Goodbye 2011 and Welcome 2012.

The beginning of the year is usually a time for resolutions. One resolves to do better than in the past year. An evaluation of what has been accomplished and what has yet to be done or can be improved upon prevails in most minds.

I don’t know about you but I have decided to get rid of my lackadaisical attitude that was prevalent in 2011. Thinking back about it, I had almost missed the pleasures of a trip to Eastern Europe and another trip to Xiamen, China, all because of fear.

Age has caught up and there was the lingering fear in the background that if I made plans, what would happen if I’m not able to fulfill them because of the Grim Reaper? This held me back from making arrangements for trips to places that I wanted to visit. However, in the end I told myself that come what may, I would go ahead and book my trips. So I did and I enjoyed them tremendously.Definitely no regrets there.

For this year then, I will continue to go where the wanderlust will take me.

However, there are three things which I have resolved to adhere to, which had been very poorly managed in the previous year.

The first is discipline followed by focus and time management. No more aery faery floating. It’s time to do what I used to tell my former students to do. Make a time table and manage your time to optimize the hours you have so that the day is not wasted, ruminating and then rationalizing failure with excuses.
Once the time table is done, then discipline kicks in because one has to be disciplined to carry out the activities and to carry them out efficiently there has to be focus. I cannot afford to day dream the way I used to do or get easily distracted by little things that crop up ever so often.

There is a time for everything if one plans carefully and sticks to the plan.

For now, those are my main resolutions followed by the others like taking my medications on time, stop pigging out each time I return to Kuala Lumpur and get on the exercise bicycle daily. It’s a poor excuse to say that “You only live once”

to rationalize eating forbidden food especially when you know that it will blow your blood sugar sky high. One moment of weakness can have far reaching dire consequences.

A hefty decision but I think one that I can and must live with now.

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Should Grandparents Live with their Married Children?

The answer should be a no-brainer. Many married children would rather their elderly parents live apart from them. The primary reason is privacy. They want their privacy and having parents living with them would curtail it severely and even looked upon as cramping their lifestyle.

However, not all elderly parents have the choice of living on their own. One reason is that the married son is still staying with them after he has got himself a wife.

This could be the result of the son’s inability to purchase his own house ( houses being expensive these days ) or else it could be his mercenary streak, having calculated that it is cheaper to live with his parents and apart from that, he and his wife will also enjoy ready cooked meals at the end of the working day as well as having their laundry taken care off. Besides, when the baby comes along, he would have an in-house nanny in the form of his mother, not withstanding the fact that his mother is already old and taking care of a baby is very demanding.

Being Asian, his parents will not ask him to move out and they will stoically resign themselves to their fate. Saddled with a young child, they themselves will have lost the freedom of movement. They would not be able to go out as and when they wish, let alone enjoy travelling to other places.

Even those who are living on their own will also expect their parents to look after their babies and young children. It is common to see them carting their babies to their parents’ home before they leave for work and at the end of the day, return to their parents’ for dinner before taking their babies home, only to repeat the routine day after day. Some even leave their babies with the grandparents for the whole week, taxing them to the extreme.

Is this fair to their elderly parents? Shouldn’t they be enjoying their retirement? After all, they have done their duty bringing up their children and seen them grow into independent adults with their own families. They should be able to enjoy their grandchildren without having the extra burden of caring for them thrust upon their now weary shoulders.

To grandparents who would opt to live with their married children, think carefully before you commit yourselves to another round of drudgery, losing your freedom of movement eventually.

As long as you are healthy and fit, able to do household chores and baby sit, you will be welcomed but once you fall ill and need care, watch out. You could be farmed out to an old folks’ home and left to your own company.

Such is life in an increasingly materialistic world.

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Being A Mom

Being a mom is the most challenging role for a woman. She has to nurture the baby for nine months before bringing him into the world. These nine months can be a roller coaster of emotions and experiences, the likes of which she has never come across before. Needless to say, it can be overwhelming.

Then the new VIP in her life takes over her days and nights. She is on a different learning curve that will take her to heights of great pleasure as well the distressful depths of depression and sleep deprivation.

The different stages of motherhood that bring joy in tandem with the growth and development of the child are now shared by the father who previously stood on the sidelines, giving moral support and little physical help.

Nothing can compare with the anxiety a mother feels as she watches her child make mistakes that can scar him in more than one way, yet knowing that she has to let him learn the lesson so that he can grow.

