How wonderful to be so loved

Dear God,

When out shopping, one gets to see so many beautiful things (mostly those that will not necessarily be yours). Today, as I casually strolled into one shop, I was browsing the goodies when I saw a child walk up the stairs towards where her father was standing. Clutching a soft toy which fell from her hands and which she kept stopping to pick up over and over again as it kept falling with every step she took upwards (her father smiling but secretly wishing that she would hurry up!), she suddenly stopped.

‘Wait daddy!’ she shouted and then proceeded to walk down the stairs. The toy had fallen again, but she had not cared, but instead focused on descending the stairs.

‘Careful please darling,’ her mother gently said to her as she stood at the bottom of the stairs.

The little girl nodded as if to signal that she was going to obey her mother and not hurry. Moments later, she was towards the bottom of the staircase, with a few to go before she reached the ground.

‘Mummy, I love you,’ she said out aloud before she turned around to carry on ascending the stairs and head towards her father who still was waiting anxiously.

As her mother picked up the toy that had fallen from her daughter’s hands, I leaned over and asked her mother, ‘Is that all she wanted to tell you?’

‘Yes,’ the mother smiled.

How so very wonderful to be so very loved…

I do like to go shopping, one gets to see so many beautiful things (mostly those that will not necessarily be yours).

Broken Cups (& Hearts)

A friend was telling me yesterday how her young son had broken a cup from her prized crockery set. She was very upset by this and had scolded him rigorously for showing no respect to her by breaking it and then trying to cover it up by shifting the blame on his sibling.

‘You should have seen the way he tried to sweep it up and put it in the bin before I came along and caught him,’ she related.

She was in tears as she went over and showed me the remaining items minus the now broken cup.

‘Just the one cup broke?’ I asked to which she nodded sadly. ‘I know it is difficult as you loved this set a lot, but since when was there a guarantee that anything will last forever?’ I said.

We always seem to get upset at the breakage of delicate items that were created to be broken and were never promised to be immune to being broken, the heart for example. No matter how much we protect ourselves, one day it will break and sometimes, it carries on breaking again and again until we decide no more. And when we have decided no more, sometimes it carries on breaking regardless. Unfortunately though, as with a broken cup or glass, we are unable to sweep away the pieces but instead often end up carrying them deep within us, for them to pierce our souls now and again.

X-factor

A news report just caught my eye – BBC have moved Strictly Come Dancing to a new slot in order to avoid the clash with X-Factor. Next to it is a poll, asking readers to vote for the person they think will win X-factor. I recognise none of the names. I do not watch X factor Am I the only one who does not watch this?? (because it seems I was the only one who did not watch the tripe that was Big Brother, or as we say in the Asian circles – ‘Wadda Pra‘.)

Stephen Gately: A reminder about the reality of life

I think amongst all the speculation about the circumstances surrounding his sudden death, we seem to have forgotten a very important reminder: that life is so very short (shorter than we think it to be) and that our calling to return (for those who don’t believe in a Return, then they cannot deny that there is an end to it??) may arrive at any given moment.

That indeed, these very moments that I type his blogpost and the ones with which you read it may be mine and your last…

With this in mind, put your pride to one side – if you have wronged someone, apologise; If you need to forgive, do so; if you are grateful to someone for anything or something, thank them; if you love them, say it… this may be the last and only chance you have.

Do men like this exist?

Love this track – the lyrics are fabulous! Oh what a tune!

“…A thousand armies couldn’t stop me, no”, “Stormy weather couldn’t stop me, no” – ah! ..

(My respect to all those men out there who are not afraid of the meaning of this song)

‘Love is the only thing that interests me’

‘El amor en los tiempos del colera’, a great novel by Garcia-Marquez, I would say his best one (maybe I am biased though as love stories are my greatest weakness …)

There is a great scene (one of the most memorable for me, although indeed there are so many equally powerful ones) when lovesick Florentino Ariza, goes to work with his uncle, he is told off for his inability to write even a simple commercial letter without romantic poetry creeping in. “It’s no use,” protests Florentino, “Love is the only thing that interests me.”

I often am asked why I am attached to affairs of the heart which are so central to my writing. My reply is the same.

My Immortal – too beautiful for words..

Dear God,

I have no qualms about the wounds, nor the pain, nor time nor the memories. You listen to all prayers, so please accept mine:
Let my love never cry for I am not there to wipe away those tears…

Greatest Fears

BRITEAST MAGAZINE ISSUE 3 – OCTOBER 2009

Greatest Fears: Things that make or break us

Fear. All of creation has it whether inbuilt or picked up along the way. No-one is ever immune to fear: some fear growing old (be it for aesthetic reasons or for those of dependency); some fear loneliness; some, love itself; some, the exams and their future; some fear the supernatural and many fear spiders & other creepy crawlies. The poor may fear poverty; the rich may fear losing their wealth or indeed that they will never have enough and the lover may fear a broken heart… The list is endless because human beings are fascinating creatures.

Of course fear does not discriminate and confine itself to just the human race. The antelope fears the lion as the fly does the spider’s web as the plant does cabbage does the snail as the snail does the salt (… as the salt does the water?).

Fear can be a great thing for it can be the catalyst to achieving much success – talk to the financially stable and they will tell you how in business you have to take risks – or if you let it, it can come to destroy and paralyze you – after all who ever achieved anything if they were too afraid to try?

Perhaps mankind is guilty of not fearing enough though. P.B.Shelley’s most famous short poem Oxymandias, comes to mind.
‘I am Ozymandias, king of kings,
Look on my works ye Mighty and despair!’ says the once powerful Ozymandias to the Creator; the true King of Kings. (Ozymandias was another name for Ramesses the Great, Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt.) Where once a vast empire thrived, lie the ruins as described by the traveler telling the tale of the inevitable decline of all men however indestructible they may have been in their time.

But mankind, despite the signs, refuses to heed and chooses to ignore. Do we fear that this earth, this life, time, our wealth, our children, everything we have is but a mere loan to us? Do we fear enough to give our time to the homeless on the street, or smile at a stranger, or utter a kind word, or help someone who is not going to give anything back to us in return?

My greatest fear? That when I stand in front of the One who created me, on that Mighty Day, when I am held accountable for my life, that amidst the shame of my mountainous sins, that I will forget to say ‘thank you’. Thank you for the honour of being created. ■