Moving

toooooooo… here!

Bye! :)

18/10: Shu Ling Turns 19

This precioussssss face (on the right! on the right!!) turned 19 not long ago! Wow I just realised how much make-up we had on in this picture. Or maybe I just had really nice skin back then. Gone are the days. Wait, this is not about me – but this is all you! I think the first part of this paragraph is indicative of the frivolous side of our relationship – we have a LOT of shallow conversations. But Shul is not shallow, she is deep as the river.. The great Yangtze river.

Jokes aside, I want to mention one of my favourite things about Shu Ling – her sincere love for her family. Shu Ling is incredibly family-oriented, and loves her family in a simple way that does not need a lot of explanation. Nothing profound, just a simple understanding of what is important. A lot for me to learn! You are so cool, wo ai ni jiu jiu!

Not Everyone

“Oh,” cried Marianne, “with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted as I walked to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air, altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.”

“It is not everyone,” said Elinor, “who has your passion for dead leaves.”

– Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen), Chapter 16

Poverty

I am currently doing a sociology subject on health, illness and society this semester, and a portion of this subject is dedicated to the effects of poverty. It is mostly theoretical and factual – but somewhere along the way, reading about it made my insides feel like it has been hollowed out. Poverty is a ridiculously powerful driving force. Name me something else, anything else on this earth that would empower a mother to give away her daughter, her baby girl, whom she had suffered for and paid the price of labour pains in order bring her into this world. And what for? In exchange for mere pennies. Peanuts. Money that will last for maybe a month. It will go, but she has already chosen to give up what is more entwined with her soul. So what is the next step? She would have to travel down the exact same path she sold her baby girl into. Prostitution is not just a viable solution, it appears to be the only feasible one – after all, what else does she have but her own body to give away?

That is desperation redefined, the burden of survival diminishing any remaining sense of humanity. Yet do they know any other choice? Poverty has become a lifestyle for them. How can I say for sure that I will not act the same way, should I be caught in that situation? In the midst of a total sense of hopelessness, how would I know? I have not even ever experienced anything close to that. I don’t think I really understand what it means to be truly desperate.

The label of poverty and the stigma of those who partake in human trafficking creates awareness, but does nothing to help. It provides knowledge, not solutions. Money can be churned and collected to help these individuals, but their lifestyle remains. So where is the line drawn between mere charity and the call against injustice?

Seasonal

Just blurting out the thoughts off the top of my head from recent days.

Checking my motives, my intentions; observing my execution!
Discipline.
Honesty, transparency and humility.
Purity and whole-heartedness!
Frailty of humanity.
Anchoring of hope and security.
Attitude – it is much more than the externals, a reflection of what’s going on inside me!

I have been thinking about this again.. The great One thing to channel all my energy and life towards.

My one thing.. What is it, really?

Unpretty

Today I had a profound revelation that I cannot do a health science subject and have a really pretty desk at the same time. If I were to keep my desk pretty, it would not have 10kgs worth of anatomy and neuroanatomy textbooks on it. Just not possible. So the question is, what is more valuable anyway?

SIGH.