biabia (:

There is so much more in life than what we see. Do you know how many stateless people are wondering in the waters of Cambodia, Thailand and many more countries, waiting from dawn to dusk, hoping that their fathers or husbands manage to catch some fish home to feed the family? Do you know how many children live in inaccessible mountainous areas, are so keen to learn but don’t have proper materials and teachers? Do you know how lucky you are to have a complete family, a nice warm shelter for all your life, when there are people who come from broken families and never got to build their own happy one too?  Yet everyday, we don’t seem to appreciate the hot meals our mothers prepare for us, our parents constant nagging for us to sleep early, play less computer… Why is it that we kids, humans, instead of viewing it as them expressing love in their own way, think they mistreat us and dislike them?

However, amidst all the tough challenges that come by, there are always people standing strong and resilient. I cannot imagine how Derrick, from the 3rd episode of “P.S. I’m sorry” encouraged himself for 4, 5 years to keep going, pick up skills and do well in work to prove to his father that he has changed and is no longer the old him who doesn’t give know his priorities. And it was so touching to see how Alex Lim, in the 2nd episode, really bucked up when his principal gave him the last chance to prove himself after he was sent to the Boy’s Home.  With only 3 months to prepare for N levels then, he topped the school at the exam. He just received the Stars of Shine award from MCYS and is active in working with teens, sharing his life story.

So many people, struggle so much to survive, to become a better person. They meet with obstacles, lack of opportunities. And when they finally realise the better route to take, they didn’t let anything stop them. They grow to be persons with remarkable spirit. But why, why is it that there is just as many people doing the reverse? Not valuing all that they have. Escape from all their responsibilities. Choosing to do the wrong things. Letting their loved ones down. And not respecting themselves. Why do they end up enjoying sinful indulgence, or doing foolish irrational things? Why can’t they exert more control over their principles, their values? And hold true to what they care and believe in? Do they even know what they really care and hold close to their hearts?

I guess I’m so right. This is a test. Such a real test.

I miss performing so much. Occurred to me how much I enjoyed Huang Cheng and RVCO in the past while watching this ballet-play performance at Tivoli on Saturday night. All the insane amount of possiblities theatre creates for you. All the pure love for music and performance that can touch others’ hearts. Good times, and I really miss them. Really beautiful memories weaved during my teenage years. A great stage performance never fails to make me smile at how facinating the stage is.

We meet many new people everyday, from different walks of life, with different behaviors and attitudes. Some are nice and friendly, some are cold and sacarstic. They can be awfully irritating that they get on our nerves and make us turn mean on them. On Friday, I witness this one very fierce and impolite spar between two individuals. It was no direct insult but I thought it was rather ugly. I remember reading from somewhere once, we cannot control how people treat us but we should never use it to determine how we treat them. No matter whether that dude is your teacher or a lousy one, you should still have a littl respect for him. Or at least, be polite.

Why is there day and night? Why is it that we work so hard in the day and at night, we sleep before the next day comes?

Life is just such miracle. It’s just so amazing how the basic logic of how we should handle our life is entwined with the daily mechanisms of this universe.

One day is made of of the day time and night time. Most of us have our chores to do when the sun is up. We go to bed when the sun is away. And wake up the next day to the sunshine and next part of our work again. Everyday we are taking a step at a time. Baby steps as Chun Rui always calls it. Imagine students going to school everyday, we can’t possibly learn everything in one lesson at one day. It is through the term, semester that our teacher slowly enlighten us. Same goes for building a family, raising kids. You teach your kids bit by bit, one by one, day by day, year by year; and one day, poof, they turn out to be so big already, just like me, twenty this year.

And then we sleep at night. Some of us like to be night owls. Doing our assignments at night. Watching videos at night. Playing games at night. But still, we sleep before daybreak. To let our bodies rest, to give our brains recess break. This is when we break off work, recuperate, take a deep breathe as we always do when we are deep asleep. Just like how when we are stressed out by work, frustrated over obstacles, dejected over failures, people tell us, “take a break”, “breathe deeply”. Then after the good sleep, day breaks, we wake up to see light again, before we continue our journey of taking one baby step at a time. This is where we always get recharged, energized to persevere through the current and all the upcoming challenges.

Every day is followed by a night, to prepare us for the next day.