what a start!

on the 9th day of the new year and everything looks ... (complete the sentence for yourself!)
for the first time in a long while i went out for supper...early on new year's day. when we got back; we thought we would check in to see how the major cities are partying to welcome the new year (i still dont get why we do that?)...then we got the news: fire in Bangkok and soon enough... one of us has passed on..
i am sure parties are designed to take us out of the gloom and humdrum of life give us a lift, escape, sense of adventure and some kind of wishfulness...
But
within every heart and into every national psyche a fear has invaded us like never before.
i remember feeling nervous when i was 15 and people were talking about a nuclear holocaust.
15 years later, we have that possible threat and more.
*the invisible hand of price that the great economist promised would regulate things for us rational beings did not.
* it's not a few people in power that can press the wrong button and kill us; it's many of us killing each other today with compromise, corruption, hatred and vengeance

Naturally i shield these things from my kids or share it with them very carefully. No child needs to grow up feeling frightened and powerless.

And then yesterday's papers tell of grievous things that happen when our hearts are troubled: an abused child, a beat up youth ....right here in safe, sensible, practical Singapore!

we can hope these things do not hit us, that we wont be at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people..we can pretend we are not afraid and chase a wild time..we can rant and rave...

or we can grief for our kind.
look inside out hearts
look for help

and then we can party, truly party - for time is short; and life is worth living fully, freely and well.

break free?

it's with much sadness that i read the story of how a child prodigy finally broke free - only to find herself with licence and the very real burdens of staying afloat...imagine being in one reality for so much of one's life - more than ten years - in a regimented home without much exposure to the world. suddenly, she is in oxbridge and the one who would interpret life for one is not there. it is freedom, opportunity and chaos all at once.
pity the father who does not understand what life, growth, maturity and success truly means. pity even more this poor gal whose unreal world comes crashing down - and she does not know what to construct in its place....
it reminds me of another girl, a Singapore girl who established notoriety-fame by seeking to break the world record for having the most sexual encounters within a day. what would drive any one to do something like this?
i cannot be sure; but i do know this even within my own bosom - we are deeply insecure beings and re-anchoring ourselves regularly is essential to sanity and substantial living.
When we move too fast though; this may not occur at all; and we have many sad tales of the once successful become have-been-theres lose their bearings and their birth-right as essential beings in a inter-connected world. what waste. what travestry.
we hope. it does not happen too much. we hope. it does not happen too close.
but our hope is paper-thin and easily torn asunder. for some, like this gal, all the world she has known holds no hope it seems...
no, hope must come from beyond us. HOPE must be captial H.
we need something/someone stronger, deeper, more permanent and enduring to moor ourselves to. that's Hope. reach for it. write me and i will tell you Hope's name.