Lessons From The Belly: The Story of Prophet Yunus (PBUH)

One day, Mak caught me watching Prophet Yunus' story on TV Al-Hijrah's Al-Quran: The New Dawn, as others were busy breakfasting. I was so touched by the way the story was explored as it drew a lot of relevance to what's happening around us these days, it brought tears to my eyes.

I promised myself that I wouldn't give sadness or anger a chance to dwell and extinguish the fire in my belly. Too often, their reign hurts those I care more than they ever hurt me. If there is to time to spend on this world, instead of taking everything personally, we should all get personal with everything that crosses our path.

Here's the story that somehow gives me a lot of comfort when things are uncertain and I hope you too could draw strength and comfort from it.

In the Belly of the Whale

Have you ever felt as though things are just too much for you, that you are in a situation you see no way of getting out of? Do you look at problems in our world today and wonder how they can ever be solved? All this, and more, is the story of Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him). The mission of Prophet Yunus is a timeless story that tells us there is a way out, if only we have faith.

Almighty Allah called Yunus to preach to the people of Nineveh. Nineveh was a great city, the capital of Assyria, and it had become a very wicked place. Yunus went to the people there and told them to give up their bad ways and to turn, instead, to Allah. But they wouldn't listen to him and so Yunus left them. This is the first very human touch in the story of Yunus. Even though he was a prophet, Yunus was still a man and he stormed off out of the city when he didn't achieve what he had hoped. He even felt that he knew what these people deserved. We can identify with Yunus here, can't we? On a human level, we often give up too soon, and we often stomp off when we don't get what we want. On a spiritual level, we see lots of wickedness in the world and think we know how the evildoers should be treated. Some people even take it upon themselves to punish them.

Having left the city behind, Yunus boards a ship. He has had enough and he sets sail far away from the scene of his failure. Once at sea, though, a storm grows up and the crew are terrified. These pagan sailors feel that the gods of the sea must be displeased with them, so they draw lots to throw one man overboard to calm the storm. They draw the lot indicating that Yunus should be thrown overboard. This happens not once but three times, and the terrified crew throw him overboard thinking that in doing so they will be protecting themselves and their ship.

Once in the water, something extraordinary happens. Allah sends a great fish, some describe it as a whale, to swallow Yunus whole. Once in its belly, Yunus descends to the bottom of the sea, filled with total despair. How can he possibly survive this disaster? What way out of his situation could there possibly be? He is engulfed by darkness: the darkness of the creature's stomach; the darkness of the deep; and, worst of all, the darkness of despair. Even though he was a religious man, called upon to be a prophet, he experiences doubt, and it is when he is in the depths of despair that things change for him. In the noble Qur'an, we read that Yunus "cried through the darkness." He realized that Almighty Allah, not he, was in control of things. He cries out, "there is no god but You," and asks for help. In asking for help, his prayer is heard.

There is a very beautiful book, called Stories of the Prophets, written in the Middle Ages by Hafez ibn Kathir. It is easily available and well worth reading. In it, Ibn Kathir has a moving commentary on this part of Yunus's story. He says that once Yunus admits that there is no god but Allah and that only Allah can save him, something wonderful happens. First, the whale begins to sing the praises of Allah, then all the little fish around it, then all the creatures of the sea, each in its own way, until there is a great chorus of praise. The whale swims up to the surface and ejects Yunus onto the shore. Just as Allah had used it to save Yunus from the storm and from drowning in the sea, so He also uses it to bring Yunus safely to land again.

And there is more. Yunus is feeling sick and sore as he lies on the sand in the scorching heat, still not knowing what will become of him. Allah takes even more care of him and causes a plant to grow up over him and to cover Yunus with its shade. Once he has recovered from his ordeal and his skin has stopped smarting from the acids in the creature's stomach, he decides to return to Nineveh, his travels over, to see what has become of the city and its people. When he arrives there, to his great surprise, he sees that the city and its people have not been destroyed, but have all turned to Allah. His message had got through to them. Perhaps when they saw the terrible storm as it grew up in the distance, they saw in it an image of what would happen to them if they did not repent. Who knows why they turned back to Allah, but they did. Yunus, then, after all his adventures, is finally content that his mission has been accomplished.

There is so much that the story of Yunus can teach us. First of all, read it yourself in the noble Qur'an. You will find it in the following verses: 4:163, 6:86, 10:98, 21:87, 37:139-148, and 68:48-50. Ponder over the meaning of the words and listen to what they say to you. Yunus's story is timeless. It is for the whole world and it is for each one of us.

Nineveh, for example, the great city and the capital of a great empire, doesn't even exist anymore. Scholars say it lies in Iraq on the other side of the river from the city of Mosul, but its temples and monuments have gone. All worldly power will go the same way. Even today's superpowers, who behave as though they are Allah, and believe that everyone must obey them, will one day wither and fade and, like all great empires before them, cease to exist. Remember, Allah is in control, not this country or that. Allah will decide the course of events.

Another lesson from the story of Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him) is that we never know the effect our deeds will have on others. We, like Yunus, are called to tell others about Islam, but the results might never be known to us. A word we say to one person might touch them deeply and yet we may never see the effect of that word. But we must keep trying. We never know what effect our da`wah will have.

What we must never do, though, is to think that we are in control or that it is we who call others to Islam. Allah is in control and He, alone, calls others to Himself. We shouldn't get down-hearted or angry when our efforts seem to fail. Muslims trust in Allah. In His own time and in His own way, He will deal with those who do evil, just as He will reward the righteous:

[No soul knows what comfort is kept hidden for them, as a reward for their deeds.](As-Sajdah 32:17)

Allah uses all things to work out His plan. In the story of Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him), He not only uses Yunus, but He uses the sailors and the whale and the plant, to do His will. So we should never presume to know the will of Allah, nor to make decisions on His behalf.

Finally, if you have ever felt as though you are in the belly of the whale, surrounded by darkness and with no way out, do what Prophet Yunus did. [He cried through the darkness](Al-Anbiyaa' 21:87) and admitted that there is no god but Allah and that only Allah can rescue.

Never give up. Trust in Allah. He can use us and all situations to do great things beyond our wildest imagination. It is by Allah's will that we are Muslim. Just as [his Lord chose him and made him of the righteous,] (Al-Qalam 68:50) so we, too, like Prophet Yunus can respond to the call of Almighty Allah and make a difference in our world.

