Look at the contrast of our youths ...

Could this be a coincident? On July 11, the night of mayhem at Plaza Low Yat by 200 hooligans, a Sarawakian lass by name of Faye Jong had a meteorite named after her by NASA. On July 20, while 40 youths went on a rampage in Wangsa Maju we have this lass, Tan Hui Linn, receivng her award from the Sunway TES Centre for Accountancy Excellence. Tan Hui Linn was a victim of an acid attack by her father which left her visually impaired in the left eye and a face that required corrective surgery. She has since started work as an auditor in Penang.

Read the rest of news article here.

An inspiring moment at the Ellen DeGeneres Show

Faith, Hope and Trust, simply explained

The never ending dream of Ang Lee

"In 1978, as I applied to study film at the University of Illinois, my father vehemently objected. He quoted me a statistic: ‘Every year, 50,000 performers compete for 200 available roles on Broadway.’ Against... his advice, I boarded a flight to the U.S. This strained our relationship. In the two decades following, we exchanged less than a hundred phrases in conversation.

Some years later, when I graduated film school, I came to comprehend my father’s concern. It was nearly unheard of for a Chinese newcomer to make it in the American film industry. Beginning in 1983, I struggled through six years of agonizing, hopeless uncertainty. Much of the time, I was helping film crews with their equipment or working as editor’s assistant, among other miscellaneous duties. My most painful experience involved shopping a screenplay at more than thirty different production companies, and being met with harsh rejection each time.

That year, I turned 30. There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘At 30, one stands firm.’ Yet, I couldn’t even support myself. What could I do? Keep waiting, or give up my movie-making dream? My wife gave me invaluable support.

My wife was my college classmate. She was a biology major, and after graduation, went to work for a small pharmaceutical research lab. Her income was terribly modest. At the time, we already had our elder son, Haan, to raise. To appease my own feelings of guilt, I took on all housework – cooking, cleaning, taking care of our son – in addition to reading, reviewing films and writing scripts. Every evening after preparing dinner, I would sit on the front steps with Haan, telling him stories as we waited for his mother – the heroic huntress – to come home with our sustenance (income).

This kind of life felt rather undignified for a man. At one point, my in-laws gave their daughter (my wife) a sum of money, intended as start-up capital for me to open a Chinese restaurant – hoping that a business would help support my family. But my wife refused the money. When I found out about this exchange, I stayed up several nights and finally decided: This dream of mine is not meant to be. I must face reality.

Afterward (and with a heavy heart), I enrolled in a computer course at a nearby community college. At a time when employment trumped all other considerations, it seemed that only a knowledge of computers could quickly make me employable. For the days that followed, I descended into malaise. My wife, noticing my unusual demeanor, discovered a schedule of classes tucked in my bag. She made no comment that night.

The next morning, right before she got in her car to head off to work, my wife turned back and – standing there on our front steps – said, ‘Ang, don’t forget your dream.’

And that dream of mine – drowned by demands of reality – came back to life. As my wife drove off, I took the class schedule out of my bag and slowly, deliberately tore it to pieces. And tossed it in the trash.

Sometime after, I obtained funding for my screenplay, and began to shoot my own films. And after that, a few of my films started to win international awards. Recalling earlier times, my wife confessed, ‘I’ve always believed that you only need one gift. Your gift is making films. There are so many people studying computers already, they don’t need an Ang Lee to do that. If you want that golden statue, you have to commit to the dream.’

And today, I’ve finally won that golden statue. I think my own perseverance and my wife’s immeasurable sacrifice have finally met their reward. And I am now more assured than ever before: I must continue making films.

You see, I have this never-ending dream."

(Following Ang Lee’s second Best Directing win at the Academy Awards last night, this beautiful essay resurfaced. Here is my translation of Ang Lee’s words, written in 2006 (post-Oscar win). Please credit the translation to Irene Shih (and to this blog), thank you!).

An inspiring story that will change your life

This is a gripping story of a man, whose loss of his wife brings him to a stand point in life. Unable to cope, or to tell his young daughter about her mom's death the man refuses to go to the wake. However, an unlikely friend shows him a differnt path in experiencing whats known to be true and certain in his life, by diving into his own imagination. Through these "sessions" of experiencing a different world, entirely created and lived by the man himself, he finds one of life's most powerful messages.

An inspiration to all, our "Lady of Liberty"

‘Lady of Liberty’ at Bersih march draws online support

A screenshot of "Malaysian Lady of Liberty" as of 9.45am July 11 2011.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Quiet has settled over Saturday’s chaos but one image is still making waves on the Internet — the picture of an elderly woman in yellow, drenched in rain and chemical-laced water, walking away from riot police while clutching on to a long-stemmed flower and a near-empty mineral water bottle.

