" Worth Following Award"

I am so glad to receive the above award from Anish of Actuate Life. This is really motivating especially to a new kid in the "blog"! Hahaha.... . Thank you so much Anish.

This award is given to blogs that you would highly recommend to other readers and the rules are as follows:

Give this award to three of your favorite blogs. Choose ones you make a point of reading as often as possible!

When you nominate them you have to write a short description of the blog (just a few sentences) and why you nominated that blog.

Link to each of your choices as well as the blog that nominated you. Spread the love!

Well, I would present the first award to Anish of Actuate Life, http://actuatelife.blogspot.com/. Anish is a good writer. His blog covers a wide range of topics which relates to our daily life.

The second award goes to Jean of Lazy Mum -Yummy Bites, http://jean-easy2cook.blogspot.com/. In her blog, she shares with us her fast, economical and easy to cook recipes. Her recipes are great for us especially in this economic slowdown situation.

The third award goes to Renee of "the-retirement-road-map.com", http://www.the-retirement-road-map.com. Renee's wondeful blog provides a lot of valuable information on how elderly people should prepare for the "second half" of their life.

Congratulations to all of you!

A " Loss " Mindset

I am really curious to know what would happen if Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad and Siddharta Gautama were to live in the world now? Some of the questions which always linger on my mind are :

1. What would be the critical and important sermon they would preach if they are living together in the world now?

2. What would they think about the current world situation?

3. Would they be asking their followers and disciples to respect other religions, spread " LOVE " towards other religions?

4. Will they use their great compassion to "melt" the Devil and Demon hearts?

5. Will they insist their disciples and followers to destroy or kill those who do not have the same belief?

6. What would the Divine Being do if human beings continue to be "blinded" by the evil thoughts?

7. Will there be an end to this "Good vs Evil" war?

8. By sending those who have committed misconduct to a "SUFFERING" place sufficient enough to "rehabilitate" them?

9. What would the Merciful Divine Being do to save the mankind?

10. Will the Divine Being just let the unfavorable things to happen as they consider there is no way or they should not rescue mankind?

11. Will the difference in idealogy of the religions hinder mankind to work together for a better tomorrow fo mankind?

I believe all these questions are REAL! If different religion were to try their best to fight to be on top of the others, I believe the world will be in a mess! As we are aware, some religious extremists may even institute a war which will cause the killing of many human life just to show people that their religion is more supreme than the other!

Will the Divine Being "encourage" killing of human just to show others that they are more supreme than the others? Does the Divine Being has a way to stop all these unnecessary acts? How would the Divine Being handle those who have committed the misconduct? Destroy them? How to destroy them?

Some may say we must not question the Divine Being ( I do not have the slightest intention to do so!) or we, as human will not be able to understand the holy act of the Divine Being. However, if the merciful Divine Being does not want to help mankind to stop all these unnecessary acts, can mankind stop these acts by themselves?

The above are just my silly thoughts, it should not be treated as an insult to any religion. I believe I am not the only person in this world that is having all these questions in mind.

Anyway, I strongly believe that religion does play an important role to make our world a better place to stay!

I expect to receive many comments for my above post. I am open to any constructive views. Do share your views.

A "Holy War" Mindset

Whenever I heard of the word "Holy War", the below questions will immediately come to my mind:

1. What is that so "Holy" about "War"?

2. Who has created this word "Holy War"?

3. If there is anything stated in the Holy Scripture about "Holy War", did we interpret the meaning correctly?

Whenever there is a war between two countries, I believe both countries would be very suspicious over one another. Their peoples' minds will be full of desire and hatred! It is a "WIN-LOSE" situation, i.e either your country is going to win or my country is going to win! With this type of focused(?!) mindset, I believe they will surely involve their most advanced war equipments in the war. They will not have mercy but to kill just for the benefits of getting what they want! Is "KILLING" a "HOLY" act? Innocent people died, people lost their families ........and so on. Is this considered " HOLY "?

I do not believe the word "Holy War"is created by the Divine Being! I believe it comes from the mind of the Human Being! Well, any human being with a sound mind should know, if the Divine Being is promoting "Love" and " Peace " on this Earth, how could they instigate Human Beings to engage in a cruel war?!

I do believe that we, Human Beings really need to understand the real or actual meaning of the word "Holy War"( if there is any! ) as stated in the Holy Scripture.

