Day to Day: Putting Down One's Pride

Day to Day: Putting Down One's Pride: Humans have too much pride of themselves.  Everyone of us, including myself. We get mad when we are told off, when we are criticised or wh...

Putting Down One's Pride

Humans have too much pride of themselves.  Everyone of us, including myself.
We get mad when we are told off, when we are criticised or when we are put down.  Rarely is one not
affected in a negative way if someone disagrees with us.

If everyone learns to be open about it, the unhappiness will not swell up into something ugly, something so horrendous that it eats into your soul and makes you do something very regrettable.
Openess should never be regarded as a lack of culture, or uncivilised as long as it is done in a diplomatic way.

Intercultural differences, religious differences or any other differences from our fore fathers should all
be resolved as soon as possible.  We are all living in a very global world with old borders or barriers broken down by high tech communication systems.  As long as we all never open up ourselves and treat each other like our own family members, patching up even after severe quarrels , we will always have
this ' war' carried from generation to generation.  Sometimes I wonder if they even understand fully the basis of this continuous enemity.  Just as our fingers on one hand are of different lengths, so are we humans.  There can never, never be a day when we all believe the same beliefs.  Never, so why continue with all the bloodshed and mud slinging.
God controls.  Pray, do your part but very discreetly.   I don't believe God ever tells us to do anything in a hurting manner.  I think He wants us to be loving, gentle and patient just like Him.

We all have to think about it.  Are we doing things the right way? Does it represent God, does it represent His love?

I have to be careful too.  Always remembering about God's love, how He wants us to love our fellow brothers and sisters, aother human, who has two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears, not an alien. Be gentle, patient, no despising, always uplifting.

I just don't understand why some humans can be so kind to animals, yet the same human can be so hateful of another human. 

Out of Control

Too much focus is on you know what. While the cat is away, the mice will come out to play.

Some say it is an evil force  that is taking over, and it is just not locally, it is globally. Nothing to do with politics.

Somehow I think there is a sort of evil force in the politics, too.   Playing with people's minds, politicians and non politicians. People seem to be losing discernment.  The crave for power and what it can bring is too overwhelming.  People get blinded as they fumble for right moves.  How sad, how tiring  life can be. Perhaps not at all.  Wealth is the stimulant, it never tire some people, at least those in this part of the world.  It is still a fresh thing here, recently acquired.  Perhaps the players are not silly ....but what can be done...is it a necessary evil....?

Be still.  Have a calm mind.  Be brave enough to face failure.  Do not be afraid of losing face. Be careful of the funny antics you may find yourself engaging in.

As for the mice, they are trying to be funny. Yes , let them laugh.  Soon their laughter will eat into their souls for what they dare to do.

Break rules.  Encroach on other  people's freedom.  Try to put the blame on a third party but never yourself.  I call them cowards.  Too afraid of going the hard way.  It is easy to be impatient, to be rude
and loud.  Look how you quiver when someone start to size you up.  That's your true self.

Malaysians who suffer the recent insecurity...I say to you...you are the most tolerant bunch of people.


You do not sound your horns when the driver in front of you is doing the waltz even on the highway, busy on the mobile.  You sigh in relief when a driver who was imagining he was on the circuit , just missed your front by a few inches as he decided to switch lane and passed in front of you to the other lane. You waited patiently in a traffic jam caused by people who conveniently parked their cars on the already narrow road to buy something(kuih/fruits) from the rampant roadside stalls.  You painfully craned your neck to look on both sides of the road before crossing, because there are blindspots caused by roadside stalls which just 'love' to be located at the wrong spots. You make sure you are careful to avoid traffic light beaters when using that part of the road where there is a yellow box too close to a traffic light .
You are patient when you are following behind a bus that ply in your houising area and when it stops at too many bus  stops, designated and undesignated.

Lalala...I will just hum a happy tune to myself , smile often and do my favourite things.  All things are in God's hands.

