LIFE is BEAUTIFUL!

WISDOM

To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom. Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus.---RALPH WALDO EMERSON
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Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.---ABRAHAM LINCOLN
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state to another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.---ALEXANDRE DUMAS
“It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones" --- Alexander Solzhenitsyn quotes (Russian novelist, Nobel Prize for Literature (1970), b.1918)
“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.” ---Kahlil Gibran

Monday, October 31, 2011

My October '11 in a nutshell


Whew, the clock is  ticking fast and this time it's different as when I look back, I feel a bit strange and that there's a feeling of wasted times and moments, it makes me shake my head and stare right straight to wherever I am directed at that very minute I have the thought. My work is at the weekends and the rest of the days are spent at home if not in groceries or malls. Having so much time makes me think of a lot of things and that I should have been doing, where I should be and what  should I have accomplished.  These times refresh the old me of being loaded with lots of things in mind and I mean those  that I  desire and dream of. In a way there's this better sense of how crucial time is and how short life  really is. The stages  I think are quite quick that they have to  be in totally different levels, not all get to every stage neither of the same duration and span perhaps that's just where the uniqueness of this living certainly comes in.

My kids at weekend classes have always been remarkable. From them I get those splashes of memories that are  worth the smile and even up to crying by laughing. The wisdom the little kids have, their wits, their affection, their trust and less hesitations just make everything more colorful. I can recall I have a boyish nine-year-old- girl during break as we do take our snacks together and settle outside the classroom who just told me, "Teacher, you know I'm a girl and I'm a boy. Do you understand?".  I responded in a question, "do you mean you want to be a boy even though you're a girl?" She answered, "teacher, in the morning, I want to be a girl and in the afternoon, I'm a boy." I asked her back,"do you want to be a boy?". She answered again: " I want to be a girl and a boy". I gave her a smile back saying she's a beautiful and smart girl.

Another one that I can't forget also  was when we talked about school rules, as in language classes we had the "we have to", "we don't have to", and "we can't". It was a wrap-up activity I asked each one to tell me something about their respective school rules using the language, and surprisingly, I got these:  "we have to "poo" in the toilet",  "we don't have to kiss in the classroom" , "we can't fart in the classroom" as the highlight. I have no idea where my nine-year-old- kids get these  but they genuinely made us all laugh. Such moments are fun for them while learning, as a teacher it's amazing to get these surprises once in a while as hearing from them something that I personally haven't thought of. Just Hahaha!

On the other hand, this flood disaster has been a bit stressful to the country, worse to those who have lost their loved ones, their homes, businesses and properties in Northern Bangkok. I don't have a property myself and I know how difficult it is to get one, losing something should be harder to deal. It  was  heartbreaking to see the damages the flood has brought and to think these aren't insurance covered which means when one suffers loss of any property then they have to go back to zero if  I'm not wrong. We have  been alerted here in Central Bangkok since end of September and we have been stocking food since then. We  ran out of stocks and then get another set. The most difficult part for me is getting bottled water. I drink water everyday of course and I can approximately  finish five liters of water in three days and by the time I need more, there's no stock available. I witnessed  Tesco Lotus people these past weekends getting  bottled waters for their weekly donation I assumed, for the flood victims. I think too, at this time the evacuees need clean and safe water the most, should be one of the reasons of common empty shelves and people in some way in panic buying. I'm glad though that the groceries   try to get more dry goods  at a time.

It's been over a month since we've had  the flood alert, it hasn't affected my area yet at least. I'm still hopeful that we stay dry in here and that we will have better days to look forward to. I saw the satellite on the water up north those are just HUGE. It's a miracle that it hadn't hit Bangkok that much yet talking about how massive it is and how tiny Chao Phraya and other river outlets for the waters to go to the sea.


Work at the weekend goes on in my branch which again I'm thankful as it's the only source of income for me these times. I've learnt that some of my company's branches decided to close due to the situation.  We had our yearly halloween  fun last Saturday and Sunday, the kids had games and some food as usual.

And today, oh well I thought it's the first day of  November already, I haven't thought of October the 31st until I open my notebook. But I'm sad as I learnt that it's  my favorite English FM station in Bangkok's last day on air. Wave 88.00 has been by morning "mate" this year, it started as my energizer to get me prepared to work. I'll miss the station for sure and the pop music they play.

Finally, I'm not  sure how should I give a rundown exactly except that this month has been both idle and active, the former is in matters of work, the latter is on memories, worries and perhaps issues relating to  the present status quo. It is full of uncertainties still out there -big ones, but I don't want to worry  much and spoil myself to the kind. I just believe that HOPE is healthier and that's what I need better.

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