Stray dog

A stray dog loitering around the road outside of our office compound, the route which I travel every day to and from work. This dog is emaciated and suffering from serious skin infection (ringworm) exposing a large part of his scaly skin, signs that he’s mostly been neglected and lacks of nutrition.

Hence, on some days while travelling back home, I stop by the road side to offer this poor creature some food (mostly economy fried beehun/mee I bought early morning to work) to feed his hunger. He was a little apprehensive at first but after a while began to anticipate the treats , and would recognize my presence from afar while I stopped my car by the side of the road, and immediately scurrying toward my direction, albeit in weak and unsteady steps.

Some passersby would smile at me which I took as a sign of their approval , that they saw it fit that a hungry animal be given food to fulfill its very basic need to survive.

Buddhism preaches compassionate loving kindness to all sentient beings, from the highest level to the lowest below, all should be accorded the same treatment and granted a little spot of their own to seek for growth and survival and ultimately emancipation from sufferings.

And this sorry-looking stray dog, I believe just likes us humans, is also seeking some little loving kindness to make this place a wee bit better to live on…

Teary-eyed

Monday at the work place strangely turned out to be pretty quiet and stress-free for me .

Back in the evening and after spending time doing some house chores and cooking, I found little moments to unwind in the living room by watching a TV talk show from mainland China, which I earlier downloaded, on my laptop.

I cried and cried while watching `Xing Fu Mo Fang’ , which this episode revolved around a middle-aged woman seeking the assistance of the show hoping the host with the help of psychologist and members of the internet audience would be on hand to help her in advising her pregnant unwed daughter to give up her decision to keep the unborn child, knowing full well the pain and hardship her daughter has to endure in raising a child on her own.

Her daughter’s relationship with the man she knew since childhood ended in tragedy when he died from a car accident in a trip back home with his girlfriend, but his death could have been avoided if he did not try to shield his lover from the possible fatal impact of the crash. His lover after recovering from the serious injury, has discovered that she was pregnant and resolved to keep the baby, emphasizing adamantly that her unborn flesh and blood being her only link to her lover and her only life line to keep going in life, her decision however was met with serious objection from her mother, who did not want the girl to end up like herself raising her child single-handedly when her husband died months after she gave birth to the girl.

The show moved on with the participants i.e., the girl and her mom at painful loggerheads , and a childhood male friend who came to profess his long unrequited love for the girl and was willing to marry her as well as to accept her unborn child as his own, with his understandably worried mother, sitting outside the `magic cube’ readily objecting to the proposal.

Sadness, pining for lost love, anger and desperation slowly and intermittently played out in a juxtaposition mix of emotions which I belief have been carefully choreographed to arouse the interest of the TV audience in a bid to increase viewership, their exact purpose of which has been successfully achieved, if my emotional reaction is any indication for measurement.

I wonder as to why the salty liquid in my gland is so easily induced , and if these tears are an indication of my emotional fragility, then while developing a sense of empathy and crying over the plight of others, I should be also at the same time looking within myself to find the source of my weaknesses while seeking for that elusive inner strength which will help me see through the journey of my life with crystal clear eyes, and a stronger heart.

But sometimes, all we need is a little empathy to make us feel we are not alone.

That once in a while it is ok for me to feel all vulnerable and emotional like this.

Just because I am after all, only human..

Inspirational words

The day that was : 6 October 2011

Some times ago I came across an inspirational speech from Steve Jobs and it immediately found a place in a little corner of my heart.

Today when I clicked on the Yahoo webpage I was immediately greeted with the death of the Apple Founder. It again struck a chord in my heart.

I am brought to my own sense of mortality, yet again.

To quote his words `Death is a destination we all share’

The world has lost an icon in his field, whose amazing brilliance had forever transformed our lives.

But I don’t want to feel low nor melancholy.

I just want to put his words in here, just to remind myself how I should not let time pass me by without trying to accomplish something meaningful each day, however small and insignificant that something is.

And try to follow my heart.

May his soul rest in peace.

Steve Jobs:

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.