Wrong Time, Wrong Place ...

I read with much sadness about the bomb that went off in a cafe at the El-Fna Square in Marrakesh, Morocco. 14 people were killed, 11 of them foreign tourists. It hit me that it could have been me being blown to bits while on holiday.

I realised that in June 2009, a group of 10 of us were at the very cafe having lunch on a hot, sunny Moroccan day. I can still remember the dry heat as we walked into the famous Square dotted with carts selling everything from spices to dried and fresh fruits. Relatively empty and quiet in the noon day sun, the Square transforms into an exciting and noisy entertainment arena in the nights.

Thirsty and hungry, we headed to the cafe that had a nice balcony from where we could watch the whole Square. We gulped down glasses of lovely orange juice and just sat back trying to catch the breeze which was warm. The ceiling fans seemed to spin with little effect. We tucked into more Moroccan dishes and waited patiently for our guide who had gone off for his noon day prayers.

It would be another hot and dusty yet exciting day for those tourists. They too would have downed glasses of the lovely thirst quenching orange juice. I cannot start to imagine how it all ended for them. I close my eyes and say a prayer for the dead and the injured. I thank God for His protection while we were there.

I recall other times when I read with a shiver of disasters that strike the very place where I had been. Years ago I was at Port Arthur, Tasmania visiting the convict site on a Ghost Tour! A few months later, a gunman shot randomly at a group of tourists and killed a few people.

We sat at the steps of Christchurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand. That same Cathedral was ruined in the recent earthquake. Many people lost their lives and many more lost their homes.

We looked wide eyed at the burnt out body of a small plane at the side of the slope at Lukla, Nepal. We had just landed safely in a similar plane. We heard stories about a silent avalanche that swallowed a group of trekkers as they rested in a hut ... where we sat sipping hot cha, in the newly built hut. Then there was the huge fire that burnt down the monastery and the surrounding lodgings at Thyangboche. I slept badly that night. I remember looking at the dome shaped summit of Mont Blanc and wondered for the 10th time if we should even think of climbing it. Each year, climbers die from rock falls and avalanches.

I climbed Snowdon in North Wales alone, the same season a school teacher was blown off the mountain, taking the same route I was on. I was just 2 blocks away from where the IRA blew up a car. The windows of my hostel room shattered. I left London that very morning.

A friend was torn between extending her Japan trip but decided to come home. She would have been caught in the recent twin disaster of the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed so much of the coastal towns of Tohoku, Japan. Possessions and lives were lost but not the spirit and hope of the Japanese people.

We have driven all over the world, catching trains and doing walks and have returned home safe only to read about train crashes, car accidents and other natural and human disasters happening at where we had been.

I know that in all these travels I have made all over this world, the hand of God was protecting me and my friends. It is all about being at the wrong place at the wrong time ... For me, God had made it all right. Praise the Lord!

GE, LWL, Spider Webs & A Horse Named Boomz

This is going to be really random thoughts for today. I read the reports about the upcoming GE with much interest. The "battle" begins and the slamming gets harsher. It will be an exciting GE unlike the usual dull walkovers in the past. I think my father would have been most distressed to hear about all the scholars joining the opposition parties. I am glad dad is not around to have to witness this. He always believed in not "biting the hand that feeds you" and LKY was his super hero.

Oh well, as a friend said - we can trust our electorate and that was something I never thought about. We focus so much on the candidates. Yes, I think I can trust that Singaporeans will know what they want and will be "wise" when they trot to the polls on 7 May 2011.

On Sunday, I scanned the front page and saw the Lee WL article that read - An Exchange of Letters with Mama, and I thought - oh no, is she going to go on and on about her mother again? I was pleasantly surprised when I read the full article. It was rather touching and revealing and a good read. I liked best her last paragraph and I quote:

"Life is an obstacle course. Neither moaning nor surrendering to depression can change things for the better. We have

to roll with the punches, grit our teeth and carry on with life." Unquote.

How true. Though for me I would add an important phrase - We have to roll with the punches, grit our teeth and carry on with life - trusting God to see us through.

Then on my regular Monday Walks with my friends, I saw the hand of God in a spider's web. Descending a flight of steep steps, I looked back to see if everyone else was OK when I saw discs of spider webs reflecting the colours of the rainbow as the threads caught the sun's rays. I took a deep breath, thanked God for such beauty and told my friends to stand beside me to see the hand of God at work. It was beautiful. (Photo courtesy of Ng Suan Eng)

Then there was Ris Low and the race horse named Boomz.

Oh well, it must take all types to make this world go round and remain interesting. Now we wait and see if that race horse lives up to its name ... and win the race!

Help Save The Earth

We often hear this call - help save the earth and wonder how we can help. Then, in ten seconds it would have slipped our minds till we next read about saving the earth ... again.