She is Annie Ooi Siew Lan, a 65-year-old retired English teacher who took a bus from Setapak in the early morning of July 9 to join thousands of others in Bersih 2.0’s march for free and fair elections. An unknown man had offered her the flower in the morning and she waved it like a flag throughout the four-hour march.

Netizens have dubbed her “Aunty Bersih”, and even Malaysia’s “Lady of Liberty”, for placing her health and safety at risk to join a march the government had declared illegal.

Pictures of the diminutive Ooi strolling in the war zone that Kuala Lumpur had turned into are all over the Internet, inviting messages of awe and wonderment from netizens across the country.

On Facebook, at least three fan pages were set up in dedication to Ooi immediately after the event. One page called “Malaysian Lady of Liberty” attracted 17,176 “likes” as of 9am this morning.

Ooi was one of the few who dared to turn up in yellow to mark the occasion, despite earlier warnings that those with clothes indicating support for the outlawed Bersih 2.0 coalition would be arrested.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider through her daughter over Facebook chat last night, Ooi confirmed that she had been tear gassed four times and sprayed with the water cannon once during Saturday’s pandemonium.

She said she was unsure of what time the rally was scheduled to start or where, but was determined to support its cause by participating in it even if she had to do it alone.

“She took the bus to General Hospital because the roads into town were blocked,” her daughter related. “She walked to Chow Kit, Maju Junction, went into the back lane of Little India to pass Masjid Jamek, avoiding cops, heading to National Mosque but was stopped at Dayabumi.”

There, Ooi was interviewed by one uniformed policeman and four others in plainclothes. They asked for her IC and recorded her details, then asked her why she was dressed in yellow. “Why can’t I wear yellow?” she asked in return.

According to a post by a blogger who claimed to have spoken to Ooi before the march began, the feisty retiree had asked other protesters why they did not turn up in yellow as well. “Why do we have to feel so scared in our own home land . . . and by own countrymen,” she had reportedly said.

A newbie at street protests, Ooi also did not know what to do in the event that she got gassed, and had not brought anything to protect herself, her daughter said.

Annie Ooi Siew Lan “Lady of Liberty” next to Puduraya during the Bersih rally in Kuala Lumpur July 9 2011. — Picture by Jack Ooi

“She wasn’t prepared for any of the attacks,” her daughter said. “She went without protection; no goggles, no masks, no salt, nothing. It was horrible . . . the coughing, and didn’t know how to stop the discomfort and pain. After the second gassing, she was offered salt by someone and it helped a lot.”

Despite this, eyewitnesses claimed on the Internet that Ooi had marched on determinedly during the protest and despite the chaos, even yelled at others not to run.

When told to ask her mother if she would dare to brave another march for the same cause, her daughter replied, “Without a doubt”.

“There was a very strong oneness in spirit which she had never felt before in this country,” added the daugter. “Especially from the younger generation which have their years ahead of them yet marched on despite the possibility of ruining their lives by getting arrested.”

Ooi was among the thousands of protesters who took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to march in support of Bersih 2.0’s demand for electoral reforms.

More than a thousand people were arrested, and chaos broke out at midday after the police fired tear gas canisters and sprayed water cannons to break up the crowd.

The true meaning of the universal 'hero' compared with UMNO's.

Writer, Mariam Mokhtar, wrote the following article which is a must read for every one who wants to know what a true 'hero' means.

The former chief of Bukit Bendera UMNO, Ahmad Ismail, was honoured with titles and proclaimed a Malay 'hero'. He was conferred two heroic titles, the Wira Bangasa Melayu and Bintang Perkasa Melayu Jati.

After an hour long wait, typical of people who have little respect for others, the arrival of the 'hero' resembled a wedding procession complete with bunga manggar and the drum-beat of the kompang. The only thing that appeared to be missing was the bride.

The night's jollity which was attended by around 150 delegates from 23 branches included a silat performance and the obligatory sheathing and unsheathing of the keris.

Boys will be boys and they will show off their weapons in an act of assumed bravado.

To the uninformed, the controversial Ahmad Ismail, our new 'hero', was suspended by UMNO in 2008, for three years, after he referred to non-Malays as 'pendatang' (foreigners).

He described Malaysian Chinese as 'squatters' and cautioned them not to emulate the 'Jews in America'. As expected, the suspension was later lifted by UMNO, last December.

