Last night after a close friend of mine log off from MSN, I thought there was no point for me to stay “online” anyway as there weren’t anybody else around(there were 51 people online actually) that I could talk to. I comtemplated on whether to resume my artwork which only made up of sketches of hide’s face waiting for me to paint it. I felt drowsy. Without any concentration, I won’t be able to produce a decent artwork. Then, my eyes caught the presence of a book. This book has been lying on my desk for quite some time now. It was meant as a Valentine’s Day gift. The intended owner insisted that I read it first as he didn’t have time to spare on this book. So I took it up, got comfortable under the covers (it was rather cold last night) and started to read the first page….
“The Curriculum - The last class of my old professor’s life took place once a week in his house, by a window in his study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience…….. ”
The first page of this book had my eyes glued to it. And you know how one thing leads on to the other, I continued reading until I felt my eye-lids was losing the battle to sleepiness and soon, I was far away in dreamland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The opening notes of guitar from the song Mushi by Dir en grey emanated from my cellphone, indicating that I have a new text message. I willed myself to open my eyes to check the time, it was 9:30am. The message was from another close friend of mine telling me that his form teacher had passed away. We chatted via text messages for a moment and I tried to comfort him. At the same time I was fighting the headache that had dominated my head as a result of only having a few hours of sleep. After he ended our chatting session, I lay in bed for more than an hour with thoughts hovering in my head. I thought about people, about the world, about life and also….. about death. Soon after, I fell asleep again.
After lunch, I decided to sit infront of my computer and let my fingers do the talking. The result? You’re reading it.
The book that I was reading was about a guy named Mitch Albom (the author of the book) narrating his time spent with his college professor named Morrie. Morrie became great friends with Mitch and helped this young lad to see the world as a more profound place and gave this lad advice to guide his way through it. After graduation, Mitch lost track of this mentor. As the years passed, the insights faded and the world seemed colder. His busy and hectic life as a sports journalist after his dreams as a pianist was flushed down the drain made him a person who cared about nothing but money. Just like it was quoted in the book by professor Morrie “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning of life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to the community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning”
It was on the day he loses his job that he watched his professor being interviewed on TV. He learned that his professor had been diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which is a brutal illness of neurological system.This illness works it’s way up from your feet and slowly imprisoned your soul and every liveliness in you in your own body. You could never move another muscle again. In other words, his days on earth were dwindled. That’s when Mitch, who had lost contact with his professor for sixteen years came to visit this old, wise professor every Tuesdays just like during his college days. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class” : lessons in how to live, how this professor cope with the last few months of his life.
Now I don’t want to reveal too much about this book because it will take away all the excitement and anticipation. This book is called Tuesdays With Morrie. Spare some time on this thin paperback book. It’s really an eye-opener. You’d want to read this!
Anyways, my point is : Life is too short for us to hold grudges and rage against one another. Sometimes all these negativity blinds us from seeing the clear picture. As quoted from Tuesdays With Morrie “Love always wins.”. So why not start today and show some loving to the people around you? Like they always say “Love your enemy”. Pray for them. You’re a bigger person.
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:13-14
Death. Some shudder at that very word when it is spoken. In my opinion, death is just another part of life. The last chapter of one’s life. Each of us has a task to fulfil. And once we have served our purpose on earth, we will once be united with Him. Well, some of us decided to leave early, some stayed on a little while more. At the end of the day, it still comes to collect you. So why fear? We should live life to the fullest, right? It’s ok to grieve over your lost. But not too long. You have your life to focus on. Take your downfall as a motivation to try harder. Don’t ever give up. Pray if you must.
“Let nature takes its course” a friend said to me. I’ve only been here for 18 years and well, who am I to play The Philosopher here, right? haha. At least this is what I think la. For those of you who had lost a love one, pray for them and cherish the memories you had with them. That’s what keeps them very much alive although they’re not here physically. Seize the opportunity to tell the people around you that you love them and care about them (Easier said than done. I wish it was that easy too :P) before it’s too late…and regrets shall haunt you. To err is human, to forgive devine. I know I have said this before. But hey, it consumes a lot more energy to hold in all those anger. Forgiving makes your heart lighter and gay. You really will feel that way. Reach out, and you will never know who will be there for you. You’re not alone. Somewhere in this world someone is actually feeling precisely what you’re feeling. So just reach out.
Oh well, time for me to blah.. I’ve been crapping too much. I apologize for trespassing much of your leisure time! Anyways, thanks for reading!!