Human’s Cruelty…

I believe nothing in this world is more cruel than Human. According to the Buddha’s teachings, it is great merits to be born as a Human. We live in a World where we can work hard to achieve the type of life style we want, where we want to stay and who we want to live with. We have the intelligence to understand things that other living beings (those that you can see) cannot understand or have minimum understanding…however some of us are better described as in Chinese translated…”worst than animals”.

Animals kill for food and only when they are hungry. Animals have little brain but they know loyalty. Animals react when provoked. Animals lived in their own habitats and with their kinds but unfortunately some animals are branded as “PETS”. These are tame animals and therefore are brought into homes to serve as “entertainment” to their owners. Some owners are loving, some just need a pet around to boast of status, others…with the mentality that they are forced to take on because their kids discarded or their parents discarded and they have no feeling for these creatures.

Animals, like Human has a life. They are living things. Like Human they have feeling, they can feel pain, they are sensitive and they can feel what you feel. If you have fear so do they. If you are afraid of death, so do they. Does it mean that if they cannot talk or expressed themselves, Human has the right to demean them? When an animal attacked us, we said that they are ferocious, dangerous and they need to be killed or they need to be caged – so what happen to Human who were cruel to animals?

I am angered by what happened to a little helpless dog. This little thing was defenseless against Human. If you have no love for animals, do not take a pet. Pets need your attention. They are not cheap to keep, as like Human, they get sick and need a doctor and that is expenses. Dogs need food as Human need food and this is also expenses. Unfortunately dogs are not Human when they come to personal hygiene. Some dogs are well trained and they do their ‘’businesses’’ in allocated area but some are not so smart and they pee and pooh everywhere – you will have to clean it up. This small dog cannot be more irritating than another Human and what justify such inhuman, murderous act? The newspaper said that the dog was smashed against the wall again and again and probably died of fractured skull. Does it pain your heart to see such? What is going through that person’s mind while doing this act? It is unforgivable! If he picked someone of his own size and intelligent, he won’t stand a chance. If in the fit of anger he can kill an animal without refraining, do you think he can kill a human when provoked? So we have a murderer on the prowl.

The world is sick and I am sure there are many such people in every country and the amount of harm and abuse they did to both Human and Animals are worst than the devils. Some of the acts are unspeakable and no words could describe the notoriety. There are people who just enjoy torturing others – be it Human or Animals. The amount of violence, if you checked YouTube, Goggles, Yahoo…etc. you just have to swim around and you will find things that are unimaginable. We said that Human race have advance or are we going back to being barbaric?

The era of peace and harmony are slowly going. It is like a pendulum’s swing…from the start, to the middle and now we are nearing the end. Does it mean that everything needs to be destroyed and the world will start all over again?

What's the problem...???

Many of us hide ourselves under a mask. It is like an ostrich hiding its head under the sand exposing it's butt and thinking that no one saw it. It has something to do with pride, it has something to do with privacy that we do not want others to know, it has something to do with not wanting to troubles others...and one can find many reasons to give. This is not a good thing. It is like a pressure cooker...the pressure increases and to an extend it will explode. The explosion either hurt someone or kill someone and that someone could be yourself.

Many times such pressure manifested in symptom like depression. The deeper the depression, the person become cuckoo 'lost in the head''. Others who do not know how to handle will hate the world, the people who deny them, the society and such that they take a knife/ gun and start killing innocent people.

A story goes that a guy was depressed because his family was broken up. His dad use to visit 'call girls' and it became an obsession that the parents fights and many times he saw his Dad hurt his mother. As he grew, he turned into a fine, good looking young man. Under the surface, the anger is building up as well. He viewed women as slut except his mother. He ditched girls like he is changing clothes. It became an obsession. The worst is this anger cannot subsides the hatred that was built up over the years. One day, he picked up a girl on the street, had sex with her and killed her. These goes on for years. He evaded the police and even his mother. Who would think that such a gentle, fine, good looking young man is the brutal killer. He was caught but he was not charged for murder. This is because he is not 'right' in the mind.