I have tried numerous times to save the earth ... often in thought more than in deed. I thought that perhaps I could sell my car and depend on public transport, but then ... I thought I would sacrifice TV watching for a day and switch off lights and sleep early that same night, but then ... I thought I would turn vegetarian, or do away with plastic bags, or use less detergent and soap and shampoo and always - but then ...

Now, I have found a possible way to contribute towards helping to save the environment. I will join more than 20 Singapore Organizations in pushing for VEGGIE THURSDAY! Feel Good. Do Good is the tag line. All we need to do is to go meatless one day a week. I guess any day would do, but to encourage others and make a commitment ourselves, it would be good to designate a day to do it.

In UK, former Beatle Paul McCartney launched his Meat Free Monday campaign to encourage households to cut out meat on Mondays to help slow global warming. The John Hopkins Hospital in USA encourages healthier eating among patients, visitors and staff with their Meatless Monday campaign.

The Belgian city of Ghent has a Veggie Thursday where the city government encourages everyone including students to try veggie options on Thursdays. More cities around Belgium and other countries around are following Ghent's example.

So what is the big deal about eating meat? Well, other than the impact on health, there is a greater impact on our environment.

• Obesity, diabetes and heart disease (and some cancers) are linked to high meat consumption.
• Fruits and vegetables are rich in phytochemicals & antioxidants that help boost out immune system.
• About 18% of human produced global warming gases come from raising animals, mostly for food.
• We have to feed animals many kilos of plant food to produce 1 kg of meat. Growing that extra plant food for animal feed means more forests destroyed, more water and other resources used.
• Factory farming of meat means unnatural lives (and often cruel) for the animals.
• The average lifespan of a chicken is 8 weeks!

So I figured this was something "do-able" and as I have taken 59 years off the earth, it was time I gave something back. 1 day a week is something I think I can manage. Thursdays are good. Mondays are blue enough thinking about starting work (not for me) after the weekend, there is no need to add to further misery!

Join me? Get your family, colleagues, staff, students, friends, relatives and pets to make a commitment to do something for our earth. Every little act counts. Let's make a stand and do it for health reasons, to help the environment and show some concern for the animals or ... do it out of curiosity if for nothing else! You might surprise yourself!

For a great place to start, try SUNNY CHOICE at Rail Mall. Situated next to my ex-favourite bak chor mee shop EAT, it offers many many veggie dishes that are palatable and even yummy! I like best their Thunder Rice (very tasty) and the brown rice set with veg curry. Their white rojak is refreshing and the die-hard dessert eaters must have a go at their chendol. Average priced, most meals are about $7 - $8. Guaranteed to make you burp and look forward to Veggie Thursdays!!!

Visit www.facebook.com/veggiethursdaysg for more details.

Come on - Let's just DO IT!

When Will It Be My Time?

I read the papers with much interest about the coming GE. The "slams" are polite at the moment and nobody is suing anybody ... yet. Well, being rather apolitical (not to be mixed up with being apathetic), I scanned the pages reading about the new candidates and the party manifestos. It would be a shame that I would not be voting this year as I leave for Vienna 2 days before Polling Day.

I recall my father's ( a hard core pro-PAP, very pro-LKY man) concern when I qualified to vote for the first time. "Remember who pays your salary" he quipped once. "Remember who is giving you a good life here in Singapore" he whispered on another occasion. "Remember you want a secure and safe future" he said as we walked to the polling station. I looked at my father and playfully said I was afraid of the hammer (Workers' Party) hammering me and that maybe I should vote them. Without a pause he said, " Lightning can strike you too!" That was my father - a man who saw the greatest change in Singapore from a kampong to a city. He had gone through the war and had witnessed the great LKY's hand in transforming Singapore to what it is today. Dad, born in 1916 passed away at 91 in 2007, so he saw a great deal.

The GE aside, what caught my attention and spoke to my heart was the death of the Italian chocolate tycoon Pietro Ferrero, boss of the Ferrero Roche chocolate company. Touted as the "chocolate god", Pietro was heir to Italy's biggest fortune. Just 47, the CEO and father of three died while cycling in Cape Town, South Africa.

Death, much like diseases and illnesses know no difference between billionaires and tramps; beauties and uglies; the famous and unknowns; royalty and commoners; young and old ... death comes to all. As my Nepali friend Purna use to say - "We all must die ... it is just when and how we die."

The important thing then, is to be prepared at all levels - that tomorrow, or even later today - it might be my time. Don't put off what you want to do - just do it! Don't put off what you want to say - just say it! There is no better time than now, for we can't predict what tomorrow will hold.