Being over protective is damaging as it will constrict his development and make him naïve to the ways of the world. Nothing is more important to her than the safety and well-being of her child. No sacrifice is too great.

A mother’s world hinges on her children as she guides them and watches them grow. She feels their joys, their pains and shares their successes.

When they grow into adulthood and turn out well, she can feel that she has succeeded as a mom.

The next stage she waits for is that of grandmotherhood, when she will hold her grandchild in her arms and nostalgia overtakes her as she remembers another baby so long ago..

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The Good Wife Happy School

In Malaysia there is the Obedient Wives’ Club, with branches in Indonesia and Thailand. According to the Star newspaper, China now has the Good Wife Happy School and the Beijing Moral Education Center for Women.

These two are among the many that have sprouted to offer marriage guidance in view of the increasing divorce rates. The latest statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs reveal that 45 million couples divorced in 2010, an increase of 11% from 2009.

To help women to acquire the skills to manage a marriage, marriage management schools offer online and off line courses that teach women how to fix or prevent a broken marriage. According to a spokeswoman of the Good Wife Happy School, women will also learn how to get rid of a mistress!

The Moral Education Center in one of the districts in China offers a 30-hour course on how to snare a millionaire. It includes modules on conversational skills, personality development, make-up, and traditional tea-pouring techniques.

These marriage management schools have emerged to meet the need for relationship advice, especially among the women.

However, methinks here the onus has been placed mostly on the women to ensure that the marriage works whereas men too, play an important role in whether a marriage succeeds or fails. After all it takes two hands to clap.

Maybe someone should start a niche market by opening a school for aspiring husbands with tips on how not to begin on the wrong foot, the do’s and don’ts in a partnership which is meant to last for life. It's better to be prepared before inking on the dotted line than to be one of the statistics later down the matrimonial path.

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Mine and Mine Only

Just as cats and dogs assert territorial rights, so do human beings. The most visible is the fence around the house, demarcating one’s property from neighbours’. Gestures used in human behavior, both covert and overt signal possession.

One can observe these anywhere. A hand stroking the nape, an arm linked to another or around the waist of the person – these are overt signs of possession, signaling “hands off”. A man always holding his partner’s hand wherever they go shows a bespoke relationship.

The poses in photographs say many things too, whether deliberately posed or taken candidly.

Relationships that are intimate and have gone the distance are often identified by the comfortable and companionable silence surrounding them.

A small gesture, a certain look in the eyes…these are familiar communication that do not require words. Very often one partner knows what the other is going to say or what he/she is feeling. An almost imperceptible nod or a squeeze of the hand conveys a message known only to them. This exclusivity and bond set them apart from others.

There is no jealousy or discomfort in the company of others for they have a rock solid relationship and understanding. However, some women who may not like it when their partners are perceived to enjoy talking to other women will take umbrage and behave in subtle ways to assert ownership. One can often sense when another woman is not pleased.

Both men and women can be very possessive of their partners and show this trait in different ways. However it has been taken to the extreme in some cases where crimes of passion are committed, sometimes over misunderstandings or misperceptions. A case in point is Shakespeare’s Othello who murdered his wife Desdemona although she was innocent of his jealous suspicions.

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We Have Only One Life

We each have one life. In Greek myths, the three sisters Fate, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos determine our destiny. Clotho is the spinner who spins the thread of life while Clotho apportions our lot in life and Atropos snips the thread to end our life.

So we are born into a family and continue to follow our destiny until it is time for our exit from this physical world.

No one knows when this time will be. I wonder about the pros and cons of knowing the exact moment of our demise. On the plus side, I guess when you know how much time you have on earth, you would plan accordingly and map out your journey, deciding how much you want to achieve before then. On the other hand, you might become a nervous wreck as the time approaches, wondering where and how you will make your exit.

If you do not know and this is the case with all of us, not knowing when we will become the late, we will continue to live life the way we do. Some of us have our life mapped out at least for the next twenty years; we know where we are going and how we are going to get there.

Others may just drift along like a piece of driftwood carried by the tides in the sea of life, accepting what life brings them.

All that said, it would be good to step back every now and then to evaluate what we have or have not accomplished in our journey, for life is a journey from birth to death. Taking stock will enable us to re align our path if we have veered off somewhere. Most important would be to take each day as if it were our last so that we can appreciate the here and now without taking things for granted. Appreciate our family and friends, show our love each day.

We never know what the day brings and some people never get to see the end of the day.