Wonderful Life

There were times when I felt bad just being happy simply because I remember others who were still not. There were times when I felt sad because they are people who feel happiness is something to be jealous about and if they can't have it, so mustn't you. There were times I heard gasps for air when someone says he/she is happy for me - deep down I know they are not. Still, I learn that to be happy isn't about imposing self pity on myself but more of sensing that you still have that dignity, even for simply doing one thing right.

But, there were times when I found strangers who saw the genuine happiness I feel for others, the first thing they want to do when they saw me was to hug me. There were also times when I learnt from others' heartbreaking experiences to realise that happiness isn't mechanical, that it will work for itself, as to attain happiness is more like riding a normal bike 1km uphill for someoone like me [Read; So physically not fit].

Happiness is to be worked on. It is to be understood. It is to be felt with our heart. Like love, it is selfless. Like roses, you'd remember the smell even after they have long gone. It's forever etched in your senses, enabling you to relive it at your own command.

Isn't it a wonderful life?

I Must Have Done Something Good...

My Response to Common Malaysian

Common Malaysian said...

I have been following the GTP and firmly believe that Idris Jala is not serving anyone’s agenda. I am glad that Najib has started an effort so big to reform the state of our affairs, unlike any of his predecessors.

It is good that the PM has finally recognised the need to fix the foundation and from there work towards building a high income economy in the long run.

The GTP is meant to give the people better access to improved public service delivery and address the social development of the country. Agreed that it is a little delayed but nevertheless, it is happening. The transformation programmes are exactly what we need as all Ministries have specific KPIs to achieve. If they don’t achieve what is promised, they have too much to lose, especially after they have witnessed the power of the people at the polls during the last election.

June 21, 2011 6:42 PM

Fi-sha says,

Dear Mr./Ms. Common Malaysian

Firstly, I must apologise for my very late response. Like love has reasons which reasons cannot understand (Blaise Pascal), I didn't know why I was hesitant to respond (when I am, by nature, a tempestuous person).

Secondly, let me express my gratefulness in finding your words on my “YES” post. You certainly made my day for now I have found some zeal to write (certainly not on such trite matters, definitely). Thank you for the enlightenment (and merci to those who have been kind enough to steer Mr./Ms. Common Malaysian’s wheels to my kick-some-heels post).

Let's get back to business in hand shall we?

Yes, Sir/Madam, Idris Jala of PEMANDU is not serving anyone’s agenda – not those in power nor those outside the corridor of power (that is us, common Malaysians). It's a zero-sum-game set-up that spent RM63.9 M hard-earned public funds (and we are still counting) to hire consultants for PEMANDU and to organize 3 Open Days for GTP and ETP initiatives while our economic competitiveness ranking in 2011 slumped by 6 slots to 16, our Corruption Perception Index score dropped from 5.1 in 2008 to 4.4 in 2010 and our Democracy Index fell from 68 in 2008 to 71 in 2010, just to name a few.

I sense your eyes rolling in disbelief seeing how I attach such non-performing results to Idris Jala's 'economic lab' as you may think it is not at all fair to put the blame of such deteriorating ratings to 'a new boy on the block' like him.

Unfortunately, he isn't a new boy after all. The news of Air Asia-MAS shares swap , that was finalised early this week, opens Idris Jala's cans of worms (now I know why i delayed this response). The 'demise' of MAS reflects his short-sighted business acumen and poor management style. Just read what Gomen Man wrote in TMI yesterday, asking him to return the millions! If he was ever good, he was good at 'sweeping everything under the carpet'.

Confucius says that, "Success depends upon previous preparations and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure". Now that he heads PEMANDU, I am more worried than ever as eloquently explained by En Ali Kadir today, questioning the accountability of the office holders, who are being rewarded for their mismanagement, and the deplorable opinions we sought from the highly-paid consultants - over and over again - only to fail us, common people, miserably.

Like a good marriage, success of any plans relies heavily on our willpower to undertake the responsibilities (not merely status and position). If there's a will, there's a way, they say. so, if there's a goodwill towards us, the common people, there is definitely numerous good ways to deliver and most of the time, they don't cost a bomb!

Dear Mr./Ms. Common Malaysia, i personally feel that PEMANDU is useless, especially to common people like me. I don't think you are common enough to see and feel the real hardships face by millions of Anak Bangsa Malaysia in their Ibu Pertiwi, day in, day out (UK riots shed some light of what will happen when these people are left unattended for by the Government).

If you think you are, tell me why Idris Jala has the heart to say that, "GST is a way to fund the poor" when the real problem is lack of enforcement by the government to prevent rampant tax evasion and bloated subsidies structure to IPP, amongst other glaring 'holes in our pockets'?

Please, I must insist, that you assist Idris Jala and his PEMANDU people to visit YES website before they bring our Ibu Pertiwi to its knees (Oh, did you read about Italian Police raided Moody's and S&P's Milan Office?).

I wish you and your loved ones a ma'rifah Ramadhan. While we agree to disagree, I believe we both want the best for this Ibu Pertiwi. Let's not lose hope on that, shall we?

Salam Ramadhan

Last night, I dreamt about running away from two women and after a good cat-and-mouse game, they were apprehended. I wanted to blame the green-and-grey stripy "Alice in Wonderland'''s Cheshire Cat (I recently watched this with my nephew) but I should know too well it's the start of Ramadhan and that those women are 'my own demons' I wish to get rid off during this precious Ramadhan and hopefully many more months to come. Amin 44x.

This is the month when more people are willing to go the extra miles to do good deeds. I pray that, no matter what we do, we do them all in the name of Allah because when we do things for thr right reasons, they all make us more humbly humane.

May this year's Ramadhan makes us better people.

Prelude to Bersih 2.0: Do's and Don'ts

Check out Bersih 2.0, Loyarburok and Perisik Rakyat.

For alternative, fun guides to Bersih 2.0, get in touch with Mr. Dnightcaller.

Prelude to Bersih 2.0: To all those broken hearts

Is Bersih 2.0 for the broken-hearted Malaysians? I guess it is for when we are in love - of someone, of some things, of our nation, of our comrades, of our neighbours, of all living things - we care for them. And when we care for them, we always to give the best they deserve. It hurts when we see them being treated otherwise.

