.
"Of course we do! Have we worked less than them? We deserve this chance as much as anyone else here today!" Chris, the reserved and scrawny looking boy spoke up.
I smiled.
"Chris is right, we can't afford to feel discouraged now. We have come as far as the finals, right? The judges believe you should be here, so believe in yourself. You much learn to know your worth before others can see it," I reminded them. "Remember what we promised to do when we win the prize?"
"I'm gettin' m'self some dentures," Emma immediately said.
"I'm buying a new pair of shoes," Kate said, looking longingly at her tattered white shoes.
"I'm buying the best body soap for myself!" Sam grinned.
"I'm giving it to my mum so that she can use it to buy groceries," Jake smiled.
"I'm buying a teddy bear to keep Jenny company in the hospital," Chris replied. Jenny, his younger sister, had been hospitalised due to high fever.
"Then remember your promise as you perform on stage," I told them.
They nodded.
***
The time finally arrived.
After about an hour of warming up and last minute rehearsals, the competition finally began. I watched, performance after performance with some anxiety. Clearly, some of the teams stood out, but I had faith in the kids.
When it was their turn, Jake led the team on stage, while I watched from the front row.
"What is the name of your team?" the lead judge asked.
"We are the Outcasts," Jake confidently replied.
"And what it the concept of your performance based upon?" the judge asked again.
"Our lives," Jake replied, "We are beggars and pickpockets who live on the streets."
The judges were silent. Murmurs could be heard from the crowd watching the competition.
"And what is the title of your performance today?" the judge finally asked.
"Blindfolded dancing," Jake replied.
"Well, please proceed," the judge said.
I kept my fingers crossed, as each of them took out a coloured sash from their pockets and tied it around their eyes, completely immobilising their sight. The would have to depend fully on the beat of the music and their instincts to make it work.
The crowd hushed in anticipation.
The music started, and they moved around in sync. Despite being blindfolded, they moved in perfect harmony, keeping their routine flawless. The crowd roared in endless cheer. I nearly cried watching them perform, and memories of my first encounter with this young group flashed through my mind.
I am a social worker. It all began one fateful day when I was visiting the 'second class' neighbourhood in town. As I was walking, a teenage boy appeared out of nowhere and snatched my handbag. I screamed and gave chase, but had to stop in my tracks when I watched that boy leap over a wall higher than either one of us. Taking another route, I followed suit until I was at the other side of the wall where I found the boy - and the others. The one who stole my handbag was Sam, and Jake was in the midst of lecturing him for robbing a lady.
I began spending time with them and slowly, they stopped picking pickets or committing snatch thefts. And when I found out they could dance, I enrolled them in the competition.
For years, they had lived aimlessly, influenced by the environment they grew up in. Not only was it not conducive for their development, they didn't have a good role model to look up to. They committed petty crimes, following in the footsteps of those around them.
This competition renewed their hope and gave them something to live for.
All of them went back to school, leaving their old lifestyles behind. Jake, the oldest, would be graduating from high school next spring. He has promised to look for a real job and leave his criminal acts in the past.
The crowd's cheering went up a notch, shaking me out of my reverie. The performance was nearing the end. I watched nervously as the five of them prepared for the grand finale. This was the toughest part of the whole routine; a wrong move could result in broken bones.
I gasped as Emma and Kate did a flip before landing in a full split, while Sam, who had moved far back, charged forward and leaped over between the shoulders of Jake and Chris, landing perfectly in his desired pose.
The crowd didn't stop cheering for five minutes. Overwhelmed with happiness, I jumped on stage to hug all of them. I was so proud of them, not just because of the performance, but also because of their complete change in character.
***
As we made our way out of the hall, beaming with pride, we met Mr Adams who was still shaking in disbelief. His team was nowhere to be seen.
"How did your group manage to perform like that?" he asked, shaking his head.
I smiled at him and left thinking to myself:
If you have not experienced loss, you'll never learn to appreciate an opportunity.
If you have not felt a sense of hopelessness in your life, you will never work hard for anything.
If you have never been short of anything in your life, you will never appreciate victory.
Taken from Stuff@School, The Star, Monday 27 August 2012
SMK Green Road
I was walking up the stairs of the auditorium, where the finals of the district level dance competition was to be held in a few hours, when a shabby teenage boy ran down to meet me.
"Miss Lee, they won't let us in," the boy named Jake frantically said to me.
I frowned, but nodded as we walked up the stairs together. There, four other teenagers were waiting for me.
"Miss Lee?" they called out in unison when they saw me. I smiled at them before walking up to the broad-shouldered security guard.
"Hi, we are one of the groups performing today, please let us in," I said calmly, while trying to maintain a stern eye contact with the guard.
The guard cocked his brows, as if suggesting otherwise.