My personal view is that holy war is a war within ourselves where we have to eliminate or neutralise all our defilements ( evil or unwholesome thought such as : killing people just to get what we want, robbing people wealth, engage in sexual misconduct, cheating people, taking drugs etc ....! ) in our mind. I consider this as holy war because it does not hurt anyone. Moreover if everyone were to do good, avoid evil and cultivate their mind , the world would be a better place to stay! As all of us are aware, we have to go through some difficult processes to strengthen our mind, however, the long lasting effect after the process is that your mind will be like an unshaken rock.

From birth till the last day of our life, we are engaged in "civil war" within ourselves all the time. Why should we create another physical War again in the world? I believe it would be better for us to spend our valuable time to do more constructive work which can help us to make the world a better place to stay!

Anyone want to share your views?

A " Wondering " Mind!

I remembered when I was young, I was asked to recite the below verses during our Bible classes:

" Our Father In Heaven, Holy Be Thy Name, Your Kingdom Comes, Your Will Be Done On Earth As In Heaven, Give Us Today Our Daily Bread, Forgive Us Our Sins As We Forgive Those Who Sin Against Us. Do not Bring Us To The Test, But Deliver Us From Evils!" ( Please forgive me if I have made any un-intentionally errors 0n the verses! )

I just can't emphasize enough of the words which are highlighted in RED. These are extremely good verses if we were to follow and practise it accordingly.

The world will be a better place to stay if all of us were to practise it sincerely (from the bottom of our Heart)! We must learn how to "FORGIVE" and "FORGET"! This is a very powerful verse which can help us to stop the Wars!

I also wish to highlight this meaningful sentence, "Maaf Zahir Dan Batin ( Please Forgive Our Wrong Doing Which We Had Committed Both Physically And Mentality ), which the Muslim in our country will say to their parents on the first day when they are celebrating their completion of their Fasting ( Holy ) month. If we can follow this meaningful verse as to seek for forgiveness for our wrong doing and ensure that we won't commit the same wrong doing again, the world will have lesser human problem! Don't you think this is beautiful?

All these beautiful guidance can be found in all the religious teachings. Why are we still busy to go round and round to search for an answer to end the human misery???

An "Unfair" Mindset!

My neighbour's husband told her not to buy and cook brinjal now. Her husband told her brinjal is very expensive now. I was taken back by her husband's statement. As I know, this neighbour of mine is a very thrifty lady whereas her husband like to spend lots of money drinking with his friends every night. Most of the time, he will go out alone in the evening and let his wife stays at home alone. What on earth could he give his wife's this type of instruction? He can spend lots of money drinking with his friends every night ( sometime till midnight! ) and he doesn't allow his wife to buy and cook her favorite food just because the price of brinjal has increased by 3% per kilogramme. I believe he also doesn't know brinjal is a favorite food of his wife!

There are a few good questions for us to think :

1. How does this husband value his wife?

2. How many kilogramme of brinjal can his wife eat per meal? How much will it costs?

3. How many cans or bottles of beer will he drink per night? What will be the total cost of all the beers? As a matter of fact, I have seen him drinking more than a dozen cans per night!

4. Is he fair to his wife?

According to her husband, he will not be able to live in this world if he doesn't have friends! All his friends are good drinkers!

I believe there are many this type of "self-centred" persons in the world. This type of person can forgo his family and just to be with all his “drinking" friends!

There was one incident where this beloved husband of my neighbour had a bad experience when his friend "persuaded" him to work in foreign country with a sunbstantial compensation package. Without any hesitation and discussion with his wife, he went straight to that country. After he has gone there, he discovered that he would be working alone there. He was so lonely that every night he called his wife to tell her that he wants to come home! Now, he is back at home, however, he has forgotten his "suffering" and has reverted to his old habit! He is spending even more time with all his "drinking" friends than his beloved wife now!

I am wondering, if he is strucked with a critical illness one day, who will take care of him? His friends or his wife?

What type of "UNFAIR" mindset does he has? When happy hour time, he will be with all his friends and neglect his wife! When he is having problem, he will look for his beloved wife!

A "Simply Delegate" Mindset

This is another "interesting but sad " story which was published in the newspaper lately.

I sympathize with all the busy parents who do not have time to be with their children.

I fully agreed with what the writer Peter Chong said, that is : "Maid may be good in doing household chores but it is not her duty to bring up your children. ....."

