.... the light from within

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) once read that "people are like stained glass windows! They glow and sparkle when it is sunny and bright; but when the sun goes down, their beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. "According to Buddhism, all beings are imbued with a spark of inner divine light.... The Jewish mystics use similar words when they speak of the inner spark or the spark of God. The Koran, referring to man, talks about the little candle flame burning in a niche in the wall of God's temple.

Almost inevitably a spiritual search becomes a search for divine or sacred light. By cultivating our inner core, we search for this light in ourselves as well as the divine." - Lama Surya Das It is the "light from within" that produces in man strength and happiness to find out the way in which God is going, and he going that way too.

It is often said that the foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feel. That is why that happiness is like a butterfly which when pursued is always beyond our grasp, but which if you sit down quietly may alight upon you.

Cecil Rhodes, born in 1853, played a major political and economic role in colonial South Africa. He was a financier, statesman, and empire builder regretfully said at the conclusion of his life, " Happy ? No! I spent my life amassing a fortune only to find that I have spent half of it on doctors to keep me out of the grave, and the other half on lawyers to keep me out of jail."

There is a common belief that happiness is something that is achievable and can be held on to. We look forward to that time in which we can finally be happy, but it continually recedes. We want to get to the top of the Wheel of Life and stay there. When in the university, we think, "If I can just graduate then I will be happy." Graduation, however, is not fulfilling, and we decide " Maybe it will come upon finding the right job, buying the right house / car / etc etc....... or getting married, or having children, or retiring. " The goal remains elusive. The "happiness that lasts" is never found because it is actually impossible to get happy and stay happy. If life is based on obtaining happiness, then we will always fall short because life is always changing as the wheel turns.

Y S likes what Richard L Evans once said, " May we never let the things we can't have or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. As we value our happiness, let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lesson in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot have or should not have," How true?

And above all, it is so important to know that we can choose to feel happy. Most people don't think they have that choice.According to Aristotle, "Happiness depends on our selves." For people are just as happy as they make up their mind to be. True happiness may be sought, thought, or caught but never, never bought. It is the light in our inner self that keeps burning even when the sun has set !

.... of help, helping and being helped

Yours Sincerely ( Y s ) discovers that it is very hard to offer help to others these days. People are self-sufficient. They do not want to be indebted. They rather exercise their self-sufficiency than to accept help and remain indebted so they think.

Y S used to ask a friend to fetch him to the airport in wee hours of the morning since we are living in a BEC and that is a Basic Ecclesiastical ( Godly, in spiritual communion, brotherly ) Community and since so much have been preached about mutual help and co-operation among fellow Catholics in a common locality. Y S could have called a taxi but then that is denying a brother-in-Christ to exercise his ecclesiastical deed or duty to help another member of the BEC. Y S asked for help with the hope that the same could be returned to him when he is in need. However, Y S found out that the brother-in-Christ called a taxi to get to the airport when he could easily called Y S. So, do you dare to ask for his help again ?

In the circle of the middle class society, self sufficiency is what people aim for. Gone are the days when you borrow an onion, some sugar or an egg from your neighbour. People rather drive all the way to the grocery kilometres away just to get those menial things. Or rather people buy in dozens and scores to store up and many a time groceries are stored until they are rotten and discarded.

"HELP" is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. " says Ralp Waldo Emerson. Allowing ourselves to be helped if so necessary is also a virtue that has to be learnt. How many have suffered in silence, thinking that they are virtuously bearing the so-called "crosses" of life. A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up, and also to reach up and accept help. As it is said that when you help someone up a mountain, you will find yourself close to the summit too.

Think.

... the last lap of life

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) observes many healthy, good hearted and well-meaning people seem to think that sicknesses and illnesses and death are for other people, and that they are immune to all these ....op..op..op... (taboo to talk about ) things. Touch wood! Touch wood! As if by ignoring and not talking about them, they will automatically be bypassed. It is paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but then the idea of getting old becoming sick and death does not appeal to anyone. There is nothing so certain as sicknesses and finally death, and also the income tax!