Loving One Another

Some individuals are genuine when they love another who is somehow or other not the same but sad to say the number is few.  It is hard to find an individual who do not have some kind of prejudice for another individual of a different race, ethnic group,  religion, belief or country.  As long as you are  different, you will be looked upon in a different light.

For instance, we often hear or sometimes we may even hear ourselves making remarks such as these:  "Oh, surely he/she is like this or like that because he/she is a *__*"  or "..what do you expect, he/she is a *___*".  We often form opinions of another individual based on grounds that are sometimes illogical or unexplainable by ourselves.  Just because others are saying or having such ideas do not mean we have to go along, especially when we are more educated.

Education is the key to opening people's minds, to enable them have more open minds to all issues.  People with closed minds are dangerous to society.  They may even pose as elements to the disintegration of a society especially a plural one. When one gets educated on the why and the how of another individual's behaviour or thoughts, one will not be so quick to criticize or judge.  Will it do any good if one criticizes and judges so much and not concentrate on how to love another individual more, individuals of all kinds, shapes, colours, languages, status, etc...

How can one be asking for more unity when one discriminates at all levels. Let us not talk so childishly about 1Malaysia when we still cannot understand why our neighbour cannot do this or that right in your eyes! Can finding faults in one another help us live harmoniously? If your neighbour's rubbish is strewn on the road, go and pick it up for her/him.  Do not let shame be brought upon her/him.  If you love her/him like a sister or brother, you also care what others may think of her/him.  Go and put it right for her/him.  Be quiet when you do it and do not expect appreciation or any credit for it.  If you have to do it again, do it.  She/He will one day realise that you are doing it because you love her/him.  You are trying to be a good neighbour!  What is there to lose?  There is more to gain than to lose, as I see it.

Let's encourage each other. A harmonious and caring society benefits everyone, not only one group of individuals because acts of kindness will become good habits, and good habits will in turn become our destiny.  Our destiny is a prosperous Malaysia where everyone cares for another's welfare, where no one is selfish in accumulating wealth for oneself at the expense of others.

Eating Out in a Kopitiam

I do not usually advocate eating out and what is going on out there should not be much of my concern. However, I itch to voice out what I feel about some hawkers serving Chinese food in kopitiams or food courts.

Every year the price of most Chinese cooked food rise by almost 10%. Never mind about the rise because the 'raw materials' are also getting more expensive. However, some hawkers are just too much. The food they serve has become poorer in quality and their attitudes worse.

The other day, the 'pork meehoon' that my husband ordered had too few pieces of pork in the soup. Poor him! I could see him trying to scoop out the pieces of meat out of the bowl as they 'swam' in it.  It was full of nothing but soup. For four ringgit, all he got was a few strands of 'meehoon' and a few thin pieces of pork. That was atrocious! He went home still hungry and had to buy a bun later to eat. What did I say, I told him. That pork must be air-flown from overseas, you know, like the Kobe beef. I had told him not to patronise the stall after the first time it had got to be so expensive but he would not listen.

Many hawkers do not serve the food themselves now and they employ Indonesian maids to help them. Often these maids or sometimes they themselves make mistakes but the customers will have to bear with them. If complains are brought to them, they are received with indifference. I remember there was once some news about a lady hawker being very haughty to her customer, and it was much publicised later.

Still these hawkers survive as there are too many people eating out, and some people understand little about good service, good hygiene and quality for money.

There was one chicken rice stall that I patronised last year and after that time, I have never gone back to it again. I was pissed off by the Myanmar worker who served the packet of rice to me. I requested for chicken breast meat and after taking the piece of meat down from the shelf, he started to cut it. He was cutting and slapping the meat on the chopping board as he did it.

Then he wiped his hands on the seemingly dirty looking apron he was wearing and his hands went back to the cut pieces again. He held all of them on his palms and put them into the styrofoam box of rice, pressing them down. I looked uneasingly as he prepared my order and when he handed me the rice, I told him I had changed my mind about buying it. I walked away quickly while putting back my money into my pocket. Of course, in return the Myannar shouted a stream of profanities after me. I was so embarrassed that I wished I had not decided to buy 'outside' food that day.