"Do you need to read the legal papers that I have?" I pressed further, with a hint of frustration.
The burly man snorted before stepping aside. I waved to the five teenagers to come over, and we entered together.
"Woah...", exclaimed Jake as we stepped into the huge hall that would be the venue for the dance competition.
"In about an hour, this whole place will be filled to the brim, can you handle that?" I reminded them gently.
"Gee, M's Lee, I d'no, I'll prob'ly be shakin'," Emma grinned, some of her front teeth missing.
"Stay calm! You will not be seeing anything, remember?" I assured her.
Emma nodded and took a deep breath.
Just then, a group of haughty looking guys walked by. Based on their flashy outfits, they were contestants too. Their instructor, crinkled his nose and spoke in loud voice, "I don't even know how these people got into the finals."
"Mr Adams, let's just leave. I can't stand the smell of poor people," the boy standing in the front said.
When the group left, it was clear that the confidence level of our group had been shattered.
Sam looked confused and immediately smelled himself. "But I washed up, I don't smell today," he said softly.
"It's not your fault...", I tried to say.
"No, Miss Lee. They are right, we can never win. We don't belong here," another girl named Kate interrupted me.
I was going to reply when a voice behind me beat me to it.
"Of course we do! Have we worked less than them? We deserve this chance as much as anyone else here today!" Chris, the reserved and scrawny looking boy spoke up.
I smiled.
"Chris is right, we can't afford to feel discouraged now. We have come as far as the finals, right? The judges believe you should be here, so believe in yourself. You much learn to know your worth before others can see it," I reminded them. "Remember what we promised to do when we win the prize?"
"I'm gettin' m'self some dentures," Emma immediately said.
"I'm buying a new pair of shoes," Kate said, looking longingly at her tattered white shoes.
"I'm buying the best body soap for myself!" Sam grinned.
"I'm giving it to my mum so that she can use it to buy groceries," Jake smiled.
"I'm buying a teddy bear to keep Jenny company in the hospital," Chris replied. Jenny, his younger sister, had been hospitalised due to high fever.
"Then remember your promise as you perform on stage," I told them.
They nodded.
***
The time finally arrived.
After about an hour of warming up and last minute rehearsals, the competition finally began. I watched, performance after performance with some anxiety. Clearly, some of the teams stood out, but I had faith in the kids.
When it was their turn, Jake led the team on stage, while I watched from the front row.
"What is the name of your team?" the lead judge asked.
"We are the Outcasts," Jake confidently replied.
"And what it the concept of your performance based upon?" the judge asked again.
"Our lives," Jake replied, "We are beggars and pickpockets who live on the streets."
The judges were silent. Murmurs could be heard from the crowd watching the competition.
"And what is the title of your performance today?" the judge finally asked.
"Blindfolded dancing," Jake replied.
"Well, please proceed," the judge said.
I kept my fingers crossed, as each of them took out a coloured sash from their pockets and tied it around their eyes, completely immobilising their sight. The would have to depend fully on the beat of the music and their instincts to make it work.
The crowd hushed in anticipation.
The music started, and they moved around in sync. Despite being blindfolded, they moved in perfect harmony, keeping their routine flawless. The crowd roared in endless cheer. I nearly cried watching them perform, and memories of my first encounter with this young group flashed through my mind.
I am a social worker. It all began one fateful day when I was visiting the 'second class' neighbourhood in town. As I was walking, a teenage boy appeared out of nowhere and snatched my handbag. I screamed and gave chase, but had to stop in my tracks when I watched that boy leap over a wall higher than either one of us. Taking another route, I followed suit until I was at the other side of the wall where I found the boy - and the others. The one who stole my handbag was Sam, and Jake was in the midst of lecturing him for robbing a lady.
I began spending time with them and slowly, they stopped picking pickets or committing snatch thefts. And when I found out they could dance, I enrolled them in the competition.
For years, they had lived aimlessly, influenced by the environment they grew up in. Not only was it not conducive for their development, they didn't have a good role model to look up to. They committed petty crimes, following in the footsteps of those around them.
This competition renewed their hope and gave them something to live for.
All of them went back to school, leaving their old lifestyles behind. Jake, the oldest, would be graduating from high school next spring. He has promised to look for a real job and leave his criminal acts in the past.
The crowd's cheering went up a notch, shaking me out of my reverie. The performance was nearing the end. I watched nervously as the five of them prepared for the grand finale. This was the toughest part of the whole routine; a wrong move could result in broken bones.
I gasped as Emma and Kate did a flip before landing in a full split, while Sam, who had moved far back, charged forward and leaped over between the shoulders of Jake and Chris, landing perfectly in his desired pose.
The crowd didn't stop cheering for five minutes. Overwhelmed with happiness, I jumped on stage to hug all of them. I was so proud of them, not just because of the performance, but also because of their complete change in character.