Bersih 2.0 is the best shot we could give to our failing electoral and judicial systems. If our DYMM Agung has taken his precious time to calm his Rakyat with his timely edict, I am sure he too has the time to listen to what we feel deep down in our broken heart, in whatever ways possible.

For me, Bersih 2.0 is an emotional rite of passage for a democratic Malaysia. It is a kind of emotional comfort that we have done the best we can NOW for a better Malaysia for our generations to come.

So, I call upon all broken-hearted Malaysians to show your humble solidarity this Saturday. It is time to let your hearts do the talking for God has created humans perfectly that we could sense what others are feeling.

The best anti-dote for a broken heart is to love more, instead of breaking more hearts. So, let's spread love this Saturday!

Fastball's Out of my Head

Was I out of my head? Was I out of my mind?
How could I have ever been so blind?
I was waiting for an indication
It was hard to find
Don't matter what I say only what I do
I never mean to do bad things to you
So quiet but I finally woke up
If you're sad then its time you spoke up too

John Mayer's Heartbeark Warfare

If you want more love,
why don't you say so?
If you want more love,
why don't you say so?

Rob Thomas' This is How a Heart Breaks

This is it now
Everybody get down
This is all I can take
This is how a heart breaks
You take a hit now you feel it break down
Make you stay wide awake
This is how a heart breaks

p.s. to those Muslims, don't forget to do solat hajat and solat taubat before Bersih 2.0.

Your Women

'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.

If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.

If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.

If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.

If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit'

:D

I received this quote in my Mailbox this morning. Thanks to Mr QS.

Morals of this quote are: -

1. Who needs those transformation plans when you have us, women (yes, if we have more women in decision-making positions, perhaps we don't have to spend RM1.8 M on FA page, or RM60+++ M for ETP ;) )?

2. Who says women are high-maintenance beings? If we are ever one, maybe it's all because of you having no more interest in us.

3. So, Men, treat your Women right. Or someone else will?

Prelude to Bersih 2.0: Fields of Gold

"Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in the fields of gold"

"I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in the fields of gold"

p.s. Will you walk with me in the fields of golden-hued Malaysians on 9 July 2011?

p.s. Thanks to Monsieur Art Harun for introducing the great dame of Irish singers, Mary Black to me - an ardent fan of celtic art scene. I find Mary Black's rendition of Sting's Fields of Gold as hair-raising experience. Hope you'll feel the energy.

The Science of Empathy

"Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble" ~ Simon Baron-Cohen

We have seen enough sufferings inflicted on others, mercilessly, by people whom we entrusted to protect us. They, the ones with 'hati yang mati', think that we are too sympathetic 'tak bertempat' when in actual fact, their failure to have such feel reflects their lack of empathy.

Prof Simon Baron-Cohen, one of the leading Autism experts, writes an enlightening piece, "The Science of Empathy" in The Guardian. This excellent piece not only sheds light on the importance of empathy, in today's maddening world, but it shows that in every adversity lies a blessing. Whenever we dine out, people would give an awkward look to Hariz, when he starts banging the table and making unintelligible noises, but we don't take heart for having a special child like Hariz makes us understand human beings better or perhaps, simply being better humans beings.

When I was seven years old, my father told me the Nazis had turned Jews into lampshades. Just one of those comments you hear once and the thought never goes away. To a child's mind – even to an adult's – these two types of thing just don't belong together. He also told me the Nazis turned Jews into bars of soap. It sounds so unbelievable, yet it is actually true. I knew our family was Jewish, so this image of turning people into objects felt a bit close to home.

Years later, I was teaching at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. I sat in on a lecture on physiology. The professor was teaching about human adaptation to temperature. He told the students the best data available on human adaptation to extreme cold had been collected by Nazi scientists performing "immersion experiments" on Jews and other inmates of Dachau concentration camp, who they put into vats of freezing water. They collected systematic data on how heartrate correlated with time, at zero degrees centigrade.

Hearing about this unethical research retriggered that same question in my mind: how can humans treat other people as objects? How do humans come to switch off their natural feelings of sympathy for a fellow human being who is suffering?

The standard explanation is that the Holocaust (sadly echoed in many cultures historically across the globe) is an example of the "evil" that humans are capable of inflicting on one another. Evil is treated as incomprehensible, a topic that cannot be dealt with because the scale of the horror is so great that nothing can convey its enormity. But, when you hold up the concept of evil to examine it, it is no explanation at all. For a scientist this is, of course, wholly inadequate.

As a scientist I want to understand the factors causing people to treat others as if they are mere objects. So let's substitute the term "evil" with the term "empathy erosion". Empathy erosion can arise because of corrosive emotions, such as bitter resentment, or desire for revenge, or blind hatred, or desire to protect. In theory these are transient emotions, the empathy erosion is reversible. But empathy erosion can be the result of more permanent psychological characteristics.

Unempathic acts are simply the tail end of a bell curve, found in every population on the planet. If we want to replace the term "evil" with the term "empathy", we have to understand empathy closely. The key idea is that we all lie somewhere on an empathy spectrum. People said to be "evil" or cruel are simply at one extreme of the empathy spectrum. We can all be lined up along this spectrum of individual differences, based on how much empathy we have. At one end of this spectrum we find "zero degrees of empathy".

Zero degrees of empathy means you have no awareness of how you come across to others, how to interact with others, or how to anticipate their feelings or reactions. It leaves you feeling mystified by why relationships don't work out, and it creates a deep-seated self-centredness. Other people's thoughts and feelings are just off your radar. It leaves you doomed to do your own thing, in your own little bubble, not just oblivious of other people's feelings and thoughts but oblivious to the idea that there might even be other points of view. The consequence is that you believe 100% in the rightness of your own ideas and beliefs, and judge anyone who does not hold your beliefs as wrong, or stupid.

Zero degrees of empathy does not strike at random in the population. There are at least three well-defined routes to getting to this end-point: borderline, psychopathic, and borderline personality disorders. I group these as zero-negative because they have nothing positive to recommend them. They are unequivocally bad for the sufferer and for those around them. Of course these are not all the sub-types that exist. Indeed, alcohol, fatigue and depression are just a few examples of states that can temporarily reduce one's empathy, and schizophrenia is another example of a medical condition that can reduce one's empathy.

