Aside from perseverance, winter seasons allow for growth in something else deeply important: Compassion.
EDIT: 2 Corinthians 8:2.
Archive for the ‘random reflections’ Category
Winter seasons
May 21, 2011Meaning of life, manga style
July 20, 2010神啊… 我的人生目标到底是什么?
Dear God, what exactly is my goal in life?
我到底要怎么做才能找到呢?
How on earth can I find it?
是不是找到了, 我就会变得更加坚强?
Will I become stronger simply as a result of finding it?
因为达不到人生目标而哭,
Is it worse to know that your goal in life is ultimately unattainable,
跟因为找不到人生目标而哭, 到底哪一个比较苦呢?
Or to not find it at all?
- Chica Umino, Honey and Clover Volume 6, pp 85, SHUEISHA Inc, Tokyo 2000.
UPDATE 26 Jul: Someone on Twitter posted this quote, unknowingly answering the question:
“The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.” (Benjamin Mays)
Morning musings from Life!
July 15, 2010Reading about Gillian Cheung (a la Edison Chen sex scandal) in yesterday’s Life! makes me think more and more- you are only a victim of the circumstances if you let yourself be. Strangely enough, the opinions of others don’t matter. As convincing as they may sound. And it’s even sillier when you feel guilty when you AREN’T the main party at fault, and because you act so guilty everyone thinks you are Public Enemy No. 1. Till today I don’t know why Gillian was treated so badly by the public. Yes I know, clean image and all that, but the public reaction was still a little over the top. It makes me kind of sad and angry for her.
So Gillian, stand up and stay strong. You’re bigger than this. Everyone makes mistakes, and as Winston Churchhill said, it’s only the courage to move on that counts.
————
“We make choices and sometimes they’re difficult and hard in life, but they’re not sacrifices… I make choices according to what is important to me and my values. When I don’t want to do something or don’t love somebody anymore or don’t want to do a movie, I say no- and this is my choice.” – Sophie Marceau
So yes, things can be gleaned, even in the entertainment section of the newspaper.
Lots of other things I want to blog about, but that will have to wait till I finish what is important first!
Grr
July 2, 2010I was getting off the train and a flood of people were getting on and not giving way. I already was resigned to that. And I actually heard a woman muttering in mandarin saying that if I wanted to get off I should get off more quickly. Implying I was holding up the people (as in, herself) getting on.
Can you believe that? I can’t. Singaporeans who think they should be given first priority, all the time, just cheese me off to the biggest degree. Bah.
The shelf-life of blogs
June 29, 2010I notice that out of the 19 links in my blogroll:
- 6 are either dead blogs or presumed dead,
- 4 are now locked,
- 4 have switched links,
- and only 5 still update,
- out of which only 3 do so on a regular basis.
I have continuously refreshed my blogroll over the years due to this sad phenomenon. Why do blogs die so easily?
Quote of the evening to chew upon
August 8, 2009There will never be any more perfection than there is now.
(Walt Whitman)
Food for thought
July 24, 2009“Our greatest fear… should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
Was blind
February 22, 2009And it feels SO GOOD to see clearly again.
And all I had to do was flip through past journal entries. THANK YOU GOD FOR THE INVENTION OF JOURNALS AND BLOGS. I couldn’t do without them! It sounds kind of sad, but I think the best human to encourage me when I’m in a bad mood is.. myself in a good mood. Which could be encaptured in no other way than a diary.
And yes, you can hold the Tom Riddle jokes :b
Back up and running; ain’t nothing gonna stop me
October 21, 2008Getting past the forced small talk with people is so, so horribly painful and energy-sapping. It can take weeks, months, years, even.
But like self-control (and muscles); ah, so, so worthwhile, and can only get easier with (loads of) practice. Thanks be to God that I had opportunities in which I was FORCED to do so, because I would have never done it on my own.
Be merciful to those who doubt;
snatch others from the fire and save them;
to others show mercy, mixed with fear- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
- Jude 1:22-23
Mr Children- Kurumi
August 2, 2008I remembered this song when I was sifting through my email. It’s one of my favourites and helped me out in a difficult time. Although the lyrics and video no long make me bawl like it used to- now it makes me think of Ecclesiastes!- it still means a lot to me. I had to file it here for the memories it brings. (And I can always look to Mr Children for bursts of creative inspiration!)
Tell me, Kurumi
What do you see looking at this city
How do I look to you now?
Tell me, Kurumi
When I start to hear the sarcasm in someone’s kindness
What am I to do?
Remembering only the good times
though it makes me feel like I’ve aged a sum
But you gotta be one of the gears
Trying to get turning
You can have only as much despair as you have hope.
But still, my heart trembles at the thought of the future
‘What’s going to happen?’
I try to imagine.
Tell me, Kurumi
If time will eventually wash it all away
Then life must be a simple affair.
Tell me, Kurumi
Since then I haven’t cried once
But, neither have I had many good laughs
Somewhere I did up the buttons wrong,
By the time I notice, there’s one button leftover
And similarly one button hole, in need of a button
If you find meaning in finding someone then fine
You can have only as many partings
As you do encounters
Still my heart trembles at the thought of hope.
Everytime I encounter a crossroads
I’ll fret over which way to go but…
Eventhough I want more than I have now
I sing for an unchanging love
that’s what makes the gears turn
With the burden of more than I need,
Making a dull grinding sound
You can have only as much despair as you do hope
And still my heart trembles
At the thought of the future
“What’s going to happen?”
Let’s imagine
You can have only as many partings
As you do encounters
And still my heart trembles at the thought of hope
Guess there’s no turning back,
So I’ll go on, to a road without you.
