a story in progress

Patience. A word that signifies so much, yet so little at the same time. What is patience? Is it the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, or irritation? Is it the ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay?

Patience has many names. It is sometime known as composure, stability, self-possession; submissiveness, or even sufferance. Albeit the different names, they still bring about the same connotation.

Have you ever look back into your life; reminiscing about the good old days, where you kept your temper in check? Or during those moments where you nearly blew it? Patience; was the only thing holding you back then. Without it, who knows what will happen? Being beaten to a pulp perhaps? How about being alienated because of the lack of patience one has? Patience. It sure goes a very long way, eh?

Instead of sharing tales with you people about my own personal encounter with patience (or the time where I nearly loose it) I will just skip all that and go straight to the importance of being patient!

Reasons on why you should always be patient;

Once a upon time, there was a bored shepherd boy who entertained himself by crying 'wolf'. Nearby villagers who came to his rescue found that the alarms were false and that they'd wasted their time. When the boy was actually confronted by a wolf, the villagers did not believe his cries for help and in the end the wolf ate the flock.

Sounds kinda familiar?

Well it's taken from the fable tale of The Boy Who Cried Wolf or also known as The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf.

The moral behind the story is simple;

"Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed. The liar will lie once, twice, and then perish when he tells the truth."

Even till now, I find that the moral behind this story is as practical and realistic as ever.It's not about some fairy tales with myths and magic.No dungeons and dragons.No princess or damsel in distress waiting to be rescued.Just a boy who lied too much until no one believe him anymore.

You might say, "Served him right!" or "He deserve it!"

But then again, a research conducted (for once this research is actually valid!) finds that an average human will lie up to three to five times a day. (mind you, this is only the average) it goes to show that, it's the very human nature itself to lie. The degree of far-fetch-ness of that particular lie however is highly subjective and it's up to individuals to assert it.

So do you still think the Boy who Cried Wolf got exactly what he deserved?

We might lie. (on a daily basis) The only thing that differentiate us from the Boy who Cried Wolf is that we aren't so dumb to repeat back the same lie over and over again till everyone grew so weary of it (or even realized the very fact that you are lying). Our lies are subtle,cunning and cynic in nature where as the lies from the Boy who Cried Wolf are just plain stupid,direct and out of creativity.

In conclusion...

There is no conclusion. (at least not for lies, for as long as men lives, so shall lies and deceit) But nevertheless, with each lie that we faced in life, I would like to think that we grow smarter and won't fall prey that easily to all those lies and deceit. (but in actually reality, it ain't happening-look at all those online scams for heaven sake. You think people would have been smarter by now then to be entice so easily to promises of cash and valuables.)

As for the moral behind these post?

It's up to your very own interpretations. But I would like to think of mines as, "If you have to lie, don't be as stupid as the Boy who Cried Wolf, think of lies that are more subtle rather then those that are obvious.And be prepare to reap what you sow.If you lie, be prepared for the consequences. May it be that people no longer trust you or so on. Just embrace yourself for it."

Alas the final year examination has finally come to an end. To think that this will be my final, final year examination throughout my 11 years of education (including next year's SPM). Time sure pass fast when you are occupied with something, eh? May it be preparing for examinations, competitions or whatsoever.

And NO there wasn't much celebration going on as soon as the final paper was over. No loud, hysterical screams. Or even cheers of joy or so on. Just a bunch of people rushing to go back. Probably rushing to catch a movie at the nearest cinema or of some sort. Well, its only normal for people wanting to unwind after 3 weeks of examinations. Don't we all just love to unwind and let out our hair down for once? Yes? Probably? No?

Anyway, as soon as we are allowed to go back, a bunch of 30 people gather at the guard house awaiting patiently *cough* for their bus. To where you might ask? Well of course to Sunway Pyramid at Butterworth, silly! (as if you didn't saw that coming). I so happen to be one of those 30 odd students heading down south to catch a movie. What movie you might ask?

Why, it's the Liver of Malaya! That's the title when you translate Hati Malaya to English. You get liver! It's actually inaccurate to use the term heart since the Malay word for heart is jantung.

Well lame jokes aside.

The movie ain't that bad actually. It tells about the struggle for Independence through the eyes of 4 Malaysian editors. Along the way, it also gives you a historical insight on the happenings of Tanah Melayu prior to it's Independence till the very declaration of Independence itself. Nothing relatively new however. All of these can be easily found in our history text books for god sake. But to be honest I rather watch the movie anytime then to memorize all those dry,boring old facts from an inanimate object which we so dearly called as our beloved BukuTeks.