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The Ugly Homo Sapiens

Homo Sapiens is a species superior to all others with his ability to think and reason, his capacity for understanding and learning plus an intellect that distinguishes him from other mammals.

Yet there is an ugly side to man. Man is territorial, like other species. Crowd his space and watch what happens.

This is well illustrated along the highways. Have you ever witnessed the rage that takes over the rational mind when someone cuts into his right of way?There have been cases of aggravated assault leading to serious injuries.

The green-eyed monster that rears its head has instigated crimes of passion often ending in the death of one or even both parties.

What makes an apparently mild person turn into Mr Hyde? The seeds of violence are possibly inherent in man, bursting forth under provocation. Some of us tend to be more volatile than others.

Those who are less inclined to an outburst of temperament may be genetically primed to a calmer predisposition. On the other hand, some may have tremendous will power to keep their emotions at bay and thus practise restraint.

The bestial nature of man is never far from the surface and the media has of late reported cases of fathers raping their young daughters. Grandfathers have also been reported to unleash their lust on young relatives.

Abduction of young children especially girls who end up sexually abused and dead also make headlines. Mothers who abet their lustful partners in the sexual abuse of their daughters go against the order of nature.

Such people do not deserve to be regarded as human beings as they have no humanity in them when they can perpetrate such evil against their offspring.

Do other animals abuse their young?

Why is there such moral decadence? Is it because we have ignored spirituality? Are we overly focused on material pursuits? Where is the fear of God? Maybe it’s time to step back and evaluate the status quo.

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Out of Sight , In Sight, Out of Mind

I’m not sure if you are aware that our childhood experiences influence our adult lives and we often do what our parents once did. I remember we used to visit my grandparents every week and have lunch there especially when we were still very young. The bond we had with our grandparents was very strong and we loved spending them with them.

As parents ourselves, we too did the same thing, taking our children to visit their grandparents, though not every week.

Now that we are grandparents ourselves, our grandchildren come to visit, although these visits can be few and far in between because of geographical locations. My sister’s grandchildren visit her every weekend because they live in the same town. I’m more fortunate because my two grandchildren have been living with me since they were tiny tots.

These days, more often than not, it is the annual obligatory new year reunion that sees the extended family members coming together and the grandparents get to see their grandchildren.

Nowadays the young live and work far away from their parents. Their work commitments and busy lifestyles often leave them no time to bring their children to visit their grandparents. Weekends are spent catching up with house chores and family time which unfortunately does not include grandparents these days.

At most a couple of phone calls would nevertheless bring joy to the old couple. However, for some, there are no phone calls at all. Sadly it has become “out of sight, out of mind”. However, if the grandparents own a telephone, they would call their children to find out how they are, intimating that their children may be out of sight but certainly not out of mind.

On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it is a common sight to see families dining in restaurants with grandparents in tow. I hope this is not just the token “lip service” where one is doing it to be seen doing one’s “duty”, feting the old folks on these special days. Perhaps the over commercialization of these two Days have exerted a pressure on families to treat their elders to special dinners laid out by hotels and restaurants.

Have you noticed, though, that the old folks are not talked to but at ? Or that conversation rolls around them but hardly includes them? Now this would be “in sight” but not “in mind”.

It would be good if grandparents are not just acknowledged on “special days” but included as an integral part of young people’s lives rather than as a “back up” expected to respond immediately to the SOS when the maid runs away.

Something precious is lost when grandchildren do not have the opportunity to bond with their grandparents.

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Is the Marriage Institution Losing Ground?

There are many young people who refuse to tie the matrimonial knot these days. It’s not a matter of not wanting to commit but I gather that it is more of a state of disillusionment with the state of matrimony.

Some of the young people I’ve met are of the opinion that they do not need that piece of paper to validate their relationships. I suspect this could just be an excuse to make it less of a hassle should they decide to part ways. Once you have signed on the dotted line, it is not so easy to just walk away. The law does not allow it. However, if you have not signed before the registrar of marriages, then it is a simple matter of leaving the relationship after sorting out the joint properties that you have accumulated.

Others have indicated that their friends’ marriages hardly lasted two years before each went their separate ways. Thus they do not want this happen to them. They’d rather stay single.

Besides, being single makes you accountable to no one but yourself. You are at liberty to do whatever you wish. If you want to travel, all you have to do is to pack a bag, lock up your place and leave. There is no need to seek the consent of a partner nor to have to give reasons for wanting to travel at that particular time. You do not have to face the moods or tantrums of the other person should there be any disagreements.