Carol is 39 years old. I met her when she came to our diagnostic clinic in Cambridge. (I have disguised details of her life for reasons of confidentiality.) She has borderline personality disorder. For as long as she can remember, and certainly going back into early childhood, she has felt her life was "cursed". As she looks back on her stormy childhood, her unstable teens and her crisis-ridden adulthood, she contemplates her lifetime of depression. Her relationship with her parents has been punctuated by periods of years during which she did not speak to them at all. She is aware that she has a huge reservoir of hatred towards her parents, who she feels maltreated her and who were never really parents towards her. However nice people are to her, she feels she can never quench this simmering rage which even today can come out as hatred towards anyone she feels is disrespecting her. Often people she perceives as disrespecting her are simply people who disagree with her, and she senses that they are doing this in a confrontational way.

In this way, there is a distortion or a bias in how she reacts to others, assuming they are treating her badly when they are not. If her children don't do what she says, she screams and swears at them, saying: "How dare you treat me with such disrespect? You can just fuck off! I hate you. I never want to see you again. You can just look after yourselves. I'm through with the lot of you! You're evil, selfish bastards! I hate you! I'm going to kill myself! And I hope you're happy knowing you made me do it!" She will then storm out, slamming the door behind her.

Minutes later, she will drive to one of her friends and spend the evening having fun, leaving her children reeling with the impact of her hurtful words. When her hatred and anger bubble up, there is no chance of her stopping it coming out. It bursts forth with venom, designed to hurt whoever's ears the words land on. Her own feelings are so strong that there is no space in her mind to consider how her children might feel, being told by their mother that they are evil. The irony of Carol's behaviour is that, in accusing others of selfishness (because their will does not accord with hers), she herself behaves with absolute selfishness.

When Carol was a baby, her mother used to ignore her. She thought it would just spoil children to give them attention, that to show them affection was to "make a rod for your back", by which she meant that the child would then expect love and become clingy. She breastfed Carol for just one week after she was born, and then passed the baby to a nanny to feed by bottle, saying she was too busy to look after the baby. Carol was hit constantly if she didn't do what her mother ordered her to do. At the age of eight, Carol was sent to boarding school, where she felt lonely and was withdrawn and socially anxious. Her mother felt she had completed her maternal duty and that children needed to learn to stand on their own two feet. As a result, she grew up looking after herself, knowing her mother was never around to care for her. She would cook her own meals, clean the house and cry herself to sleep every night.

A well-known borderline was Marilyn Monroe (baptised Norma Jeane Baker). Despite her glamorous outward appearance, a volcano simmered within her. Elton John wrote his famous song "Candle in the Wind" to describe her, which succinctly summarises how impulsively changeable she was. Norma was born in 1926 and her parents divorced in 1928. She always claimed she didn't know who her real father was. Norma's mother Gladys, because of her mental health, gave her away for fostering to the Bolender family, where she lived until she was seven. Norma believed the Bolenders were her real parents until she was told the truth at this age. Gladys came back into her life and her daughter went to live with her again, but after Gladys was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, her mother's friend Grace became Norma's guardian. Grace married a man called Ervin Goddard when Norma was nine years old, so the young Norma was sent to the Los Angeles Orphan Home and a series of foster homes. Two years later she went back to live with Grace but was sexually molested by Goddard.

Norma was married three times, first to neighbour James Dougherty in 1942 when she was 16 years old. He agreed to marry her to avoid her being returned to the orphanage. The marriage lasted only three years. She then married again in 1954, to baseball player Joe DiMaggio, but this time the marriage lasted less than a year. Very soon after, in 1956, she married playwright Arthur Miller, who described her as follows: "She was a whirling light to me then, all paradox and enticing mystery, street-tough one moment, then lifted by a lyrical and poetic sensitivity that few retain past early adolescence." Throughout her life she hated being alone and was terrified of being abandoned. In adulthood she was in and out of psychiatric clinics, and attempted suicide at least three times. She finally succeeded in killing herself (overdosing on barbiturates) on 5 August 1962.

As we heard in both Carol's case and Marilyn Monroe's life, borderlines cannot tolerate being alone. For them, aloneness feels like abandonment, and to avoid that awful feeling the person will seek out other people, even relationships with strangers. But, whoever they are with, borderlines either feel suffocated (by someone getting close to them) or abandoned (by someone being distant from them). They cannot find a calm middle ground in which to enjoy a relationship comfortably. Instead they go through an unhealthy alternating sequence of pushing others away (with angry hate), or clinging desperately to them (with extreme gratitude).

Remarkably, despite the unstable behaviour of borderlines, or "Type Bs", scientists have managed to study their brains, which are definitely different in much of the empathy circuit. First, there is decreased binding of neurotransmitters to one of the serotonin receptors. Neuroimaging also reveals underactivity in the orbital frontal cortex and in the temporal cortex – all parts of the empathy circuit.

A novel approach has been to follow up people who were abused as children and scan their brains. It is novel because it is prospective rather than retrospective: the emotional damage was done in childhood and the scientific question is: "What happens to their brain?" Not all of them will be Type Bs, but a significant proportion will be. Such people again have abnormalities in the empathy circuit, such as having a smaller amygdala. This is also true of women who were sexually abused, who later show less grey matter in their left medial temporal cortex, compared to non-abused women. Smaller hippocampal volume is also found in people who experienced a trauma and went on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One interpretation of all this evidence is that the early negative experiences of abuse and neglect change how the brain turns out. But the key point is that the zero degrees of empathy in borderlines arises from abnormalities in the empathy circuit of the brain.

Paul (not his real name, to protect his identity) is 28 years old and is currently detained in a secure prison after being found guilty of murder. He insisted he wasn't guilty because the man he stabbed had provoked him by looking at him from across the bar. Paul had gone over to the man and said, "Why were you staring at me?" The man had replied, I assume truthfully: "I wasn't staring at you. I was simply looking around the bar." Paul had felt incensed by the man's answer, believing it to be disrespectful, and felt he needed to be taught a lesson. He picked up a beer bottle, smashed it on the table and plunged the jagged end deep into the man's face.