His racist comments aroused the memories of inter-ethnic tensions and threatened the government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, at the time. Badawi suspended Ahmad and barred him from any political posts as punishment.

There were protests from members of the BN coalition who threatened to withdraw their membership. Even the armed fo4rces chief warned that 'stern action must be taken to prevent' racial conflicts.

As a consequence of Ahmad Ismail's ill-timed and unacceptable comments, the journalist who reported the comments was taken away by the police under the order of the Internal Security Act (ISA), ostensibly for her personal safety.

The supposed hero, Ahmad Ismail, managed to threaten the security of the country, challenged the authority of the Prime Minister at the time, almost wrecked the BN coalition, caused strife and anger in the Malaysian public, caused the army to be on possible alert, insulted various people (Jews, Americans, Chinese, Malays), rekindled horrific memories of racial riots, threatened the fragile peace and security of a nation, exposed the hypocrisy of the police actions and the political abuse of the use of the ISA.

Is this Bukit Bendera's idea of a hero? Someone who divides, insults and unapologetic in his actions? Someone who has no respect for others? Someone who was prepared to hold his leader and his country to ransom? Someone who is ignorant of history?

Please allow me to show an example of a 'true hero'.

My choice of a hero is Dr Karen Woo, a British doctor who was murdered by the Taliban and the Hizb-i-Islami group last Thursday. She was killed, with eight other doctors as they returned from months working in the Nuristan region, a remote area in the north east of Afghanistan. They had gone to set up a clinic and provide free medical help to the people there. They did not have a 5-star accommodation or even luxury cars. They lived a spartan life and conducted part of their journey on horse back.

Dr Woo gave up a lucrative career in private medicine to join a humanitarian aid effort. She combined her love of travelling with her medical work. Before Afghanistan, she had also worked in hospitals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago.

Although she joined the International Assistance Mission, a Christian charity, Dr Woo found time to make a documentary about Kabul, a city which she grew to love. She even started the Bridge Afghanistan charity with Firuz Rahimi, a journalist, to improve the live of ordinary Afghan people.

According to Dr Woo's family, whe was "a humanist and had no religious or political agenda. Her motivation was purely humanitarian. She wanted the ordinary people of Afghanistan, especially the women and children to receive health care."

Dr Woo, who once dreamt of being a professional dancer, was briefly a model and even joined a flying circus performing stunts strapped to the wing of a biplaine.

Encouraged by her mother, a psychiatric nurse, she turned to medicine and worked in various places around the world. She returned to London and worked as a surgeon and as a medical director in private medicine, before embarking on the humanitarian work in Afghanistan.

Her life was full of inspiration, adventure, travel and charity. She, like her other colleagues who died alongside her, were committed, caring, compassionate and courageous. She helped women and children who were in need of medical attention.

Shed bridged the gap between the sick and the healthy, the east and west, the criminals and caring people. Dr Woo, who I am assuming is possibly a non-Muslim, helped the Muslim people in Badakhshan and Nuristan provinces.

In two weeks time, 36 year-old Karen Woo would have been married to her fiancé. His last act of love was to identify her body, which had been shot twice, and then to bury her.

She leaves behind her parents, an English mother and Chinese father, and her two brothers to mourn their loss, in England. A whole nation which depended on medical programs, provided by humanitarian workers like her, is in jeopardy. Thousands of people are now, unable to receive a continuation of her medical expertise.

The tragedy of this young woman was that in helping to save lives in remote, Taliban infested Afghanistan, she made the ultimate sacrifice.

If you ask me, Dr Karen Woo is my 'true hero'.

Something for us to ponder over

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
milkshake.

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 months 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.


These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.

GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

We make a Living by what we get.

We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

The Blind Boy

Came across this from Maverick's blog and thought it was too good to let it pass.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.

He held up a sign which said:

“I am blind, please help.”

There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by.

He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.

He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some works.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up.

A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. What he had written says:

Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.”

Weren't the first sign and the second sign saying the same thing?

Both signs told people the boy was blind.

The first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

Moral of the story:

Be thankful for what you have. Think positively.

Invite others towards good.

Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets.

When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for your future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

For all the Great men, “Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness. In the journey of life, to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience.”

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling.

And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it.

Do make a difference to someone today

When I first came across this video, I thought it would be just another one of those inspirational stuff sent to me by my good friends. Then I decided to sit right through the entire presentation and by the time I came to the end of it, I could almost feel the story tugging at my heart strings.

Instead of fighting which race is superior, which religion is better, which MB is better or which party is better, why not go out and make a difference to someone out there today and who knows, this world could still be a better place to live in yet.

Watch the video and be blessed!