However for those in a relationship, there is the commitment to each other and to them the marriage certificate is just a piece of paper they can do without. On the other hand should a baby come into the picture, they may have to legitimize their union for the sake of the unborn child so that he or she will not be stigmatized as a bastard without any legal rights.

Then again, babies mean commitment and a lifetime of having to raise them, providing them with the best education that they can afford. In most cases, it means having to sacrifice your own needs and wants for the baby.

This could be seen as having to slave throughout your life for the child until he is independent by which time you yourself will be old and still do not have the means to have a comfortable standard of living. Most of your savings would have been expended on your offspring. Whatever is left may not see you through your retirement and you would be in hardship at a time when you could be relaxing comfortably if you were single.

Is it any wonder then that many young people these days prefer to remain single, enjoy their earnings and lead a lifestyle of their choice? They can go in and out of relationships without a care but Heaven forbid if there is a little one on the way. Abandonment is more often than not, the case, leaving the poor girl literally holding the baby, all too frequently with dire consequences.

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Emo Culture: Are Parents Culpable?

Emo culture is loosely identified with young people who are overly emotional and sensitive. They are also introverts. This sub-culture has also been associated with depression, self injury and suicide.

The Russians consider it as a dangerous teen trend that promotes behaviour that is anti-social and have outlawed emo styles at schools.
Emo followers are reported to be promiscuous and suicidal. They often cut themselves and the scars of this self-harm are often displayed as badges of courage on their websites.

They usually wear tight jeans with studded belts and tight short-sleeved t-shirts with the names of emo bands. Black wristbands are part of their gear. Their hair styles are short with choppy layers and pink, blonde or blue highlights are popular. The side-swept bangs are long and often cover one eye.

Their songs contain morbid lyrics which express their feelings about life. Depression, confusion, anger at the world around them, self-harm and suicide are part of the emo community.

This movement has taken root in Malaysia and young girls who are depressed and stressed are attracted to it. The feeling that society misunderstands them and the feeling of being unaccepted evoke emotional reactions and self-inflicted cuts on their body. Their world is totally alien to their parents.

How could this state of things come about? This unbridgeable gap between parents and offspring?

Could it be that parents themselves, eking out a living, having no time to communicate and bond with their young, are culpable? Not taking the time to understand their youngsters, to talk and bond with them, doing things together with them, building rapport with them, nurturing trust and confidence as they grow…..has this driven a wedge between parents and children?

Leaving them to grow up on their own, without emotional support, without the secure knowledge that parents are there for them, their confidantes…..perhaps this is the toll. The young having to pay the price, driven to doubtful company and depression, sometimes culminating in suicide.

Parents, do not abdicate responsibility by spending your time garnering wealthy ambitions. Your children do not need the expensive gadgets, the “freedom” to do what they want. Your children need you right from their formative years throughout their teens and beyond. Make time for them. Time that steals past ever so swiftly and before you realize it, the damage is irreparable.

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How I Want To Live.

How long we can live is an unknown and we don’t have any say in it. However, how we want to live the life we have is within our control.

Have you ever considered how you want to live your life?

As you were growing up, were you able to plan what you would do when you became an adult? Or was your future mapped out by your elders?

Or were you lucky enough to pursue your dream and now live your life as you wanted?

Or did you do what your peers did?  If your friends decided to take up a certain course of study did you also do the same, simply went along with what your friends were doing?

Sometimes it is difficult not to do what your parents want you to do. If you refuse to heed their wishes it would be considered unfilial. Perhaps in these days things have changed. Parents have become more amenable to their off spring’s desire to pursue a career of his choice.  Young people these days are very lucky.

For me, I had no choice. My future was mapped out by my mother who was firmly convinced that teaching was the best profession for a girl. In those days, school was only half a day and weekends were off. There were also the school holidays.

I was pushed into a profession that I had never considered in the first place. Application forms were completed by her and when I was offered the opportunity to go for teacher training in the UK, I had no choice but to go as my mother’s heart was set on it. It was very painful for me to have to leave the sixth form to fly so far away to a distant land. I was only 17 years old and all alone in my misery and heartbreak as I had to leave my beloved behind.

Years passed and I slipped into the norm of living, working, getting married, raising children and now I’m retired, free at last to do what I want, to live the way I want, bar a few restrictions.