Like me, the barrister at Paul's trial was shocked by the apparent lack of remorse and the self-righteousness of his plea of not guilty. Paul was adamant that he had simply defended himself. "He humiliated me in public. I had to show him I wasn't a doormat." I asked, "Do you believe you did anything wrong?" Paul replied, "People have treated me like shit all my life. I'm not taking it from no one no more. If someone shows me disrespect, they deserve what they get." I probed further: "Are you sorry that he died?" I waited to hear Paul's answer, holding my breath. He replied with anger in his voice: "Were the kids at school sorry when they bullied me? Was my boss sorry when he fired me? Was my neighbour sorry when he deliberately hit my car? And you ask me if I'm sorry that that piece of shit died? Of course I'm not sorry. He had it coming to him. No one's ever been sorry for how they've treated me. Why should I give a fuck about him?"

Paul's career of criminal behaviour had begun when he was as young as 13, when he had set fire to the school gym and sat in a tree across a field to watch it burn. He was expelled and from there went to three more schools, each time being expelled for aggression – starting fights in the playground, attacking a teacher who asked him to be quiet and even jumping on someone's head when they wouldn't let him join the football team.

Paul is clearly not the kind of guy you want to live near. Many would not hesitate to describe him as "evil". He is a psychopath – a Type P – though to give him the proper diagnostic label, he has antisocial personality disorder. He earns this label because he shows "a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or adolescence, and continues into adulthood".

Clearly Type Ps differ in important ways to Type Bs, but they share the core feature of being zero-negative: their zero degrees of empathy can result in them doing cruel things to others. The Type P brain, too, shows lots of evidence of abnormalities in the empathy circuitry. Given the association with neglect and abuse in childhood, there is evidence that early stress affects how well the hippocampus functions, and how active the neural systems are that respond to threat. Prolonged exposure to stress isn't good for your brain. The amygdala is one of the brain regions that respond to stress or threat. When it does, it triggers the hypothalamus to trigger the pituitary gland to release a hormone called ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). This is then carried by the blood from the brain down to the adrenal gland where it triggers the release of another hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is often called the "stress hormone" because it is a good indicator of when an animal is under stress. There are receptors for cortisol in the hippocampus that allow the animal to regulate the stress response. Remarkably, too much stress can damage and shrink your hippocampus, irreversibly. This is one more piece of evidence for the argument that instead of using the term "evil" we should talk about reduced (or even absent) empathy.

Empathy itself is the most valuable resource in our world. Given this assertion, it is puzzling that in the school curriculum empathy figures hardly at all, and in politics, business, the courts or policing it is rarely if ever on the agenda. We can see examples among our political leaders of the value of empathy, as when Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk sought to understand and befriend each other, crossing the divide in Apartheid South Africa, but the same has not yet been achieved between Israel and Palestine, or between Washington and Iraq or Afghanistan. And, for every day that empathy is not employed in such corners of the world, more lives are lost.

I think we have taken empathy for granted, and thus to some extent overlooked it. Psychology as a science virtually ignored it for a century. Educators focusing on literacy and mathematics have also largely ignored it. We just assume empathy will develop in every child, come what may. We put little time, effort or money into nurturing it. Our politicians almost never mention it, despite the fact that they need it more than anyone. Until recently, neuroscientists hardly questioned what empathy is.

I sat in Alyth Gardens synagogue in Golders Green in north London last year. Two men went up on the stage. The first one spoke: "I am Ahmed, and I am a Palestinian. My son died in the Intifada, killed by an Israeli bullet. I come to wish you all Shabbat Shalom."

Then the other man spoke: "I am Moishe, and I am an Israeli. My son also died in the Intifada, killed by a homemade petrol bomb thrown by a Palestinian teenager. I come to wish you all Salaam Alaikum."

I was shocked: here were two fathers, from different sides of the political divide, united by their grief and now embracing each other's language. How had they met? Moishe had taken up the opportunity offered by a charity called The Parents Circle for Israelis and Palestinians to make free phone calls directly into each other's homes, to express their empathy to bereaved parents on the other side of the barbed-wire fence. Ahmed described how he had been at home in Gaza one day when the phone rang. It was Moishe, at that time a stranger in Jerusalem, who had taken that brave first step. They both openly wept down the phone. Neither had ever met or even spoken to someone from the other community, but both told the other they knew what the other was going through.

Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with the neighbour. Unlike the arms industry that costs trillions of dollars to maintain, or the prison service and legal system that cost millions of dollars to keep oiled, empathy is free. And, unlike religion, empathy cannot, by definition, oppress anyone.

The Heart of Life

Life keeps on changing and never fails to demand every single things out of us.

For life to be good, come what may, there should be constant denominators in our heart and for me, they are selfless love and compassion.

At times, we are seen as weak and meek for being selfless and compassionate but Ralph Waldo Emerson says, "patience and fortitude conquer all things".

Wishing your heart of life is as good as mine.

Happy weekend everyone!

The Blind Side

Have I been losing my non-Malay friends over my "Dia, Kau dan Aku"?

I hope not and I hope we should know by now the kind of game that has been imprinted in our lifescript (by imitations and reactions), all in the name of survival. If there is any game plan, let's call it "Humanity" because we belong to nly 1 race and that is human race.

If you have watched Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side", you would remember this:

"You threaten my son, you threaten me" ~ Leigh Anne Touhy (The Blind Side)

Yes, I'd say that to anyone who threaten you.

Apology, from the deepest nooks of my heart, if I ever offended my dear friends out there.

Could I make up with this song by Colbie Callait, "I DO" because I do believe we are one big family.

"It's always been about me myself and I
If all relationships were nothing but a waste of time
I never wanted to be anybody's other half
I was happy to say that our love wouldn't last
That was the only way I knew to that you

You make we wanna say
I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Yeah, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every time before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe no
I can live without it, I can let it go
Ooh, I did, I get myself into
You make we wanna say I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,

Tell me is it only me
Do you feel the same?
You know me well enough to know that I'm not playing games
I promise I won't turn around and I won't let you down
You can trust and never feel it now
Baby there's nothing, there's nothing we can't get through

So can we say
I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Oh baby, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every time before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe no
I won't live without it, I won't let it go
Wooh Can I get myself into
You make we wanna say

Me a family, a house a family
Ooh, can we be a family?
And when I'm old and sit next to you.

