Asian

The sum of the many parts of Asia, while it means certain common things, comprises so much diversity. Newcomers to the region ask me - how are these different, what are the people like?

I can only tell of the places I have been, and of these, what I love the most, so I say:

• Vietnamese: their sense of self, and general absence of bullshit in getting things done
  


• Japanese: their quiet resolve to be themselves, and keep their ways
  


• Indonesians: these guys are just cool
  


• Filipinos: their patience, and ability to laugh almost always
  


• Koreans: their soft little centers, beneath that tough, but really just rather honest exterior
  


• Cambodians: a gentleness, despite the obvious toil needed for survival
  


• Singaporeans: Malaysian roots are a redeeming factor. Only joking - discipline I guess, essential for progress
  


• Hong Kongers: a keen quick-wittedness and ability to land on their feet
  


• Thais: politeness, and the innate eye for things beautiful
  


• Malaysians: You tell me, but I guess I love most about us our simplicity and tolerance of people as people
  

I don't say these traits are perfect, or without challenge, but to me they carry the strength of the people. Go Asia! The world is ours for the taking.

Friday Prayer

Guide my hands
Guide my heart
Guide my mind
And guide my guard.

Keep me clear
To always see
The things I hold
Dear to me.

Trial and temptation*
Are the human condition
And the result of that
Is so much crap

Monkeys, sharks, wolves and monsters
Cloaks and daggers, all real terrors
Please guide my way
In dealing with that.

I don’t know how You do it all
Everyone’s wants
Clash and overlap, afterall.
But I’ve been told I overthink

So I’m going to stop that right now.

Fill my life,
With things that matter
Help me catch on,
To these things faster.

Help me find
My very own bliss
And contribute to that of
Those I love and cherish

Help me be wise
Faithful and strong
To be the person I knew
I was all along.

* Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Cheers (I’ll Drink to That)*

When there is noise, and it is time to watch your back, it is not easy to judge those around you. Support can be a fleeting and changeable thing. But I am grateful for the simple and un-obligatory gestures– a suitcase dragged across apartment blocks, a head’s up over a bowl of noodles. The time spent to lend an ear, share experience, and give sincere advice. I am typically detached, and did not think of these things as important, but I have learnt that they are. Thank goodness, there are things to be thankful for in rubbish situations. *almost Rihanna

Big Pictures

You know – the earthquake in Japan, which caused the lives of over 10,000 people, destroyed homes, belongings and whole families, also resulted in the Earth spinning faster- by a grand total of 0.0000018 seconds. Imagine – in the big picture of the planet, something that massive only caused that minute an effect.

But imagine also, the impact of such devastation on each individual who is (no pun intended) on eye-level with the storm – this is probably the worst thing that could happen to you.

It is maybe the same for every person who dies in a war and their families, or anyone who at some point realised we are all cogs in a very, very, big machine.

Well guess what, what a special cog we each are, even if only to ourselves and the lives we touch. Perhaps the idea is to aspire towards the biggest picture we can have of ourselves, and keep in mind that despite all, it is still part of a bigger picture out there. It will be okay, and if it isn’t, there is room to make it better.

Maya Angelou also said

''I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands, you need to be able to throw something back".

I like the Man Mo Temple in Hong Kong. There, you worship both the God of Culture and the Martial God. Which makes sense because sometimes, even the most civil must fight. So if fight we must, may we have guidance that it be in the highest order of ways.

Perhaps I'm a little serious but...

These days, I discovered that people do a lot to get to know one another. And it seems that there are no rules, except those in your head. A boy on vacation hooks up with a stewardess on a flight in from somewhere, and tries to convince her to fly out to see him at home the next week. A girl calls a married colleague in the middle of the night to complain about a date he recommended which didn’t work out.

Increasingly, boundaries are set only by the two people in a connection with each other. And because boundaries are set independent of any norms, so is the definition of overstepping them. Forget then right and wrong, these become even grayer.

Perhaps, the only constant is that every connection between two people is a balance of power. And the idea is to keep the upper hand to protect, or win the things that personally matter. Even in relationships where there is love, faith, and trust? Maybe, I don’t know.

As for things getting out of hand, I also don’t know. Perhaps “Laissez faire et laissez passer” (let do, and let pass)* is already the inevitable. I’d like to think "Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!" (let do, and let pass, the world goes on by itself!)* is more reassuring, there is a feeling that there will always be some correction or adjustment to balance, down the road. Still, this is scary stuff.

*Wikipedia

How we are strong

I resolved to pen more thoughts this year, even fleeting ones, so here.

In scattered entries throughout this blog, we have established that time and energy in each day is finite, and it is how one spends that resource which determines the outcome of next day, and the days to come. Simple.

In our education, there is a lot of time and energy spent on following a program of learning new information, and getting appraised at the end of the process. This is school, and typically, that is what schools are meant for. That is fine.

Probably, what is not fine is the lack of realization that 1. equal time and energy should be invested in clearly identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses, and 2. those said strengths and weaknesses are sometimes, but hardly effectively reflected by the results of the said school appraisal.

This is not a new concept, yet there are many who consider their 20s as a time of self-discovery, I not excluded – and I just wished mine could have begun earlier.

Because in the real world where summits shift, and not much is linear, it is the intimate knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses, passions and dislikes, which will guide personal strategy, sanity, and ultimate survival.

Yes, it is an evolving process, much of which is earned from experience and years, but I believe the sooner one is able to begin to describe oneself, if only to themselves, the more powerful that person will be.

The New Year

What a confused entry below. Well, it is fitting considering it got somewhat confusing towards the end of last year. And you know, it still is.

Anyhow, it is nice to feature something I am not confused about. Adibah Amin's As I Was Passing is an outstanding offering of Malaysiana. Beyond that, she and I do have some thoughts in common, and when weary to write, it is encouraging and comforting to find someone who has been there, and said it before.


Good 2011 to you all!