I want to live a life where I can enjoy the fellowship of good friends, morning golf, learning and working on my computer, enjoy good food and to travel. This is how I want to live and praise the Lord, He has blessed me with the life that I’m living now. I have all the above and two grandchildren who are such a joy, loving and filial children, as well as good siblings. My cup is full. Glory be to God.

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Recycling or Is There More?

While waiting for my flight I noticed a few things. Next to me was a young couple with a 2 to3 month old baby girl who kept fretting although her mother tried to placate her by giving her a bottle of milk. However, she didn't want it and resumed her cries. The mother then walked off with her, probably to placate her. You know how some babies like to be carried and walked about.

A few feet away was a father, likely to be in his late thirties, carrying a little girl just over a year old and soothing her by caressing her head. Together with him were a boy aged about 4 and a girl who I think could be 7 years old. A family man probably going on vacation with his family or returning to his home after a holiday.

In front of me was an elderly couple, the man with white hair and his wife whose hair was grey mixed with black. They were obviously travelling on their own without any children in tow. Their children would be adults with their own families by now.

To me these people represent the cycle of life or should I say, the recycling of life. We all go through the same cycle, being born, nurtured and educated, get onto the treadmill of working life, find a mate,

build our nest and have a family,

then growing old,

thus renewing the cycle, generation by generation. Is this part of the Plan to ensure that the human race does not go extinct?

I read somewhere that we are energy and that we chose to assume physical form because we want to learn something or we need to learn something. There is a difference between want and need and I'm thinking that even at the level of energy, there must be a difference so that some can assume physical form in order to learn something to satisfy that want while for the others there is a need to further learn something which they didn't quite succeed in doing during their time on earth. So they are compelled to return to continue learning.

I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. As forms of energy we are given a choice as to what we wish to learn, the time frame which we think will be sufficient for us to learn and also the manner in which we want to learn. In so far as that goes, it is also likely that we have even pre-determined our lives, the obstacles we will go through and the manner by which we will return to our original energy form.

Once we have assumed physical form, we forget that our lives have actually been planned by ourselves before we became human beings and so we go through the various stages of life, learning as we go, through our achievements and failures until it is time for us to check out.

Once we check out we are called to account for what we have done while in physical form, whether we have succeeded in our quest.

This is what I think must be the purpose of our existence on earth, to learn something, not merely go through the motions of living. God gave us a choice, what we want to do. What do you think?

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Generation Gaps

The generation gap still exists and will continue to exist despite optimistic statements to the contrary. New parenting methods would have one believing that the gap no longer exists as parents and offspring are more like friends than parents and children, the latter implying that there is still a boundary that cannot be overstepped.

From the Tiger mother generation’s viewpoint, being more like friends with one’s children where your children no longer address you as dad and mom but by your names is a definite no-no. I can hear my own mother saying ( in dialect ) “ Boh tua boh say, ho tah” meaning, “ Haven’t you got any manners, bold piece? ” There is a hierarchy which must be respected. Why do the Chinese have middle names that indicate the generation to which they belong? Simply for this reason. By looking at the middle name, an elder is able to tell the generation of the person. All siblings will have that same middle name.

Why are news of misdemeanours reported daily? Why do teenagers still run away from home? Why do their parents despair and wonder what prompted their youngsters to run away? Why have young people become victims of rapists? Why do they stay out so late at night, returning only in the early hours of the morning, that is, if they return at all.

Many have opined that youngsters do not confide in their parents when they are faced with problems because parents have no time for them. They are too busy eking out a living or too busy with their own social agendas. These youngsters become easy targets for those who are out to dupe them for their own ends.

Gullibility, peer pressure, chat rooms, online predators….. who knows which among these have led the youngsters to do what they did?

Morals are on the decline, so it is reported. Sexy dressing, uninhibited behaviour, lack of decorum….these are commonly seen in the young people of today. Why aren’t parents taking the upper hand in laying down ground rules as to what is permissible and what will not be tolerated? Are they afraid of alienating their young? Surely common sense must prevail.

Maybe I’m outmoded but when I see young girls coming to places of worship dressed in very short shorts ( I believe you call them hot pants) which hug their hips and are low hung ( meaning way below the waistline), I wonder where their respect for the House of God is. How can parents condone this? Shouldn’t they put their foot down and tell them that such clothing is out of place and shows gross disrespect? An excuse that is often heard is “ She won’t listen to me.”