Besides that incident of the Myanmar 'playing' with the chicken meat, there was another bad antic of the 'beverage man' in a particular kopitiam . There was one whom I encountered when I went there for breakfast. A couple of times he had served my tea in a cracked cup and I only noticed it when I almost finished half of the drink. The hairline crack was very thin at the top but got thicker at the bottom. I was furious and immediately summoned the Indonesian maid to come and explain it. The reply made me even more furious. What is wrong with that, she asked. The cup had been cleaned and everybody used it without complains, she said. That was enough. I swore I would not step into another kopitiam again. I am not going to have substandard cleanliness spoil my day!

Evil on the Highways

What I am going to relate may have been stale news to some. However I am not going to leave 'any stones unturned' because there may be someone who is still not aware of the dangers other than the usual accidents caused by sheer carelessness of some drivers.

My jaw almost dropped off in surprise when I was told the first time because it had never occurred to me such things could happen. Whether they are whole truths or half truths, I suppose we shall use our discerning abilities to decide.  However, it is always better to prevent than to cure, so beware! 

I was told that some road accidents were 'planned'. The culprits behind these 'planned' road accidents were, as suspected by some policemen and some quarters who had the genes of Sherlock Holmes, none other than the car workshop mechanics, towtruck operators and fellows of related business.

A few fatal accidents were quoted as examples of 'planned' ones. In one, the survivor reported that the accident happened when the driver rammed into the divider and rolled over to the other side of the road while trying to avoid a tyre appearing from nowhere and coming towards their vehicle. Their vehicle was knocked into by an express bus which could not stop in time, killing the driver and two other passengers. What a heinuos act!

Another case which had just happened at the beginning of this month, involved three Indian nationals who purposely 'swiped' a Chinese man's car. The Chinese man offered to send the 'injured' man to the hospital but while on the way to the said hospital, the Indian national wanted to go home instead. The Chinese man , unsuspectingly, obliged and when he reached the 'injured' man's house, a group of about four men came out and grabbed hold of him. They shoved him into their house and forced him to give them his ATM card. He waited in the house while one of them went to withdraw money from a nearby machine. Later they took him in his car and abandoned him somewhere in the outskirts. His car was found in another spot. He was lucky to be alive for he could have lost his life if the Indian nationals were 'more evil'.

It reminds me to be careful while travelling alone in my own car on the highway. Someone who is on the motorbike or in a car may be your next enemy with 'planned' evil intentions.
Let's pray you are not the victim of the 'more evil' kind, who will not consider taking another's life a big deal. This 'evil' kind must be high on drugs or pills. Only God can help them!
　

Safer Travel By Express Bus Now

The Transport Ministry should be lauded for its never ending efforts to improve public transport. For the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, the ultimatum of their decades of struggle, after going through countless trials and mistakes, is the much improved terminal at Bandar Tasik Selatan, to name one.

I was impressed by the technology employed ,and the presence of the police personnel and security guards makes one feel safe and at ease. I remember how my parents used to worry each time I had to go to the old Puduraya Bas Terminal to take a bus to go to Johor Bahru. It was not a safe place and my parents used to describe the place as one that had 'the bad, the good and the ugly', meaning you would expect the worst criminal in your midst. Poor mum! It was no wonder that she had so much grey hair; it must be all that worrying about me, a young girl then, travelling all alone and there was no mobile phone to check on me once in a while.

I am really glad now that I shall no more be too worried about my children travelling outstation ,thanks to the Transport Ministry for making it safer.

For those intending to travel by express buses to the northern states, namely Perak, Kedah, Perlis or Penang, they must go to the renovated Puduraya Terminal which restarted its operation a week ago.

As for those heading south- Johor,Malacca or Singapore, they shall have to go to the Bandar Tasik Selatan Bus Terminal.