heaven & earth.

Well, today I witnessed 2 things.

Firstly, when I was at Parkway playing pool, I saw this man playing pool. He was playing with only one hand. At first I thought he was just trying to be funny. Then I realised he only had one hand. I was amused and thus continued watching him play. He played quite well. Seriously. He would balance the cue stick on the edge of the table and then hit the ball that way. Amazing. This shows us what determination can do. There is nothing that we can't do. It's just the amount of determination that we can conjure up to do that thing.

Next, I was taking a cab home. From Bedok, the cabbie drove me the longest way home. I simply keep quiet. I was thinking, aren't cabbies also in the service sector? Since people would surely complain if service people provided inferior quality service, why is it that no one has said a thing about cabbies driving passengers through the longest possible routes, especially after midnight. For example, if you were asked to pay $100 for someone to repair your computer, and you knew that the computer could be repaired at $50. But the repairman explained that this part and that component was spoilt, so it required more repair. So we gladly pay him, without checking out the facts. This is similiar to the cabbies. They can tell us that this route is shorter, that route is prone to traffic jams, and we should believe them, after all, they have more experience than us in driving around Singapore. But that route is a route I know well enough. I kept quiet, because I thought he would at least turn through Simei, which is long but still not as bad. He chose to turn the longest route, which disappointed me. For those who are interested, it was a Comfort cab, I think. Plate number SHA 4640B.

After this incident, anytime I take a cab, especially after midnight, I'll tell them exactly where they should drive me, and specify the route I feel they should take. My apologies to those honest drivers who feel that I would insult them by doing such a thing.

fuck.

Who the FUCK decides how things should happen?
Who the FUCK decides what will happen?
Who the FUCK decides when it will finally happen?
Who the FUCK thinks he's all powerful and can decide MY fate.

This is not meant to be offensive or whatever. But it is so common.
"Why are things this way?", "Why am I caught in such a stupid situation?"
Nobody understands why. If you are someone who can explain to me why life is this way, please feel free to leave a message.

Sometimes, life leads you to bang a wall. Even then, sometimes it's possible that one collision will break the wall down. It'll surely hurt, but at least you can continue down that same road. Other times, that same wall might not break when you bang into it. You hurt your head, and still have to use that same head to decide how you're going to continue.

If there's only one wall, it would still be okay. But what if it's an infinite series of walls? An infinite labyrinth? Once you walk into that path, the only feasible way out might be to bang the wall many many times, unless you are patient enough to wait til the walls corrode and crumble.

So, the only solution whenever this kind of problems arise is to bang the wall. It'll hurt once, it'll hurt twice, but after a few times, it eventually becomes part of life.

storm

Storm. Not Storm as in X-Men's Storm. Not Storm as in thunderstorms or rain storms.

Storms as in the setbacks we frequently meet in our journey through life. They can depress us, so much so that we give up. Or they can teach us, grind us to become a better person so that we'll emerge with the useful experience. Of course, it is never easy to do the latter, but it can be done.

Just yesterday, I heard from this disabled man, Mr. Gilbert Tan. He was speaking to the JC2s. When the video played to show his life story, I was shocked at all the things he had gone through, and yet he still had the courage to not only show it to the world, he was so fine with his condition that he could even joke about it.

What happened to him was that he broke the 4th bone in his neck when he was 22. Can you imagine? Losing control of your entire body at the age when a person is the most active? One doctor predicted that he had only 5 years to live. Today. he is still alive while that doctor is dead. He told us how he kept himself going, ensured that he never gave up.

He is now a mouth and foot artist, a singer and songwriter. He has represented Singapore in international events. Simply, he is more successful than many able people are. He is 45 years of age and has been on his wheelchair for the last 23 years, but he still carries a smile on his face, going around reminding others that they should live life with a positive attitude.

He also told us about his 5 C's. Not the Cash, Condo, Cars whatsoever. His 5 C's were about life.

1) Can We can do anything if we set our minds to doing it.
2) Can't We can't have everything. We must accept that.
3) Compare We should learn to compare with those worse off, those less fortunate than us at times, and not always grumnble at being worse than others.

Those three C's left the greatest impression on me. If a young man who has lost the use of his body at such a young age can get back up on his feet, not literally, what is there that a fit, able me cannot do?

SO people, remember that anything is possible as long as we face life with a positive attitude.

To end off, here's something he said.

If you're happy that day, the day will pass.
If you're unhappy that day, the day will still pass regardless.
It is up to you to depend how you spend each day.
So why not spend it happily?