***
As we made our way out of the hall, beaming with pride, we met Mr Adams who was still shaking in disbelief. His team was nowhere to be seen.
"How did your group manage to perform like that?" he asked, shaking his head.
I smiled at him and left thinking to myself:
If you have not experienced loss, you'll never learn to appreciate an opportunity.
If you have not felt a sense of hopelessness in your life, you will never work hard for anything.
If you have never been short of anything in your life, you will never appreciate victory.
Taken from Stuff@School, The Star, Monday 27 August 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Will and Guy's Joke of the Day #348
* A. A. A. D. D. - Classic Retirement Syndrome
Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. � Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests itself:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the rubbish bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my chequebook off the table, and see that there is only one cheque left. My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye: they need to be watered.
I place the coke down on the work surface, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the work top, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone has left it on the kitchen table.
I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the lounge where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
* The car isn't washed
* The bills aren't paid
* There is a warm can of coke sitting on the work surface
* The flowers don't have enough water
* There is still only one cheque in my chequebook
* I can't find the remote
* I can't find my glasses and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
PS. I just remembered, I left the water running .................
Taken from my email
Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. � Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests itself:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the rubbish bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my chequebook off the table, and see that there is only one cheque left. My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye: they need to be watered.
I place the coke down on the work surface, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the work top, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone has left it on the kitchen table.
I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the lounge where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
* The car isn't washed
* The bills aren't paid
* There is a warm can of coke sitting on the work surface
* The flowers don't have enough water
* There is still only one cheque in my chequebook
* I can't find the remote
* I can't find my glasses and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
PS. I just remembered, I left the water running .................
Taken from my email
Monday, May 14, 2012
Children and Their Ideas
A kindergarten pupil told his teacher he'd found a cat. She asked him if it was dead or alive.
"Dead." she was informed.
"How do you know?" she asked her pupil.
"Because I pissed in its ear and it didn't move" answered the child innocently.
"You did WHAT?!?" the teacher exclaimed in surprise.
"You know", explained the boy, "I leaned over and went 'Pssst!' and it didn't move."
"Dead." she was informed.
"How do you know?" she asked her pupil.
"Because I pissed in its ear and it didn't move" answered the child innocently.
"You did WHAT?!?" the teacher exclaimed in surprise.
"You know", explained the boy, "I leaned over and went 'Pssst!' and it didn't move."
A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later.... "Da-d...."
"What?"
"I'm thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?"
"No. You had your chance. Lights out."
Five minutes later: "Da-aaaad....."
"WHAT?"
"I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??"
"I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!"
Five minutes later......"Daaaa-aaaad....."
"WHAT!"
"When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"
"What?"
"I'm thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?"
"No. You had your chance. Lights out."
Five minutes later: "Da-aaaad....."
"WHAT?"
"I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??"
"I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!"
Five minutes later......"Daaaa-aaaad....."
"WHAT!"
"When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"
An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief, finally asked him, "How do you expect to get into Heaven?"
The boy thought it over and said, "Well, I'll run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, "For Heaven's sake, Dylan, come in or stay out!'"
The boy thought it over and said, "Well, I'll run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, "For Heaven's sake, Dylan, come in or stay out!'"
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her son into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?".
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug.
"I can't dear" she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room".
A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy".
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug.
"I can't dear" she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room".
A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy".
It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children's sermon. All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was wearing a particularly pretty dress and, as she sat down, the pastor leaned over and said, "That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter Dress?".
The little girl replied, directly into the pastor's clip-on microphone, "Yes, and my Mom says it's a bitch to iron.".
The little girl replied, directly into the pastor's clip-on microphone, "Yes, and my Mom says it's a bitch to iron.".
When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three year old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!".
I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy".
"I know", she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?"
I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy".
"I know", she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?"
A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, "Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, that son of a bitch is nine."
His mother heard what he was saying and gasped "What are you doing?"
The little boy answered "I'm doing my math homework, Mom."
"And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?" the mother asked.
"Yes", he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, "What are you teaching my son in math?"
The teacher replied, "Right now, we are learning addition."
The mother asked, "And are you teaching them to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?"
After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, "What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four."
His mother heard what he was saying and gasped "What are you doing?"
The little boy answered "I'm doing my math homework, Mom."
"And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?" the mother asked.
"Yes", he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, "What are you teaching my son in math?"
The teacher replied, "Right now, we are learning addition."
The mother asked, "And are you teaching them to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?"
After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, "What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four."
One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class. She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the farmer. She read, ".... and so Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling!' ".
The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer said?".
One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: "Holy Shit! A talking chicken!".
The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.
The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer said?".
One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: "Holy Shit! A talking chicken!".
The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.
Taken from the website:
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