If only we could predict when our time is near ... but then again ... do we really want to know? Only God knows. I would leave it at that and pray that when my time comes, that I will be well prepared; That I would have lived my life to the fullest; That I would have been a blessing to many; That I would have no regrets.

I would then be able to say, "Lord I am ready to go home."

Nature's Chatter

After 8 months (since my major surgery), I finally gained enough confidence to do a solo walk into the forested area of Bukit Timah Hill this morning. Having grown in strength, stamina and gut control, I headed off. I have forgotten what it feels like to be walking alone.

The first thing that hit me was the "silence" - the absence of human voices. Accustomed to walking with a group of friends, I was suddenly struck by the "chatter" of nature. With my mouth closed, my other senses became much more acute. I paused to listen to the song of the cicadas. Nothing melodious, yet somehow engaging in their monotonous, ceaseless drone - ringing with a desperate urgency to attract a mate before life ends - and they die unfulfilled, work unaccomplished, useless, contributing nothing more to the earth than their noisy mating calls and empty, dead carcasses!

Then I heard the lovely songs of the birds. In contrast to the cicadas, theirs was indeed music to my ears. Filled with so much tone, tune and melody, they were singing their throats out. But like the cicadas, they were hard to spot. I was neither able to identify the song of the birds, nor the birds when I did spot them. I moved on getting a rhythm to my steps and opening up my pace.

I saw colourful butterflies flitting from ground to leaf and from leaf to flower. Their bright colours complimented the different tones of green foliage around. My steps were light as I took deep breaths and smelt the earth. How wonderful it was to be alive and walking. I gave a heartfelt thanks to God.

I passed furry stems that stuck out into my path, with brown and wrinkled tendrils at their ends. Flowers that were once attached, boasting their beauty, were no longer there. I looked down at the fallen petals, some still fresh and exuding their scent, clinging on to life. Others were mashed into the muddy ground, trodden by careless boots of unseeing walkers. Much like me when I have company and we engage in talk and sometimes senseless arguments ... missing so much that is nature's "chatter", screaming to be heard - a silent voice - that often stands no chance against human noise.

Other walkers and a few bikers passed me by. I hardly noticed them, although I heard the crunching of feet and the gnashing of bicycle tires on graveled ground. I was too immersed listening to nature talk.

After a long while, the sound of human voices rudely intruded into my senses. I realized I was almost done. I was close to the end of the trail. Soon, the sound of traffic caught my attention. I was back to civilization. Sadly, I made my way out onto the road. I paused and looked back at the beautiful corridor that I had been treading through.

It was a lovely hour of being awakened to nature, just because I had walked alone. Perhaps I can do this again soon ... or I can learn to walk in silence in company ... or maybe not. Walking with friends meant a time of sharing and learning and laughing and being ...

I think I shall find another time I can get away with just myself and again enjoy nature's chatter.

SMS & Hornbills

Here I am on my Thinking Deck this morning and two things come to mind. SMS and Hornbills. What do they have in common? Nothing! Just two events that have stayed in my mind.

SMS can be a dangerous tool. It can cause misunderstandings. Meant for short messages, it is best to note that anything that requires greater explanation and the need for a show of "feelings" - one should use the email or make a call. Plus, the sms short-formed language does little to help with correct and full understanding of the messages sent.

A teacher once sent an sms to the school clerk to inform the school that she was on medical leave. The sms read: "mc 4 2day". So, the clerk noted it on the board and immediately called for a relief teacher (RT) to cover the teacher on sick leave for 2 days. Both the teacher and the RT reported to school the next day and the school had a problem in hand. The teacher's MC was for only 1 day, so the "2day" on the sms was meant to be "today" and not 2 days (!) as interpreted by the clerk. As the RT had turned down other appointments, it was not right to ask her to leave without paying her.

The responsible clerk stepped forward to say it was his fault and volunteered to pay the RT for the day. The teacher felt it was as much her fault and wanted to share in the payment. The school's Admin Manager took full responsibility as he said he should have checked on the matter and finally, the RT was paid by the three responsible persons. The burden was shared and the team spirit was apparent.

I sent an sms to a friend last night and I felt it was misread. What I had intended to be a happy discovery ended up sounding like a complaint. So, while walking the dogs and pondering on the dangers of the sms, my attention was caught by a flying object. I looked up to study the large bird that had caught my eye. It was only when it settled on a roof antenna that I realized it was a hornbill. What a wonderful sight. It then flew to another roof antenna to join another hornbill. Wow! A double treat.

The larger, more colourful bird sat contentedly with its smaller friend. I could see their bright yellow-orange beaks and their stately "horns". I whipped out my phone and attempted to take a photo of the amazing pair, only to realise that my phone was a low end Nokia meant for calls and sms es!!! The photo showed the roof, the antenna and two black spots on it! I kept my lousy phone and decided to snap the photo ... in my mind. There it would be stored forever, for me to savour. But with my current "hard disk" status, I won't be surprised if the memory gets corrupted and the file is lost.

