Another story

Another good story that I read that shared with me by Ryan Kong.
Indeed, as the Chinese proverb says - 人比人,氣死人. - which meant literally you can compare with others and die with anger. There can be no end with the comparison. On another hand, I'm not encouraging you to be satisfied with what you had, because, you are always capable of more. Moral of the whole story, compare with yourself, make sure you are making improvement every single day, be it how slight it may be, in short, seek for excellence.

CELEBRATING YOU
by Steve Goodier


An old story tells of an unhappy and discontented stonecutter. One day
he came upon a merchant and was awe-struck by all of the marvelous
goods the man had for sale. "I wish I were a merchant," said the
stonecutter and, quite amazingly, his wish was granted.

Not long afterward he saw a parade pass his little shop. Spying a
prince dressed in splendor such as he had never before seen, he said,
"I wish I were a prince." And he became one.

But it wasn't too many days later that he stepped outside and felt the
discomfort of the hot summer sun beating down upon his head. "Even a
prince cannot stay cool in the sun," he said. "I wish I were the sun."
This wish, too, was granted.

He was happy being the sun until, one day, a cloud came between him
and the earth. "That cloud overshadows me," he said. "I wish I were a
cloud."

Again, his wish was granted and he was happy until he came to a
mountain that he could not rise above. "This mountain is greater than
I," he said. "I wish I were a mountain."

As a tall and mighty mountain he looked down upon the affairs of
humans and felt that he was finally happy. But one day a stonecutter
climbed up his side and chipped away at rock and there was nothing he
could do about it. "That little man is more powerful than I," the
mountain said. "I wish I were a stonecutter."

So the circle was completed and now the stonecutter knew that he would
always be happy just being himself. He would never dress like a
prince, shine like the sun nor rise as tall as a mountain, but he was
happy to be who he was.

A sure way to unhappiness is to compare yourself to others. Like
someone aptly said, "The grass may be greener on the other side of the
fence, but it still has to be mowed." You are who you are and that is
to be celebrated.

A story to share

This is a story that my friend Adrian shared with me, and I thought all of you might want to ponder upon it. :)

The ghost of memory has a name.

It's called Past, and the living knows him. Like a distanced friend whom you've long stopped speaking to, but still sometimes dreamed about. Past was born a loner; he deserts the tangible, the sounds and the laughter. He contents himself in his quiet dwelling that is murky solitude, and often seeks the companionship of no one, except, on occasion...

Present.

Present is a living being; Past didn't fancy her initially - he thought she changed too much. There were days when she shone with irrepressible joy and optimism, her face plastered with what he still recognizes as an expression of elation. At other times however, a pair of lost, vacant eyes greeted him from afar, and he would stare, transfixed as she trudged away wordlessly, her
movements heavy and limp.

Having long had a penchant for the peaceful constant, Past wasn't immediately drawn to her.
Gradually however, he found Present to be strangely fascinating. And so he decided to befriend her.

He materialized in front of her one breezy night and Present looked up, only mildly surprised.

"I know you," she said.

"You do? How?"

"I just do."

And so he stayed.

Soon, Past began to suspect that his sporadic appearances, and the timings in which he made them, had influence on her increasingly shifting tempers. One dewy morning, when Past glided into vision, the wan smile that was on Present's face was replaced with a look of ecstasy,
and Past knew she had missed him. When he surfaced again the next night however, she told him irritably to leave, and when he refused and persisted in shadowing her for days, she broke down, begging shakily for his departure in between sobs. He couldn't understand it, and so wounded, he retreated once again, into aloneness.

A few months later, he felt unable to contain his one, nagging desire. The inexplicably inextinguishable desire to tail and be with Present, to live with her, to remind her of his existence. When he found her this time, the air was pensive and as he drifted down to sit
beside her, Present was unperturbed, a small smile playing on her lips, her gaze wistful and lingering in the distance.

Past
followed her eyes and made out a handsome although indistinct figure in the silvery midst. This silhouette was smiling, and beckoning in their direction.

"Future," Present sighed.

A wave of jealousy overcame Past and he prodded her sharply. "Stop looking."

Present looked momentarily startled.
"What? Why?"

"Because you should be with me."

She gave a nervous laugh and shook her head.

"You know me," Past went on. "I was a part of you, and always will. We belong together."

"We...we used to. Not anymore, no."

"You can't forget me."

"What? No... I can. I mean, I want to. I try."

"Stop trying. Just be with me."

"No," she said desperately. "I don't w-"

"I'll follow you."

Present looked at Past for a long time without saying anything.

At last, she rose and gave him a sad smile. "I know..."

Then she turned her head again towards Future and contemplated the promising figure in
the near distance.

"...but not for long."

End of JumpStart! 2007

After 2 days of intense conferencing, JumpStart! 2007 has finally come to an end. This induction time is really a wonderful experience for me. Going back to the Boys Brigade / Girls Brigade Campsite at Sembawang this time round as an Alumni when one year ago I was there as a AIESEC newbie.

I did a lot of sharing and reflection this round with many of the newbies and it seemed to have helped me a lot in return, like realizing how I had benefited from AIESEC.

Knowing so many new friends from other universities as well as other countries - SMU, NUS, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Korea, Britain, Indonesia, Thailand and even Egypt (though I think Yasmin is actually a Singaporean, lol) As well as how passionate and friendly my new friends can be - eg, my friends in Taiwan actually fork out a lot of time as well as money to take me and my other friends to sight-see in the beautiful country in Taiwan.

AIESEC has also provided me challenges in many ways - it taught me to do proper networking, presentation skills, courage to speak to strangers, the background work of doing facilitation work as well as others; I not perfect in those yet, but I do believe that I will in time to come.

This short one year has really allowed me to grow in many ways, I do hope that the newbies too will contribute as well as grow in ways that would allow them to future leaders.

What I take away from movie - "Huo Yuan Jia" aka Fearless

Well, I watched this movie about a week ago. I re-watched it again so as to condense what I learn about in movie.

Some philosophy that I find quite useful.
there's a portion about JinWuMen core values which are 三育 - 育體, 育智, 育德 which means development of the body, the mind and the heart through which one can strengthen oneself as well as the country - I found this to be a very interesting concept and it is quite align to my personal beliefs.

there's also a scene that talks about fighting in 擂台, which is a fighting ring - the scene talked about that the reason of fighting in the ring is not to undermine others but to understand oneself better as the greatest enemy that one could have is not others but ourselves. I take this as an analogy to life - each situation / obstacle that is presented in life is not to pin us down but to make us understand ourself better, to allow us to correct our weakness and to conquer our greatest enemy - ourselves.

In short, this movie is sure a good watch, providing exciting WuShu moves as well as displaying great life principles that one could apply in his life. :)

One month of National Service (NS)

Just a blink of an eye and one month is gone, re-enlisted in 30 Jul and now is 2nd Sept.

Time sure goes fast when you are living in the moment. For the past few weeks, I had been busy with the unit's reservist In-Camp Training (ICT) which ended earlier last week. Then a relaxing time involving in the Unit's National Education trip to Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC) as well as the Army Open House - those two trips had allowed me to refresh myself on Singapore's tough trip on how it became what it is today as well as how Singapore is preparing for the future.

Well, with 17 more days of leave on my disposal, I'm actually left with about 5 months of NS-life. Better make full use of the available days to strengthen myself physically, mentally and professionally to handle the many years of working life that I'll be handling in the years to come.