There will then always be gaps, gaps between the older and younger generations, gaps too among the younger generation where there are those who have strict parents with firm do’s and don’ts and those whose parents are lackadaisical, too indulgent or simply too busy and have abdicated their responsibilities. Live and let live cannot be a way of life.

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Be Thankful in Life

I received this from a friend and I would like to share it with you as it gives a lot of food for thought.

Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Never ask for a lighter rain. Just pray for a better umbrella - That is attitude.

When flood comes, fish eat ants and when flood recedes, ants eat fish. - Only time matters. Just hold on, God gives opportunity to everyone!

Life is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship, it's not how we care in the beginning, but how much we care till the very end.

Some people always throw stones in your path. It depends on what you make with them. A Wall or a Bridge? - Remember you are the architect of your life.

Search for a beautiful heart, but don't search for a beautiful face. Coz beautiful things are not always good, but good things are always beautiful.

It’s not important to hold all the good cards in life. But it’s important how well you play with the cards you hold.

Often when we lose all hope & think this is the end, God smiles from above and says, 'relax dear it’s just a bend, not the end.' - Have faith and have a successful life.

One of the basic differences between God and humans is, God gives, gives and forgives. But the human gets, gets, gets and forgets.

Be thankful in life....

Walk humbly……. Love Tenderly……. Act justly…….

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The Disabled Need More Practical Help

It was very heartbreaking to read in the news that a 14 year old girl died because of bed sores. According to the report she was born disabled and could not walk. Her deprived family background made things worse. Her dad was in prison and her mum was a sweeper. She was illiterate because she never attended school.

This comes as no surprise because her single parent probably was in no position to send her to school. Among the questions raised was why the social welfare department did not help her or her mother. It was also reported that her mother went to several clinics for help but apparently nothing came out of it.

Why didn’t the doctors refer the mother and child to the social welfare department for assistance? Could not the child have been helped in any way?

In more advanced countries, there are hospitals with special beds to relieve pressure sores or bed sores for patients who are severely disabled. There are special needs educators who will come up with a program tailored to suit a disabled child, with the mother in attendance so that she will be actively involved in the education of her child.

Why is our Malaysian education system not catering to this group of disabled children? Why are they being left out? The deaf and the blind have assistance. There are special classes for them. Why not the more disabled children like this girl who was left, so to speak, to die in her impoverished circumstances?

It is a double whammy to be disabled, poor and illiterate. It means that you are left out of the system, which at best is like a holely sieve that lets the most needy fall through. In Sabah, a nine year old boy from a poverty stricken family had to commit suicide before his family ( his single mother had heart problems ) got any attention from the authorities concerned.

This is very damning. What’s the use of rushing to offer help when the child is already sacrificed? The poor are often illiterate and do not know where to turn for help. Shouldn’t those who are better off come forward to help, especially if they know of such people who desperately need help?

Village elders if they have poor disabled, or sick or destitute families in their villages, should offer assistance by going the extra mile. The local assemblymen ( women included of course ) should visit their constituencies and look out for this particular group of their constituents and help them, not for political mileage but for the simple reason that they are the ones in the best position to help and must help because that is their basic responsibility, to help the people.

Beauraucracy should take a back seat in such cases. Why make the poor and illiterate jump through hoops, knowing well that they cannot do it?

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Life is like a Merry-go-round

Is it? I wonder. If you can remember the merry-go-round in the travelling amusement park in the old days, there were decorative wooden horses with horsetails that went up and down, interspersed with seats that were stationary but they were all on the merry-go-round that went round and round to the accompaniment of music until the time was up and it stopped.

Children and adults enjoyed the merry-go-round. Parents stood by the horses on which their children rode, keeping a wary eye.

I liked riding on the horse. It was most exciting to be going up and down and round and round. Some less adventurous kids sat sedately on the seats, their eyes darting about nervously as the merry-go-round picked up speed.

Come to think of it, the merry-go-round is like life itself, with its ups and downs for most people but some are luckier than others and seem to sail through life on an even keel.

Just as we enjoyed riding on the wooden horses that went up and down, so too should we enjoy life with its ups and downs. If we look at the positives of the downside and learn from the experience, we will emerge the better for it. What we learn will propel us forward to the next level.

Some of us will soar like eagles while others may be like flotsam drifting with the tide.
What we turn out to be depends on how we handle the situations we find ourselves in and on our ability to spot and grab opportunities and to make the best out of them.

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