And when we remember when we said
I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Oh baby, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every time before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe no
I won't live without it, I won't let it go
Just look at what we got ourselves into
You make we wanna say I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,
Love you"

My Hands and Her Hopes

Last week, I spent some time after work doing some revisions with my First Little Angel, Faris. He was into his second day of his kindy’s Mid Term Exam. I gave him a call the next day asking how was the exam (such a big word for such a little boy) and he was, with considerable amount of confidence in his voice, telling me that he managed to answer all questions (as I taught him to read his mind out loud whenever he’s confused) and he thought he did good.

Faris does not enjoy doing homework. He needs a pair of watchful eyes hovering over him to keep his focus on track. It is not that he is not good but after a considerable time being harshly reprimanded by his Mama while doing homework (for those imperfect, childish handwriting and dyslexic tendencies), Faris finds homework time emotionally confusing.

I am glad that my parents and I moved to a place closer to my sister (despite that I have lesser Ringgit in my purse for maintaining 2 houses). Not only that my parents could see their grandchildren often, I could spare my sister’s precious time for a good, short break or just concentrate on my Second Little Angel, Hariz. And Faris has his Mak Long who would allow him to be just a normal boy (Mak and my sister often protest my kind of leeway with Faris, messing up the kitchen while helping me cooking or baking, turning my room upside down with our art projects or eating too much chocolates before dinner).

My sister, like other parents to children with severe autism spectrum, is constantly on the verge of breaking down. Taking care of Hariz is physically tiring as Hariz needs to undergo various sensory and physical exercises. Emotionally, it is even more demanding as my sister constantly battles to decipher what is in Hariz’s mind and most importantly, what lies in the future for Hariz. Being a picky eater, Hariz’s diet changes every day, depending on his moods. One day, he may eat sufficiently to compensate for his high energy activities (surprising he seems to be a self-taught swimmer). On another day, he eats so little, he would wake up from his sleeping crying, signaling his hunger. And when Hariz cries, everyone has to bear with his incessant crying. I was trying to help Fariz, his brother, to concentrate on those numbers last night but even I found it difficult with Hariz crying non-stop, despite being consoled by my sister. As much as Hariz needs the help, my First Little Angel too deserves his. There are times when Faris would suffer from my sister’s frustration and exhaustion from taking care of Hariz. Despite me advising my sister to just walk away when she’s tired, Faris would get a beat or two when she had enough of so many things in her mind. That is something I cannot tolerate but who am I to criticize when I am not wearing her shoes?

Human beings are created by the Almighty strong in body, mind and soul to carry out their purpose in life but with constant tribulations, it is so easy to feel defeated, dejected and dead. What gives us all strength to soldier on is wisdom.

Alexandre Dumas Père once said that, “All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope”. In my sister’s case, for all these years going to the hospitals and many autism centres, she sees no light at the end of Hariz’s tunnel.

It is indeed disheartening to realise that those experts in the government hospitals are clueless about autism and not helpful at all. After 2 years of counseling and therapies at the government hospitals, Hariz is now being categorized as having Global Development Disorder by an expert in a private establishment, which charges thousands of Ringgit a month for a complete set of treatment and this means Hariz suffers from severe autism. Upon revelation of this bad news, my sister was given a ‘lecture’ for delay in getting Hariz to be properly diagnosed. For a woman who had suffered 6 miscarriages in a span of 4 years – such lecture was a major blow, questioning her credibility as a mother.

For records, my sister has spent a considerable sum of money for Hariz treatments in so many places. She is not asking for free treatments but she, like other parents in her situation, hopes that our government hospitals employ competent experts and strengthen their services by engaging more college students and volunteers to learn more about autism and its treatments. Although media has reported millions of government funds have been allocated for children like Hariz, the said funds are yet to trickle down to where they are needed most NOW. The existing facilities we have to help these children are scarcely located, when they should be localised to accomodate the rising demands of handling cases like Hariz and other prevalent learning disabilities.

There is no cure to Autism but by having these in place, I am sure, parents like my sister would sigh huge relief for children like Hariz, their journey to normal life, like us, is a long, winding one. There is no ending but there is hope for them to hang on to.

Yes, I started this post with my Faris. I believe, with Hariz's need is well taken care of, so does Faris because I want him to grow up in a conducive environment. Like many others out there, an illness would not only affect a person, it affects the whole fibre of the family, the society and eventually the nation. Let's make a point to lend a hand without them asking.

With the social system of a nation intact, the prospect of its people to grow and prosper is immense and unstoppable.

“A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity” ~ Jimmy Carter

I'm Flying Without Wings

The spell has gone.

Alhamdulillah for His kindness for giving me back what I once lost. I never knew how precious it was to be able to write away my thoughts and emotions till I found myself sitting, gazing at the screen without an ability to type the storms in my mind. I am the one who believes that writing puts my thoughts and emotions in perspective. I am at my best writing away.

Alhamdulillah for His Grace for giving me an immense depth of subconciousness to feel the warm thoughts and prayers I am bestowed from my dearly beloved, no matter how near or far we are. He has awakened me from this deep slumber.

I'm, now, flying without wings. I wish everyone out there, too, would be able to find that special something; and come and join me, flying without wings.

Sky is definitely not the limit.

Ubah Sarawak Ubah -Nothing Else Matters

Ubah! Ubah! Ubah Sarawak Ubah!

Ahh... I haven't been doing some cheering for the longest time. I wish I could do that this time for our Sarawakian brothers and sisters since tomorrow is the most important day for them for many years to come.

Tomorrow, they will come out and vote. I was told that the ballot boxes will move from one long house to another so it is just so imperative to ensure that the voters are at the correct time for them to cast their votes. Such logistic complexity poses an inevitable risk for these boxes could be changing hands and contents and by the time the count stopped, the result could be far from reality in the ground. Such devastation could just numb our Sarawakian brothers and sisters because they know they wanted to UBAH and vote they did. How could things go so wrong for so long?

"That's a small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind" ~ Neil Armstrong

Psychologically, deep inside us, there's always an urge to do something good for others because it is the right to do.