Many would disagree that life is 3 score and ten (70) and the rest of the years are bonuses. One may have a bonus of , say 15 years, and that adds up to 85. A ripe old age ? Remember, one may not have all the 15 years of bonus. With the present environmental degradation; pesticides, chemical fertilizers, mono sodium glutamate, preservatives, artificial coloring etc etc etc in our food and coupled with fat and cholesterol; and not to mention the rat race and stress, it is safe to deduct another 5 years. That leaves one with only 80. Then, one needs to question himself whether his last 10 years of bonus can be lived out free of doctors and hospitals ?

What if his last 5, 6 0r 7 years is riddled with wheelchair and hospital bed. Then, he has only 75, 74 or 73 years ! And taking 58 as the retirement age in Malaysia now, one only has 17, 16 or 15 years of blissful retirement! That is not long. Many of Y S' friends, ex-colleagues and acquaintances have been called home at around 75 and some as early as 68 ! Scary, eh ?

How is one to live out this last lap of life ? Some think that retirement is like taking a permanent vacation. Some drop out of sight after their retirement. Some tire themselves out selling insurance and trust fund. Many more turn baby sitters and child minders for their children. Y S observes a few craftily and quickly move in with their children and stick to them tightly as an old age insurance.

After the "honeymoon" phase of a " permanent vacation " wears out, this last lap of life has to be lived purposefully, mindfully and fruitfully. It can be a time of catching up with hobbies, skills and other interests; reconciliation; "paying back" and preparation to meet the Maker ( If you believe in Him). It is time to clear your "Bucket List" one by one pleasurably. It is time to know new people and widen one's circle of friends. It is time to play "hop scotch," and "Batu Tujuh" ( A child's game played with 7 rounded pebbles which you hurl into the air and catch it with the same hand.) , so to speak, if you so desire.

15, 16 or 17 years is short either for one to merely exist or live it. So, live it them ............

.... of heaven

It baffles Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) that we, Christians, who read, listen, talk about, sing about and being preached to about heaven may worry if it is time to go there. So many good Christians may think twice or thrice about going to heaven since one has to die first to get there. And everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.

Even those who are afflicted with terminal illnesses, and they have ready tickets to heaven, will empty their purses looking for healing and remedy to get better and consequently postpone their trip. Why are they throwing away their tickets to heaven ?

Why do people who so glorify heaven as the eternal resting place, the ever-lasting paradise, the Lord's House " where tears will be wiped away " and " laughters fill the days" rethink their desire when really faced with the option to exercise to go to heaven.

Why do they pay the doctors to delay their much desired trip and choose to be on earth some
more ? Baffling ?

There are those who never ever pray, or pray much, or find themselves near places of worship, leave alone to enjoy the company of angels and saints, and music from harps, also desire to go to heaven. What would they be doing there for eternity ?

There are also those who are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly value. They talk and sing of heaven , trouble themselves and others with "rules and laws'" and "do's and don'ts" for heaven bound beings, but would not lift a finger for their fellow beings. This is not " kosher"
and that is not "kosher." " No carnivorous diet, only herbivorous diet." " No Pork." " No beef." "No lamb." " No Valentine." "No meat on Fridays." etc. etc. (You can add on to the list yourself. ) Is entry to heaven by merit or favour ?

Mark Twain once said that " Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." Wesleyan Methodist adds that " To get to heaven, turn right and keep straight."

If this ONE life is well lived, do you think you need an eternity some more ? The main object of religion is not to get a man to heaven, but to get heaven into him. THINK.

Teachers or educators ?

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) could not help posting this inspirational piece which was forwarded to me by a friend. Read on ..............

