A Sonata to Kind People

Far away from home
Amidst sub-zero weather,
Feeling rather cold
And a bit homesick,
I think of the people
Who've been kind to me
Either in words or in deeds
To bring me warmth and comfort.

I feel blithesome and grateful
To have had such wonderful people
Bringing me kindness.
Which I'm unable to reciprocate
I can only play a sonata in my heart
To remember them with fondness
And everlasting gratitude
Praying for God's blessings on them.

ltbs

Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life.
Isaac Bashevis Singer

A Nasty Fall From a Hammock

Early one morning while I was lying in a hammock, enjoying a book and listening to the falling rain on the corrugated zinc roof, one end of the hammock suddenly gave way. It happened so fast that I found myself falling, hitting the back of my head hard on the concrete floor and being blinded by bright light momentarily.

I stayed on the floor for a few minutes and when my sight returned, I examined my head with my left hand. I found a slight bump but there was no bleeding on my head. I felt all right, too, so I got up.

I then phoned my wife and told her about the incident. I said that I was fine but she told me to stay where I was. She drove up within twenty minutes and insisted that she take me to the doctor's.

The GP examined my head, my eyes and my reflexes on my arms and my legs. He then told me that he could not find anything physically wrong with me. However, should I suffer any extreme giddiness, vomiting, or bleeding from the nose or ears later within the next twenty-four hours, my wife should rush me to the hospital.

We left the clinic, feeling a bit apprehensive while we waited for twenty-four hours. We were rather relieved that I did not suffer any further serious symptoms except for a sore left shoulder and a slight pain on the back of the head when the time limit was over.

ltbs

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa

A Little Something for Christmas

I usually find the Christmas season very depressing indeed, as it always evokes memories of the times when I was traumatized by certain unfortunate events at different Christmases.

But the Good Lord always comes to my aid whenever I feel horribly low. He did it, again, one Christmas. He got a former student to uplift my spirits... tremendously high indeed!

That student sent me a Christmas card and enclosed, in her own words, "a little something for you for Christmas ". That “little something” came up to 1500 English pounds! It was HUGE, indeed to me when converted to my home currency! It meant a lot to me as I was not drawing a pension nor did I have any EPF left, either.

ltbs


God comes at last when we think he is farthest off.

James Howell

A Dictionary Had Done the Trick

I was at a social club when I bumped into someone who I knew when he was a young kid. He was the elder son of my former neighbour. We had a pleasant chat about the past.

Then he asked me, "Did you remember giving me a dictionary?”

I replied, "No, I didn't. Why?"

" That dictionary was what made me a lawyer, today. Thank you so much".

I was surprised and asked him," How?"

"Well, my English was very poor before you gave me the lexicon. I was then in Form 3. After getting it, I started studying English seriously and I improved greatly. It was better late than never. I learnt a lot and improved so much that I could study law. So you see how grateful I am to you for that dictionary. We were very poor then, too."

" I'm glad I did that, but you weren't poor. Not now".

"Yes, we were. I wouldn't be able to afford that dictionary. We're OK now, thanks to your kind act."

I felt very blithesome to know that. I had given dictionaries and books to a lot of other children, too. This was the first time that I knew the result of my having given the books.

After talking a bit more, we left, hoping to meet again.

ltbs

If we meet someone who owes us a debt of gratitude, we remember the fact once. How often we can meet someone to who we owe a debt of gratitude without thinking about it at all!
Goethe

Dedicated in friendship to Su Eng Hock, advocate and solicitor