I appeal to all those people who are involved in tomorrow's event to carry out their actions in humane and responsible manners. Please do not deny the rights of these people who have been caged by your inconsiderate actions in the past, changing the path of history to the bleak reality they have to face every single day for the past 30 years.

I appeal that you help them to carry out their right to vote whom they deem the best to UBAH their life.

I appeal that you feel for them as much as you feel when your favourite soccer player was sent off with a red card because the referee was biased.

You, in your personal capacity, can make things right!

For Sarawakian brothers and sisters and those people who have helped to galvanise their spirit to UBAH their destiny, I, for once, want to share Metallica's "Nothing else matters".

So close, no matter how far

Couldn't be much more from the heart

Forever trusting who we are

and nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way

Life is ours, we live it our way

All these words I don't just say

and nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you

Every day for us something new

Open mind for a different view

and nothing else matters

Election Mood: Who Do You Think You Are?

"I know I can't take one more step towards you
Cause all that's waiting is regret
And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore?
You lost the love
I loved the most

Who do you think you are?

Runnin' round leaving scars

Collecting your jar of hearts

And tearing love apart

You're gonna catch a cold

From the ice inside your soul

So don't come back for me

Who do you think you are?"

~ Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts"

"I know I can't take one more step towards you
Cause all that's waiting is regret
And don't you know I will never vote for you anymore?
You lost the love
I loved the most

Who do you think you are?

Running around telling lies

Collecting your jar of votes

And tearing us part

You're gonna make a lot of dole

From the vice inside your soul

So don't come for me

Who do you think you are?"

~ Fi-sha

Going into Election Mood: Revisiting Thoreau's Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice.

Resistance also served as part of Thoreau's metaphor comparing the government to a machine: when the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be "a counter friction" (i.e., a resistance) "to stop the machine".

The word civil has several definitions. The one that is intended in this case is "relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state", and so civil disobedience means "disobedience to the state.

Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot be justified. Democracy is no cure for this, as majorities simply by virtue of being majorities do not also gain the virtues of wisdom and justice. The judgment of an individual's conscience is not necessarily inferior to the decisions of a political body or majority, and so "[i]t is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right... Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.

"That government is best which governs least" ~ Henry David Thoreau

What's Your Price Tag, People?

Fill your Ka'ching Ka'ching yet always kena 'kencing' [tipu]

Wear your Bling Bling yet always pening

Forget your price tag, low blows and videos hos

It's HIGH time to UNITE!

p.s.s. Please extend your monetary goodwill for a better future of our children here.

Happiness? You Are 10 Steps Away

Ahh... I am still hooked with lower part of our body and everything that has to do with it :) since now, I am on this "10 Steps To Happiness”.

I wonder if you think happiness is personal because I believe, even if our happiness is our private matter, it will only achievable to us and those people around us when we have a strong support/enforcement system (well, not at all akin to PERKASA's Ketuanan Melayu). Hence, it is proper if I share these steps here for some of you shakers and makers our there.

p.s. taking a stroll down a memory lane with NKOTB's "Step by Step"

"10 Steps to Happiness" ~ Anna Tim, The Guardian, 12 Mar 2011

In future we shall all be able to find happiness. It will lurk, hopefully, deep in a Himalayan forest and seekers will have to drive for 20 minutes down a dirt track to reach it. At the end of it, the government of Bhutan – the Buddhist kingdom which has suffered a recent surge in suicides – envisages a Gross National Happiness centre where citizens can relearn the balance between the spiritual and the material.

Bhutan's considerably more powerful neighbour, China, is now muscling in on the act with a new "happiness index" to evaluate the work of local government officials in some provinces. Its impact will be watched, no doubt with interest, by David Cameron's government, which is planning its own assessment of the nation's spirits. Stress is the prompt for this official concern. Basic living conditions have improved immeasurably over the past 50 years, but our sense of wellbeing has not kept pace, partly because of a competitive, volatile jobs market with the longest working hours in Europe.

Economist John Maynard Keynes imagined a 15-hour week by the beginning of the 21st century, because he thought we'd no longer have to work long hours to meet our material needs. But our concept of what we need has continually expanded and the working week has got correspondingly longer.

"Work-life balance" is the elusive panacea, but the phrase is also a misleading one. The implication is that life is something that happens elsewhere while we're tied to our desks. In fact, achieving balance is less about an equitable division of hours and more about whether we are allocating enough time and resources to our own satisfaction.

Around 1,500 years ago St Benedict set out the framework for a complete life – a structured mix of physical labour, exercise and devotions. Its rigours and piety would not appeal to modern secularists, but the recognition that routines should nourish our mental and physical wellbeing as well as harnessing our productivity is still a valuable one.

Experts agree that the first step to creating a balanced life is to assess what we need and want from our whole existence, not just work or home in isolation. Sometimes it's a change in perception that is required, rather than a change in circumstances, and work is not necessarily the enemy if it is managed correctly.

1. Assess your priorities

Achieving small goals – an hour each evening with your children, a weekly work-out at the gym – might transform your perception of your life. Otherwise, large-scale remedies – a career change or a house move – may be what is needed. You (and your employer) can't address your frustrations unless you have a clear idea what you want. It might help to invest in an invitingly bound notebook and keep a journal of your thoughts and hopes. The simple act of writing things down can make you feel more in control. Bear in mind, work-life balance is an ongoing process and your priorities will need to be reassessed regularly as your needs and circumstances shift.

2. Build boundaries

Modern technology means work can seep corrosively into private life. You need to make clear mental and physical distinctions between the two. Wean yourself off your email inbox in the evenings and turn your mobile off during family meal times. Similarly, you'll get home sooner if, when at work, you forbid yourself from making Facebook updates at your desk and try not to plan your weekend menus during your boss's financial review.

3. Be realistic

The pursuit of happiness is a modern luxury; throughout most of history the goal has been survival. We need, therefore, to lessen the expectations of our lives and make the best of what we have. "Stop being perfectionist; instead aim for being good enough," advises Julia Hobsbawm, author of The See-Saw: 100 Ideas for Work-Life Balance. "Don't compare your family to other families. Compare it only to your values and what you think is best for it." She suggests setting three manageable goals a day rather flailing after 30.