The movie itself, 1957 offers a rather impressive cast of Malaysian actors and actresses. From Maya Karin (remember Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam?) all the way to Jamaluddin Hassan. Of course there are plenty more great/mediocre actors and actresses to note of. But quite frankly, I don't really know them safe for those two mention above. But nevertheless the entire multi-racial cast did somehow manage to capture certain essence of the whole struggle for Independence during those troubled years.

I have to be honest, there is this one scene which manages to make me shed a few tears. It was the part where Tunku Abdul Rahman made a humble *cough* plea for donations to sponsor him and his fellow politicians so that they can all travel to London to request for more seats allocation for the upcoming Federal Elections.(1954 if not mistaken).

I stood up last night.Thinking of the past,present and future.It was so clear to me back then.The talk on so-called-self righteousness and integrity.Now I wonder-are they but noises made by a hallow tin?

The feeling that I once so sought after-Is it but a fool's act of chasing a fleeting shadow?Ever elusive,ever baffling.It signifies the ignorance set within myself, telling me how little I know, how I yearned for the unthinkable.Till it become nothing more than a mad desire burning within me.Consumed by it.Blinded by passion.

I should have know better than to put my faith on dreams.Dreams-they are meant to be nothing more but dreams.A hallow embodiment of a human's mad desire and lust.As immaculate as they may seem, they are in fact blotched beyond recognition.

It is ironic, to think that dreams are often the other end of reality.Ever present, ever contradictory.You do not need a reason to dream yet at the same time you feel the fear of the ever harsh reality.

I am really bored right now. Haven't actually finish my final year examinations yet, but all the heavy subjects are done with. Whats left are the objective papers (excluding Moral, which btw have I mention before how pointless is Moral? NO? Now you know!)

As the title suggest it, this is really a pointless post. It serves no purpose or what so ever other then to fill up this dashboard of mines.

Did I mention I was bored?

No?
Yes?
I did?

Oh, heck someone please shoot me already.

Today's headline of Star newspaper is kinda interesting actually. It's entitled "Government declares war on paedophiles" I am sure by know, all of you would realize how reactive we people are actually. We only react or take drastic measures after a problem arises.

A very good example to illustrate my point would be of the brutal, heartless killing of Nurin Jazlin. (honestly a list of adjectives can be compiled just to describe the act of killing this poor Innocent girl, but lets not go there today shall we?) Any way, it's only after this incident the government decide to declare war on all this so called paedophiles. How about before this senseless murder ever occur? Does that mean before this, there aren't any paedophiles out there in our dear little country? Obviously not.

How about another tragedy that befall us recently? The ferry that caught fire while heading to Pulau Tioman. So far four passengers were confirmed to be drowned where as three people are still missing. The next day all sort of NGOs and government agencies started making a scene out of this tragedy. Full inspection are made on ferries and boat alike. Conducting random checks on companies operating boat and ferry services.

So what does all this tells you about our dear little government and us?

REACTIVE

1. Remind your children not to release personal information on the Net.
2. Ensure your children does not send photographs, video clips, or other images to cyber friends or on the Net.
   
3. Remind your children not to use their photos for avatars for chat.
4. Remind you children not to download or open any attachments, programs or files if they are not sure who the offender is.
5. If your child becomes more quiet or withdrawn after chatting online, it could signal something is amiss.
6. Find out who your children befriend on the Net and who they are e-mailing and chatting with.

All of these can be easily backfired with websites such as Friendster, My Space, Facebook, instant messaging websites such as MSN and so on. All accessible with just a click away.

In fact I must have given more than enough personal information of myself on the Net accessible to anyone including paedophiles, stalkers and so on for them to track me down. So what does this tells you about our current situation?

A very grim one indeed.

Terminus by Lim Kar-Men


Oh!
How I grew so weary,
Of all these lies and deceit,
How I wish I can put an end to 'tis,
Even if I knew,
How sordid 'tis could be,
I am at the end of my tether,
Blinded by a second's sojourn in Terminus.


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I was suddenly inspired to write this poem last night before hitting the bed. Its kinda like a new style of poetry writing for me. (which I never dabble with before) Kinda weird too, if you ask me. It tells about the feeling of being at the very end/the last stop of a station. Thoughts,feedbacks and your very own interpretations of it are of course welcomed.