Oh well, I had it for a moment and sometimes, that is enough.

Kingdom Living 1

(Do look up my earlier ramblings on Virtues vs Values (2/21/11) and Kingdom Living to make more sense of this rambling!)

I am now walking through the Book of Judges in my Bible Study journey. It amazes me that from so long ago, man's capacity to sin and turn away from God was as rampant as it is today. They (the Israelites) were His chosen people and even with them, the cycle of sin prevailed. Indeed, God made us so human.

Two things struck me - man's nature to sin, and God's nature to forgive ... again and again and again. It just surfaces our need to be vigilant against temptation that is all around us. If we are serious about walking on the straight and narrow, we really need to look at what we can do to head towards The Kingdom.

Seriously, the 5 Cs will not get you there. Nope, not the car, cash, condo, credit card or club membership - these are all of this world, not the next - plus they are temporary and you can't bring any of them with you. Everything on this earth is on "loan".

There is an alternative C and you need just one C - Christ. So, what were His virtues that we can TRY to emulate to get us where He has gone?

There are at least 7 virtues reflected in the life of Christ. The first Kingdom Virtue is Truth. The Earth-side value is Tolerance. Joe Stowell states clearly that the source of truth comes from the authoritative Word of God. The character traits we want to develop would include integrity, reliability and transparency. We must refuse to cheat, lie, deceive or erode what is true by either our attitude or our actions.

I have news for you - we can't do this on our own steam. We need all the help we can get and that comes from a closer walk with God and that can only happen when we read, study, meditate and understand His word.

Amen! Let us join hands and help each other walk towards God's Kingdom as we live the life He has given us on this earth.

Do It With Heart

I was doing my morning walk at the neighbouring estate when the sound of the piano slowed my pace. Initially, I was caught by the beautiful strains of a classical piece I was not familiar with. I tried to guess which home the lovely music was coming from. I stopped outside the wall of the house and listened.

Abruptly, the playing stopped. I started to move on when it started again. I paused. It was the same piece, yet it was different. Although I do not play the piano, I could recognise wrong notes being played. But the pianist hardly paused at the mistakes but played on as if in a rush to finish the piece.

I picked up my pace as the music faded behind me. I wondered what it was all about. I smiled. Must have been a kid having to practice a piece before going out, it being a Sunday morning. The other pianist must have been a parent or the piano teacher. It was not just the wrong notes that stood out. It was the music. It came across as hollow and empty. It was played without the ... heart. What caught my attention when I first heard the piece was the "heart" that was in the playing.

Everything comes out "sweeter" when done with the heart. The heart fires the passion and the passion drives the person. Things done without that passion come out at best, just okay.

Think about the teachers you had during your school days. You will be able to identify those who taught with a heart, with a passion. Then, there are those who taught because they had to ... as a job. It is not hard to tell the difference.

Even God knows that we need our hearts to be involved in whatever we do, to do it well ... even loving Him. The great and first commandment - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37. First, with the heart.

Are you doing things with your heart?

Hard Truths & Soft Lies

Dear All,

Thank you for the wonderful response to the auction for the book Hard Truths. We thank the following for their bids and congratulate them on winning the 6 books that are up for grabs with a personalized poem penned by me, Elizabeth Poey! ... But who cares!!! Ha ha ha some did.

Congratulations to - Angie Chan, Liz & Woon Yi, Teng Wah & George, Andrea & Kay (UK), Woon Li & Seow Wah and Leilani Sanders Hall (USA). It was indeed an international response to a good cause.Total bids - $7,350.

This is fantastic. I will pass the books to you asap.

We also thank the following for their outright donations ... they did NOT want The book! Hmmm ... wonder why ... Ying Ju & Thina & family, Shane & Shaun, Agnes and Michalle.

Total amount - $560.

Please address all cheques to the International Baptist Church and write "For Japan" at the back.You can pass me the cheques and I will hand them in as a group.

I thank God for all your generous hearts.

The twins Shane & Shaun are celebrating their 9th birthday tomorrow and they have pledged their birthday "ang pows" to this cause. Bless their little BIG hearts!

It took just one book

That many took a look

Many generous hearts

Immediately did their part

In this hair-brain idea to help Japan

Asking all to just give what they can

Buy the book with a personal poem inside

Their generosity, they could not hide

Thank you, terima kasih, nandhri, xie xie and arigato

Said in so many ways, it means "thanks!" and more!

Thank you all!

Do continue to pray for Japan.

God bless.

Liz