A few good and critical questions for us to reflect :

1. Do you want to see how your children grow up?

2. Do you want to play a part to help your children to grow up?

3. What would be the conseqeunces if you "delegate" your parental duties and responsibilities to the maid?

4. If you were to "delegate" all your parental duties and responsibilities to your maid, can you expect your children to be close or respect or love you?

5. How would you feel if your children were to call your maid "Mum or Dad" and call you "Aunty or Uncle"?

I am particularly concerned over the first sentence of paragraph 5, i.e " The young girl always had her way and the maid had no power to stop her". Personally, I have seen and heard many young children telling their maids that they are not their parents, they don't have the right to control them!!! Maybe their parents have told their beloved children before that their maids have no authority or right to control them. Should we leave it to the children to grow up themselves without giving them proper guidance in life?

Nowaday, many parents hope that their children would be a professional like doctor, engineer, accountant or..... one day . However, how many parents really spend some quality time to help their children to achieve the goals?

One of our family friends told me this story before. He said he was asking his young daughter what she wants to be a few days ago? He was expecting his daughter to give him a reply she wants to be at least a Teacher. However, he said he was extremely disappointed when his daughter told him she wants to be a maid one day. He asked her why, she replied, "Aunty said to be a maid is better, no need to go to work outside. It is an easy job and also can sleep in the afternoon when Papa and Mama not around! Hahaha.......... . An innocent mind that has been influenced by the maid. Do you want your child's innocent mind to be influenced by your maid?

Please do not get me wrong that I am looking down upon the maid's career. I respect the maid's job ( a job not many of us would want to do! ). I also understand that not everyone can be a doctor, engineer, teacher or....... . What I am trying to highlight is that if we hope to see our child to be a professional one day, we can't "delegate" our duties and responsibilities to our maid!

Another story was about Kelvin, one of my ex-colleague, he told me he was extremely sad when he came back from his overseas assignment one morning and his son, a toddler told his maid that "uncle" is back. As he is a Regional Sales Manager, his job requires him to travel frequently around the region. Most of the time, he is not around in the house. Well, what can I say to him? I only can sympathize him as he is a man who won't listen to advice!

Last but not least, I would like to invite all parents to ponder over the above critical questions and come out with a plan on what you and your spouse should do next!

What Type Of Family Values Do We Want?

I saw this article in the newspaper one week ago. Anyone disagree with the headline? As for me, I fully agreed with what Dr.M.A.Nair said. I salute Dr. Nair 's wisdom.

Have we ever come across any kids who leave their parents because they are poor? So far, I have haven't come across any incident like this!

I have come across many incidences where parents are just focusing on providing the " material love" to their children, and eventually their children are not close to them ( their children just provide the financial aids to them ) when they retired. Now, they are complaining that :

1. They are very lonely after their retirement and no one to talk to

2. They don't have chance to meet with their grandchildren. According to them their children were too busy with their work and do not have time to bring their grandchildren to see them!

They are extremely unhappy over what they considered as "un-grateful" act of their children! Some even said that if they know their children will be so un-grateful, they would ask their spouse to abort it! I was stunned when I heard that!

However, this is what their children said: "What our parents want? We have already given them the money, what they want some more? With the money, they can go and buy whatever they want! They really don't understand us! We are very busy and not like them - "pensioners". They don't need to work, but we need to work and survive! Previously, when we were young, we also hardly see their face! When we wake up inthe morning, they had already gone to work. When we go to sleep at night, they still hadn't come back. We seldom have chance to talk to them! Whenever we encountered problem and need they advice, they are not there to help us also!!!" Based on what their children said, we can see that their children want their parents concern, attention and love when they were young, but their parents were just too busy with their work. This has cast a deep impression into their mind till they are adults now!!!

Now, what went wrong? The parents are looking for "Heart" love from their children. Whereas the children were thinking that providing "material love" to them are more than sufficient!

Parents, beware!!! It seems that our life will "reverse" back to the young age when we grow old. It would be too late and too painful for us to discover that we did not provide the right thing right to the children i.e "Parental Love" and NOT "Material Love"! when they were young.

We have to ask oursleves : What type of family life do you want when you grow old? With lots and lots of material gains and no family love and bonding? Or with moderate material gains and have plenty of family love and bonding?! The decision is in our hands!