*According to a news report, a certain private school in Sydney 's **
> Eastern Suburbs was recently faced with an unusual problem.. A number of
> the girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the
> bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would
> press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints .
>
> Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the
> girls would put them back. Finally the Headmistress decided that
> something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and
> met them there with the maintenance man .. She explained that all these
> lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to
> clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the
> little princesses) .
>
> To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked
> the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He
> took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet bowl, and
> cleaned the mirror with it. The silence was broken by a large number of
> gasps, a few girls vomited and apparently someone fainted. Since then
> there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
>
> There are teachers . . . and then there are educators

How true !

.... of Ho Chi Minh City and South Vietnam (Part : 1)

Yours Sincerely ( Y s ) is back on holidays again after spending 6 days working in South Vietnam - waking up in the wee hours of the morning, having people to make your bed for you, zipping and unzipping luggage, checking in and out of hotels, feasting on hotel buffet breakfast, dinning at choicest restaurants on exotic food, going up and down the tour bus, visiting sites and places, snapping photographs ........ and that is what Y S calls WORK.










As Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) entered Ho Chih Ming City from the airport, Y S was head ached by the buzzing over loaded ( Y S saw one with 6 riders, practically the whole family. If there were some more space, grandpa and grandma could also travel along. ) "Kap Chais" ( In Cantonese, they are small C.C. motorcycles) which buzzed in and out of traffic with their incessant " pip.... pip......pip .......pip" announcing their presence on the road. The "pip...pip..pip...." and even seeped through the crevices of the windows of Y S's budget hotel, smacked right in the city centre, like hordes of mosquitoes. Crossing the thoroughfares of city is a chilling experience, not for the faint hearted, of course. The "Kap Chais" are kings of the road.

Anyway, in a city with practically no public transportation: city buses, LRTs, MRTs whatever how do you expect people to go about ? However, Y S was enthralled by the abundance of glistering, poshy , bourgeoisie MPV taxi plying the roads in the city. So much for communism, eh ?

Y S' visit coincided with the Vietnamese' New Year of the Cat. So, there was a double celebration of the Cat and the Rabbit. Both seem to get along well in Vietnam.

The double event also coincided with a floral and book exhibition. So, the streets of Ho Chi Minh City was overflowed with locals and tourists.


This is the Chinese made tank that crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace and reunited north and south Vietnam. A brave reminder of what people's power could do !

Eating on low stools and tables on the five foot ways or on the beach seems to be the national pastime. A family is having a meal together at Vung Tau.

In Vietnam, do as the Viets do. Y S was having some bean curd on a low stool. Btw, it was hard to get up after the meal, not because of the meal but the lowness of the stool.

When you travel, make friends and share experiences. Strangers are friends we have not met and spoken to.


This is the statue of "Christ The Redeemer" at Vung Tau. To reach the statue are many flights of steps, about 500 hundred, I panted and lost count. Then you have to go up some more steps to the top of the statue. The view of the city and coastline of Vung Tau from the shoulders of Christ is rewarding, well worth the effort of climbing up.

This is among the weirdest fish Y S consumed. It has been very deeply fried until the scales stood out and curled up. The waitress will then peel it up for you. The flesh is then enveloped in a piece of thin rice paper with some vegetables. It is dipped in chilly sauce before being consumed.

This is the happiest Buddha statue Y S has ever seen in all his travels.
When you travel, loosen up and merge with the locals. What a treat Y S had with four pretty Vietnamese damsels singing their folk songs. Of course this photo costs money : D 100,000.00, Don't worry that is about RM8.00. ( About 2 USD) In Vietnam, you spend like a millionaire.

This is the Notre Dame Cathedral of Ho Chi Minh City. Imposing architecture, resembling its namesake in Paris but it has no compound, saved for a patch of green at its facade and this is also taken up by hawkers as their trading space. Two busy roads traverse on its left and right.


Y S took a sampan ride on a tributary of the Mekong River. This activity is specially created for the locals' livelihood. Well, it is one of its kind, somewhat like those gondolas on the canals at Venice.

.... Y S is working

This blog takes a break because Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) is working in Vietnam. Will be back home on holidays soon with stories and photos. Adious !