saudade.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

As the girl listened to the memorial service, an example the pastor raised struck her.
The pastor said,
"One day, my son's friend's mother asked him how much he got for his maths test.
My son said 97. The mother replied, 'I wish you were my kid', right in front of her own child.
Then the boy said to my child, "Can I switch mothers with you?"
When the girl heard that, the thought that came to her mind was
Is this a reflection of what this society is all about?
Are results and success all people are living for?
Till a point that a mother would say such a thing.
What exactly is succes?
Is getting extremely good results success?
Is having a big house, expensive car and loads of money yet no kinship success?
To some people, as long as you earn billions of dollars, it's considered success.
To some, as long as you're happy with your life and have many friends, it's success.
To others, being happy is already considered success.
For ex-convicts, not returning to their old ways is a success.
For the not so educated, getting a job and getting through each day is a success.
As the girl pondered, she asked herself what success meant to her.
She had no answer.
It was such a profound question to her, at that moment.
Right there, she could find no way to pinpoint the definition of success.
But something she did know was that there is no success without happiness.
You can have stacks of money in your bank account but if there is no happiness, you've gained nothing
At least that was something she was sure of.
But above all, she believed that if one gained the whole world but lose that one thing most precious to him/her,
it was equivalent to gaining nothing at all.
That is how ironic life is.
Sometimes we spend our whole lives achieving everything but the thing we want most.
Sometimes it's right in front of us, but we're so blinded.
Why is that so?
The girl had no answer.
She guessed that it's probably because that is the way life was planned.
Like how there will never be joy if there was no pain
Or like how there will be no beauty if not for ugly-ness.
Life always has its ups and downs, if not for that, it will not be called life.
Life is... what's the correct word? The girl thought...
Oh yes, bittersweet.

Let wind blow, let fire burn
Let sea rise to greet sky
Let sun warm, let moon cool

Let songs speak, let hearts break
Let tears flow in heartache
Let war take, let love heal

Let stars shine, let souls fly
Let dawn break before us
Let day grow, let night fall

And as the girl looks back, life is still worth living, no matter what happens.