THE THING ABOUT US - AZAM TAHUN BARU

Its that time again to renew or to make our resolution.

Seriously, more often than not, we never follow through our new year's resolution, (if we even have one that is!). Lets be honest, who among us did what they berazam to do and were actually successful in achieving it.

Blame it on our weak mind, struggling spirits, or just plain busy schedule, but honestly I think there's not a lot of us who successfully completed the goals that we set out to achieve.

Some of us might also argue that we should not tagged the beginning of our new year azam by the Gregorian Calendar, being unislamic and all, and we should adopt the Muslim Hijrah Calendar for our new year resolution instead.

As for me, as far as I can remember, I never had one. I just couldnt be bothered about what I will or will not do in the coming year. It doesnt make any sense to me to have a new year resolution since I think the most important thing about azam, is whether you have the will to execute the plans to achieve the targeted objective(s).

Or not.

It doesnt really matter if its Gregorian or Hijrah too, as long as that objective are successfully achieved. And we dont have to wait for a specific date to start a resolution. We could make up and choose our own significant dates to begin our azam, for that matter.

Its either we do it, or we dont. No in between, and no lagging excuses.

Having said that, I think , having a new year resolution is perhaps the most mistaken concept of self improvement ever thought of.

Of course, all are welcome to disagree with me.

If some of us did have a resolution in the beginning of 2009 and managed to pull through though, I sincerely applaud and salute you.

SELAMAT TAHUN BARU 2010

Please dont wake up in the morning of 1st January 2010 and find yourself in jail or in bed where lies on that other side a person of the same sex, tepi longkang, etc.

Have a good one.

BUTT SMASHING TIME!

Its not my intention to neglect this blog.

I am nursing an injury. A broken tail bone, to be exact. Sitting on a chair is really uncomfortable and sometimes painful. So thats why I did not update this blog for quite sometime.

I picked up the injury while sledding. My sled (and my butt) were smashed up by an unseen rock on a hill slope. The weather was at its worse (- 12 C) and a snow blizzard was moving in at that time, peppering our group with hard, falling snows.

Drove all the way back to Geneva from St Cergue, with broken tail bone (which I didnt know it yet at that time) and all. Didnt even think of going to the hospital and only manage to do so 3 days after it happened.

Not that I am tough, but I had a flu at the same time too. So I opted to lay in bed until I recovered a bit. Popped some under the counter painkiller tablets to counter the pain.

When I finally went to see a doctor, he diagnosed that I had a broken tailbone and had to rest for 6 -10 weeks. And no jogging for 3 weeks.

Oh well.....I sort of got bored of waiting for it to heal.

I started jogging again exactly a week after I had my butt smashed.

Hehe.

THE THING ABOUT US - FAILING TO REMEMBER

The passing away of my dear friend last Monday hit me hard.

I cant imagine how his wife and his 3 little children must have felt. And I could offer nothing more than my sympathy.

We were warned, cautioned and reminded, time and time again in our daily prayers that we have to prepare ourselves to face life in hereafter. But, are we prepared to face it? How about those we'll leave behind. Are they prepared to face the fact that they will loose us too, someday?

The thing about all this is, sometimes we think death only happens to other people. It does not involve us, or our family members, or our friends, or people we know. We think those stories that we read in the newspapers will never be us. Its other peoples lives. People we dont know.

All is well, we presumed.

Until it hit us right on our faces. And at that time, we realized that we are after all, mere mortals.

We scrambled to search within our inner feelings for that something which could comfort us from our sorrow. We felt lost and helpless.

Over time, we will recover from our sorrow. Our fighting spirit, and determination will make sure we survive the sad episodes in our life.

Sadly, we will also forget about our loss. And we will again act like the sorrowful death comes only to other people.

Unfortunately, the cycle begins again.

For you, and for me, we wont live forever.

Immortals, we are not, and will never be.

FAREWELL, BROTHER - MOHD SHARAFI MOHD SHARIF (1969-2009)

Its always hard when we loose someone.

This morning, I went jogging as usual, but this time I was overwhelmed by the news I received earlier. A good friend of mine passed away. He was one of the first person I befriended when I arrived in the boarding school. We were in the same class for five years and played rugby for the school team.

How would I describe him?

Funny, jovial and a good man. And that is saying the least about him.

I last met him back in 1997 when I was working in Thailand. I went to his hometown in Parit Buntar, Perak and spent a night with him at his parents house. We talked about those stuff we used to do when we were in the boarding school. Laughter filled the night when we recounted every event that happened to us back then. When we parted ways the next day he told me he is going to get married soon after and his bride to be was pilihan his parents. Sort of arrange marriage, I would say. Of course, I ribbed him endlessly about how he still need his parents to find him a wife, and not finding one himself. He just smiled.

Thats the kind of person he was. He never went against his parents wishes and respected them so much. A good kind soul.

Over the years, whenever my school friends and I met, we exchanged news about others. His was always mentioned in our conversations.

I did not keep in touch with him after our last meeting except for occasional phone calls.

The news of his passing shocked me to the core. Perhaps, because in my head, I would always think that wherever I am, I knew, he will still be there in his home town, living his life, and I will have the time and meet him one fine day. But suddenly, now, that wont be true anymore.

Tears were streaming down my face while I ran. Flashes of schooldays memories with him keep on going through my head.

Getting ready to go to work, my youngest daughter noticed my tears and asked me why I was sad. "Ì never see you cry Abah, why you so sad?". I pick her up and brought her to my computer and showed her my friends pic. "I am sad because my good friend has just passed away". I explained. "He wont be here anymore?" She asked. "No he won't be here anymore". She was silence for a moment, deep in thought, and continued "You love your friend, Abah?"

With tears, I replied "Always, Adik, always.........".

Al Fatihah. Farewell my brother.

THE THING ABUT GENEVA - TOLERANCE AND LIBERALISM

Switzerland self-image of tolerance and multiculturalism took a beating recently when more than half of its population voted to ban Islamic minaret. The Swiss Government in the meantime assured Muslims in Switzerland are free to practice their beliefs and that the minaret ban is not a rejection of their religion and culture.

From Wikipedia;

John N. Gray, the essence of liberalism is toleration of different beliefs and of different ideas as to what constitutes a good life.

For me, its expected. Its a decision that reflects the wish of majority. And honestly, I dont have any problem with that. Their country, their vote.

But the thing is, if a person's or a community religious symbols are not tolerated in a country, can we say that the country in particular practices tolerance and liberalism, as what was touted and championed and sold around the world? Lips service? I am more incline to think that is the case here.

In contrast, we Malaysians are not liberal, however we want to justify we are. But at the very least, in that sense we are brave enough to admit that we are not.

There is no point to sell and paint the image of multiculturalism and liberal thinking all around the world but back in their own backyard, all were thrown out the window.

Well, that and their decades old self image of tolerance.