6 degrees apart

Soft like snow
Healing like rain
Passionate like a storm

Warm as yellow
Rich as purple
Pure as white

After the snow melts
After the rain floods
After the storm rages

The sun rises
And a rainbow shines over us
Like a glorious halo

We are
As always
The embodiment
Of all life and colours
Of the earth.

We go through many things in life - from learning to walk our first few steps to running wild, and then believing that we can fly. In some experiences, we come out on top. While in others, we get knocked up. Soon we will discover that each experience is in itself a crucial lesson. When we refuse to stay down and be weighed down, when we persist and proceed, we can even reach for the stars.

Before we learnt how to laugh, we actually came out of our mother's wombs, crying and screaming. This may be why we may tend to laugh less and cry more. Hence, knowing how to protect our hearts becomes a priority and learning to trust someone becomes a scarcity. But with true living and loving, we will treasure both joyful laughter and tears of joy.

Finally, when we are laid to rest in our final box, we will disintergrate into the soil of mother earth. Will beautiful flowers grow right above us? Or even a tree? Will we be remembered for the things we did, said and built? Or will we be defined by the people we love? Did we leave behind a trail of mess and pain, or do we have a heritage of values to pass on?

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, life in its ever changing twists and turns, takes each of us through a seemingly endless cycle. When our final resting hour beckons, all will be too late, all will be lost. So, why wait till then?

Say the things you want to say to the people you love or dream to love. Grab hold of them, and love them without pride or conditions. You'll never know if their time on earth is going to be as long as yours.Visit the places you want to see, save a few for special moments with that special someone. Take as many pictures as possible because our memory is not forever.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Nothing risked, nothing cherished.

Forgive, forget and let it go. The world has enough of garbage as it is. Cleanse your mind as you cleanse your soul.

Keep it real, stay true to yourself.

All we have right now is just time. And when that is taken away, there is really nothing left. Eventually, even the body that you have right now, will betray you. WE will grow old, become sick and die! And when we leave this place, we can't take anyone or anything along with us.

So, who's with me? These are the things I have yet to do:-

1) Fly over the Napa Valley during sunset in a hot air balloon

2) Rent a log cabin by the lake, and just do everything by hand - yes, manual labour all the way. HAHAHA

3) See the Mona Lisa for the very first time and touch Adam's finger in the Sistine Chapel ( ok, may be I reserve this with that special someone )

4) Go to Morocco and just stay there for two weeks. Soak up the culture, and bask in their architecture.

5) Party at Casa Del Mar, Spain! Non-stop dancing, from dusk till dawn. ( everyone is invited )

6) Hop on a Vespa and tour Tuscany. Let's see, I want to start with Chianti, Siena, Florence and finally end up in Venice. Ok, Venice is not in Tuscany. But what the hell, it's along the way! We work our way up! Hehehe

I LOVE THIS LIST! This is the kind of New Year's Resolution that I can definitely identify with. So, what's yours?

ENJOY AND APPRECIATE - RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE.

START FROM WHERE YOU ARE.

How the discarded lives...

This evening, I did something totally out of the ordinary. Well, out of the ordinary of my daily life, that is. I went out into the streets of Kuala Lumpur with the Kechara Soup Kitchen team to distribute packets of food to the homeless. There were about 21 of us, from all walks of life, of different ages, genders, and races. And we were divided into 4 groups to scour the different parts of KL to feed the homeless.

My team walked from Central Market to Masjid India, just behind Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, and then made a full round of Masjid India, before we walked all the way down to Pudu Raya. OK, I have to be honest here, I have never walked so much in my life! Especially not in the streets of KL!

There is so much of KL which I certainly don't know, and wouldn't want to know. Seriously, I was really quite afraid of getting mugged, hurt or harmed in any way. But soon my fears gave way to feelings of sadness and pity. Because there are just so many homeless in the streets - our streets, in KL. There are the blind ones, the handicapped ones, the drug addicts and even small children accompanying their parents.

There was this lady who was crouching outside of KL Plaza. Her face looks like as if someone has poured acid all over it. I could hardly see her face, or even make out what is her age. I couldn't even see a proper nose or eye lids on her face. There's a hole for a mouth but no lips. It was a real pitiful sight.

Of course, we heard the stories about how there is a syndicate running a scam in KL, placing all these homeless or beggars on the streets to get so-called 'pity money' from passers by. Whether there is any truth in these scams or not, it still didn't change the way I felt when I saw them. They can't be living it easy or any comfortably in any case. Being trapped in their bodies, their situations and there seems little that they can do to change their circumstances.

Now, I have always known just how very lucky I am. I mean, I do know that I lead a priviledged life. I am blessed with so many things that are denied of many people out there.

To be honest, I cannot tell you how it feels to sleep on the side walks, or under bridges and never knowing where your next meal is coming from. I cannot tell you how it feels to shudder in the chilly rainy nights, and scutter away in an alley like some animal. I can't because it's something I do not wish to experience or know. In fact, these are the very things I usually turn a blind eye to, or look away. Because it's simply easier when we don't have to know or deal with it.

No matter what, I can't imagine what's it like to live on the streets. I can donate food and distribute to the poor or homeless, but I still go back to my nice car, comfortable bed and sleep. I can go out and buy myself a nice meal and I can choose from a vast variety of food to stuff my face with. So, yes, I have the easier life and I am luckier than they are. And I wouldn't want to change places with any one of them, never.

If it was not for this Kechara Soup Kitchen program to feed the homeless, I would never even imagine walking down the streets in KL, and meeting these people, looking into their eyes and shaking their hands. When you look at their hands, then you'll know what a hard and tough life is all about.

We sit in our comfortable surroundings and we complain how tough out lives are, but we really have no clue how scary and cruel it can be to be discarded out there. There is really no one to help you or protect you, and you literally have nothing to live by.

I am in my wonderful air con room now, typing this whole experience - outside there will be screams that I won't hear, cries which may never be comforted, and human lives which seem no different than those of street rats.

This is the great divide - how the other half lives, those which we will never think about, or even mourn for when they die, because their lives have no value in society.

Now, I seriously don't know if we brought any comfort or warmth at all when we go out there and give them food every Saturday evening. I don't even know if we are really helping them for just that one day. But what I do know is that it has certainly done its job in affecting me.

I will not view them in the same way, nor will I view my life in the same way as I used to.