4. Get flexible

This is the obvious solution and one of the most effective. Flexible working gives you a degree of autonomy, and autonomy is a vital ingredient for self-fulfilment. Employees now have the right to request flexible working and employers have to have good reason to refuse, but there is the fear that if you are not a fleshly presence at your desk for eight hours a day you'll be deemed not to be pulling your weight. However, the more employees who work flexibly the less of a stigma there will be, so blaze a trail for your comrades.

They may actually get more toil out of you. In the office people can cover idleness with an air of activity; if you work from home bosses judge you on what you achieve.

When researchers from America's Brigham Young University looked at 24,000 IBM employees, they found that those with flexible working arrangements were able to put in 57 hours a week before their personal life started to suffer, against 38 hours for those in traditional posts, and when the AA based some of its call-centre staff at home their productivity rose by more than a third.

5. Learn to say no

Easier said than done, but you can decline positively. If you can't take on another project because it would unbalance the three you are expertly juggling already, explain this. Phrased cannily it will proclaim how much you are already achieving. Yes-men are not necessarily respected and are often dumped upon. Hobsbawn suggests applying equal rigour to your private life in order to stretch time. "Let something go that you feel you ought to do but can do without, whether it's cleaning or networking parties or visiting friends," she says.

6. Living to work or working to live?

We've come to expect our jobs to be fulfilling, but in a 1992 book Your Money or Your Life, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin argue that we've confused work with paid employment. They reckon that paid employment by itself can't fulfil, but work – as in productive effort which can include domestic responsibilities – can and does. Work and employment may overlap partly or wholly – the key is to understand the distinction. The authors suggest we ask what work we find fulfilling then ponder if and how our paid employment can help us realise it. We might require a job that in itself fulfils us – or a less demanding one to fund an outside passion. Possibly turning our hobby into a career would dull its lustre. Even if we can't change our job, knowing why we're really doing it – and what not to demand from it – can help clarify our perceptions.

7. Downshift

Your job might be costing you more than you think, according to Dominguez and Robin. If you require tropical holidays and frequent aromatherapy to relax, and if supper is a pricey Waitrose ready meal because you don't have time to cook, it might make financial sense to go part time and live more simply. "We need to move away from the consumerist identity to a productive one," says Pat Kane, author of The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living. "Your income will decrease but you'll be living more of a life."

Kane reckons a recession is a good time to reassess priorities. "If we aim to reduce our consumption, we will be able to work less and invest in life more. Imagine all the things we could do without having to shop: play and pray, create and relate, read and walk, listen and procreate."

A recent report by the thinktank The New Economics Foundation recommends the working week is cut to 21 hours to ease unemployment and improve quality of life. "So many of us live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume, and our consumption habits are squandering the earth's natural resources," says Anna Coote, co-author of the research. "Spending less time in paid work could help us to break this pattern. We'd have more time to be better parents, better citizens, better carers and better neighbours."

8. Get back to nature

Half an hour prodding soil will reduce office stress far more effectively (and cheaply) than a glass of chardonnay. Studies from the University of Bristol indicate that simply touching friendly bacteria in soil has a similar effect to taking antidepressants, while research by the mental health charity Mind found that 94% of people who engage in green activities such as gardening felt it had eased depression. Gardening (or angling, or rambling) reconnects us with seasons and cycles and, when our handiwork bursts into bloom, gives a heady sense of purpose.

"The garden teaches you that things die, but things come back and there is always this constant cycle," says Nicola Carruthers, chief executive of Thrive, a charity that helps disabled people through gardening. If you don't have access to a garden or allotment, even watching seeds sown into a planter can boost sagging spirits. Or make time to circuit the nearest green space after work. It will create a soothing mental boundary between work and home.

9. Nourish the spirit

The demand for mentors and life coaches suggests an appetite for seeking cosmic meaning behind the drudgery. "We should all be living more within the moment as our hunter gatherer ancestors did, but now we have a surplus of time and goods we've lost the art," says Dr Desmond Biddulph, chairman of The Buddhist Society. "Religions teach you a way of learning to reconnect, as does meditation. Yoga, for instance, is the idea of pulling energy back into the moment. Meditation and prayer reduce anxiety, which is the main destroyer of work-life balance. There's no rational reason why we should feel happy. Life is short and, for most humans, very unpleasant, and yet people do feel happiness when they stop thinking and worrying."

He suggests starting the day with 15 minutes of tranquillity, whether it's a cup of coffee at the kitchen table or quiet reverie on the train to work. "Once you are relaxed, priorities come naturally," he says.

10. Engage with others

Mahayani Buddhists regard virtues as skills for life, not as moral duties, and reckon that qualities such as generosity increase happiness. "Altruism makes people calmer and more fulfilled," Biddulph says. A relationship with family, friends and community is an essential ingredient for wellbeing and Nicholas Buxton, clergyman and author, wonders if the dash for material reward has diminished our view of our own human worth. "Maybe," he says, "fulfilment means engagement with others and finding purpose in looking outwards."

How About You & Me Going For A Stroll?

Not that I haven’t got a time to write about a plight, delight or might this year. I have come across many brilliant works, books, and people off late to write about but I feel that this is time to take a stroll through this challenging time, with an opened heart for the more we talk, the colluded our mind become.

I came across SolviturAmbulando while scanning through stories on Aristotle and Socrates. This Latin phrase can be translated to “It is solved by walking” and if I could answer, those nuns at Nonnberg Abbey when they sang, “How do you solve a problem like Maria?”, I’d tell them to go and take an Austrian hike.

So, how do we solve a problem like what we are facing now – that is running away from real problems (well, are we not saddled with rampant corruption, human rights abuse, stricken urban poverty, failing public systems and slow death of our precious mother nature?) by screening self-made problem (that is the purported video)?

Just take a walk and leave all those MSM at home, lining your bins. Apparently, walking quiet your mind, allows it to think through things, sift through data circuiting our complex grey matters. It dislodge the angst at the back of our mind (and throat), comfort our weary soul, brighten our mood and jog our mind to come up with a clear train of logical, relevant thoughts.

The great CS Lewis, who took his around 2-hour daily walk, said that,"Such walks should be silent if not solitary. Walking and talking are two very great pleasures but it is a mistake to combine them".

So, how about you and me going for a stroll?