A Lady named ROSE

After reading this forwarded story, I feel like quitting this crummy job and going back to my drawing board and paint brushes…





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The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze.

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milk shake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing

me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

The Songkok Issue? - Let's change mindset too.

If PROTOCOL says, to be an Anak Bangsa Malaysia, one has to wear a songkok, I'd proudly wear it!  But don't get me wrong, it's only for protocol in the Royal Palace.  Nobody's telling us to wear it all the time.

We can’t seem to get over the fact that this should no longer be regarded as a symbolic submission of one to another culture.  Are we going to remain so chauvinistic so much so that any request to wear a songkok is like kow-towing to another community?  The days of this cultural stance created by political/racial chauvinism is of the bygone era should now be discarded.  Those days are gone for good.  We’ve just begun a new chapter last week.

Our younger generation, especially the girls, who grew up without our cultural baggage have gone ahead and dress themselves in baju kurung or saris without any inhibitions.  If we can dress up as westerners, why can’t we change our minds on this one?

Or maybe I’m seeing this issue from a too simplistic angle?  Maybe for the sake of going forward as a nation, all forms should be less emphasized than the substance?

Back to square one?

I guess our happiness is short-lived.  Something's brewing in Perak.  I hope the DAP guys stop thinking like they're back in their caves.  Thinking through their wrong ends!!!  We thought we've just got pass the racial and religious hurdles set up by years of BN grip on power.

I hope it's the work of some hacker...

Get On The Job!

Daddy says: Get on with the job! And the son says: Yes Sir... I'll call up Pak Lah for the money

Meanwhile in the loser's camp, the finger pointing doesn't stop even as they licked their wounds....

Malaysia has today matured

Watching the results of yesterday’s national elections coming in over the internet, I was thinking; the internet has helped us win this war in a big way.  Those incumbents who were busy plundering the national coffers thought that bloggers were not worth wasting their time on now realized too late, progress has caught up with them.  They found themselves swept away by the tides of change.

With 5 states taken from them and less than 2/3s majority in the Dewan Rakyat, the ruling coalition has now no choice but to come to terms with the democratic reality that they can’t have their cake and eat it too.  Malaysia has today matured to become a true democratic nation with this one election that makes history.  A direct result of this will be when all states whether they are opposition held or otherwise, should have their fair allocation of development funds and opportunities. 

The fear factor is removed, the discrimination abolished and the playing field is leveled.  Whoever performs will stay in 'power' and whoever goes to sleep shall be kicked in the butt or shown the door.  We have dreamed of this day.  It has become reality.  Long live Malaysia.  And thanks to a cohesive opposition who finally saw a common ground and used it well.

Like the legendary phoenix that rose from the ashes, the leaders of our current opposition groups have, in each of them, at least one who has gone through the test of fire and brimstone and returned to fight another day.  Or some have persevered through the toughest of battles to see now the triumph they have long fought for. And each one should have learned his lessons well. All have also learned from the history of this nation enough not to repeat the same destructive lessons. Their collective triumph now and their cooperation after this, is our hope for the future. We hope they continue to treasure those lessons learnt.

We are seeing the dawn of a new day.

The Eagle Who Thought He Was A Chicken

Our HR dept is fond of sending out emailed short stories with morals in them to all executives.  I thought the following original story wasn't dramatic enough and didn't have a proper ending, so I edited it and gave it a better ending and changed the moral as well.... 

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The Chicken

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain, causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain to a chicken farm located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds."

The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them.   Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done.   That is what the eagle learned to believe.

The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. But somehow he knew somewhere inside him there was an eagle waiting to soar into the skies.  

One day there was a lot of crying and screaming on the chicken farm.  All the chickens were flapping their wings and running around.  Feathers and dust flew about in every direction.  The eagle who was brought up as a chicken ran out to see what was happening.  It seems the chicken farm was under attack by a lone eagle from the mountain who was catching and taking away baby chickens. 

On his next attack he was surprised at meeting up with a chicken who dared to face him and prevented him from taking anymore baby chickens. 

"Stop!"  Said the eagle who was brought up as a chicken.  "You will not take anymore of my little brothers and sisters away."

"Hahaha!"  The eagle from the mountain laughed with scorn in his voice.   "And who do you think you are.  Are you trying to stop me?  What can you do stop me?  You are only a chicken!"

"I may only be a chicken, but I am going to stop you from attacking my family.  Someone has to do it.  And I am that someone."   He declared.

He immediately jumped at the eagle from the mountain, scratching and pecking at his face.  The eagle from the mountain was surprised that a chicken could move so fast and attack so fiercely.  Slightly wounded, he backed off and flew into the sky.  The eagle who was brought up as a chicken made a final jump at him with his sharp claws.   At the same time he opened his wings to balance himself.  He was surprised to see his own huge wings and also found that he could fly after the eagle from the mountain.  He chased the eagle all the way into the mountains.

Finally, satisfied that his family was safe he flew back and soared around in the sky over the farm.  He was greeted by a loud cheer from his adopted family. 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY:  

Don't judge yourself by the names they call you.  Know yourself and be the best of what you are.

English to be official language of Europe

(German Joke)

 

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English
will be the official language of the European Union rather than German,
which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English
spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year
phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English" .

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the
sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k".
This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the
troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words
like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to
reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which
have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag
is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou"
and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu
understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze
forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl