When a Snail Crosses Your Path

When a snail crosses your path

Do you stop to say Good day?

Or walk past oblivious to its existence, 

Or do you just squash it anyway?

Well, a snail crossed my path one night

It inched forward ever so slow

I stopped to peer down over my nose

To ask him, "Snail, where do you go?"

He didn't answer

Not a sound did he make,

But as he moved silently along

A lesson home, I did take

In this hustle and bustle oh-so-noisy world

We scarce take time to breathe

To remember what living is all about

To enjoy the flowers and trees

The night I met the snail has long past

But the memory of him lingers on,

Life, my friends, is not yours forever

And one day, it'll all be gone.

Appreciating life.

It's easy to take things for granted. To take people for granted too. More often than not, we treat those who are worth keeping like dirt, while holding high those that will drop us like a hot stone in times of trouble. Do we stop, desist, halt and falter with our badly made decision? Alas, many times we do not even realize who are the people we are not treasuring enough, and time and again, we disappoint them.

Soon, it's going to be the middle of May. And just like that, I'm way into my 2nd month of being a mid-20 year old. It's such a weird feeling, something that I am still finding hard to believe despite time seeping through my fingers so easily. In these five short months, too many things have happened. Shocks, surprises - call them what you may, they were nonetheless unforeseen circumstances. Deaths, departures, you name them, I've lived them, as have many around me it seems, in this bizarre first half of 2008. Sometimes you live many months and years with scarce a "drama" occurring, and yet, it seems as though life is put on the fast forward, and everything and anything that can happen does, and your world just seems to go topsy-turvy, front and back, and you feel like Alice in Wonderland on some strange psychedelic chemical-induced state and then suddenly... suddenly, you stop.

Everything goes on a mighty.... long.... pause. And you take some time to simply step away. Time stands still and nothing moves. (Or so it seems). The earth ceases to rotate, the sun and day fuse together and you hurry along eagerly. And yet, nothing happens. This is called the Lull Period. The saying is true - and after the storm comes the calm. And the calm evades and it spreads. It spreads over you, over those around you. It spreads into your life, everything. Life, doesn't seem the burden it was. In fact, you can barely remember just how life was when things seemed a little too much. For now, you are in the position you can stand tall and look back over your shoulder and give that smirk you've been dying to give.

The storm has blown over. It's time to rebuild the foundations. Stronger and sturdier this time, so that when another deadly gust blows through, the foundation cannot be shattered. And the next time, you will be stronger. I will be stronger. In one single year (less, actually) of moving continents, I've learned so much. About myself, about presenting myself, about being real, about artificiality. I've learned to speak less and listen more. I've learned to listen to what I am about to say before I say it. I still have brash moments, sometimes I can't catch myself before causing irreversible hurts. But I am learning. And I am moving forward. We all are, we all grow. Towards a brighter future. Towards appreciating life and the true meaning of what it is to live.

Breaking free from the Mould

Belonging is something that people always want, something that it seems, almost everyone craves for. Yet at times, I meet people who make me wonder what is it they want? Why do they do the things that they do?

In a place like Singapore, we are quick to fault others, we jump to the occasion at pointing out someone's elses bad points, their faults, their weaknesses. We do so in order to make ourselves feel better than them, in a futile attempt to conceal our own insecurities and doubts. Singaporeans, despite their many complaints, are happy to whine about something and yet, not work to do anything to change it. Why? For fear of the authorities, for fear of public backlash, for fear that their own family members may cease to support them. This country seems to be run almost by an unspoken fear and not by communal respect. Saying this however, I am sure, that fellow countryman do love and respect our people in power very much. If not, then how can they still be running the country (and our lives) up until today? They do not face threat from an opposition party, their vote counts still remain strong. This point veers off my topic for today, and it's back to the idea of "belonging" once more.

Belonging to me is about acceptance. Acceptance from your loved ones, from the society you belong to, and lastly, from yourself. A seemingly confidant person may actually be an insecure emotional wreck internally, using the facade of strength and power to give others the illusion that they are in control of their lives, thus making them admirable in some sense and even likeable. In actuality, their confidence could be based on skills they have acquired precisely to boost their own appeal to others.

I don't believe that not chasing your dreams is the way to go. But if wanting to become a doctor, a lawyer... (and the list goes on) is solely because of your yearning for earning great sums of money, then I feel you and your career are headed on a downward spiral. And ultimately, end up at a hard, brick wall. Let me not criticize the loud and the noisy, I personally don't feel anything is wrong with that. Being slightly deaf and having an unusually loud voice myself, I tend to get slightly loud. I do feel though, that those that adopt the mindset that the "confident" louder personalities tend to be more accepted are hugely mistaken. And, as I've learnt over this weekend, belonging is more about giving yourself up to someone else entirely. Without fear of rejection, you put your trust in this person, with full confidence that the person will accept you. Not an easy feat if at times you tend to be overbearing!

Sadly, I feel we lack an understanding of this thinking here in Singapore. We are taught from young to work hard and achieve the best, to be the first in everything we do. Regardless of the people that we hurt along the way. The reasoning behind this is that it doesn't matter what the consequence to OTHERS of our actions, but we WILL be accepted because we have established ourselves as people others want to emulate and learn from. Don't get me wrong, I respect people who have worked hard to achieve much. But I feel that one should only embark in such a journey because they want to be a provider for others, and not flaunt their cash on useless cars or excessive displays of wealth. Live life simply and full. How can you accept yourself if your behaviour is less than acceptable? And if you cannot accept yourself, then how can you expect others to accept you much less feel that you belong to them, and them to you?


I hope I do not sound preachy, I am not one to preach, but only share my thoughts. And I ask for you to reflect on life and its many occurances. Examine WHY they happen and not WHY ME. Drink from the cup fills half full and not half empty. Everyone has their pot at the end of the rainbow - A sense of belonging. This is one dream you can chase, and the journey is one only you can pave a path for.