Never avoid problems. People who are the noise makers are the healthy one. People who talked about their problems will find ways out. People who seek help and help is everywhere...you just have to know how to find it. The easiest is to approach a police or go to a police station if you cannot handle your problem and let them refer to you an organization. Remember...YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Here is a story and I buy this story. I use to tell friends about this story...and now share it here.

Once there was a man and he had this pain in his leg. The pain at times were so sever and yet he bare with it. He knew that the pain is caused by this thorn in his sole and it got embedded deeper and deeper as he walked on it. He limped around and when people asked "what's the problem?", he said "Nothing is the problem". This went on and the wound started to be infected. He thought to himself "I am not suitable in this place, it is this place that caused me all the pain", he moved to another town. The new home did not make his pain go away and he thought "I will feel much better if I leave this country", he left on holidays. No matter how many countries he travelled, he is still miserable due to the pain in his leg. One day he met a monk. In casual talking, he mentioned about his pain. The monk looked at him and saw that he had mental pain which leads to him avoiding the fact and pretend everything is OK. He did not want to be weak as his girl friend left him by commenting he is weak. In a very gentle and practical way, the monk asked to see his leg and what caused the pain. The monk told him "my friend, there is a thorn in your sole, it has gone very deep and now it is infected. You need a doctor and you will be OK". The monk took him to a doctor. The thorn was removed and after a while the man recovered and was cheerful and thankful.

Sometime the problem is a very small one, do not make it into a mole hill. This body is precious as all Buddhist will tell you. Instead of letting your body rot because of any reason...use it to do good. If you feel the pain, you will know how others are going through pain. No one knows you better than yourself, you know where is the problem. Nothing in this world is permanent...do not take unhappiness with you to the next life.

Class...what???

I read in the papers that a China reporter commented about the uniform of our Singapore Airline Air Stewardess. He said that our girls are wearing slippers with Kebaya and it is not classy enough. He went further to mention that the Airline Stewardess in China have uniforms that are far more classy!

Chey!...this reporter just shoot his mouth off. He has got nothing better to write or he ran out of ideas. Did he do a research of our background? Does he knows that Kebaya is worn with slippers or beaded slippers?

What is class or being classy? I think and many of us do...that our Singapore Girls' uniforms are both classy and representative of Singapore. You just have to look at the uniform in any country and anywhere and immediately it echoed in your mind "Singapore Airline". The uniforms are batik prints and are unique in design. The colors are vibrant too and slippers are matching. So what rubbish is he talking about class? Is he a fashion critic or what and what does he knows about fashion and identity...or does he has one???

I saw many airlines around the world and they all wear skirt, blouse, scraf...and that is their country dress code? If it is a National Airline, they should wear something that is of the country. Korean will look beautiful in their national outfit but it is clumsy. Japanese kimono are beautiful but their stewardess are wearing nothing but the skirt/ blouses thingy. Thai airlines stewardess is wearing their national outfits and that is what I call CLASS. So what class China air stewardess had? They don't wear cheong sam, they are wearing 'Kuai Low' fashions complete with high heels...where is the identity? It is copied fashion. Is this what you call class? Such class are but only skin deep! (Look at the China air stewardess in the picture, you called that Class? Which country does their uniform resamble...British Airline? or France Airline?)

Anyway kabaya with slippers are both practical and healthy. Imagine our girls got to walk about in heals in the turbulent sky. How many hours do they need to stand and serve all kinds of funny characters on board. What is going to happen to their legs...when they aged? Does that reporter knows? He should wear heels and stand and walk around in the aircraft and than he can shoot his mouth commenting about others without brain. It is so easy just to talk and talk and think that one is smart.

Anyway we Singaporean are 'stubborn' enough and we will not change such a beautiful representative uniform to trade in for CLASS. What if got CLASS and got no character?

I love our Singapore Girls' uniforms. They are a CLASS of its own and they represent the little island SINGAPORE!

Happy Birthday SINGAPORE

Singapore is turning 45 on 9th August 2010. It is our National Day and I wish Singapore Happy Birthday. May the country be Safe and the People be well and happy!!!

Awake and Asleep....

I have been giving thoughts to this issue and like to share it here with my readers. I have been pondering between what is Real and what is Fake. We draw a line…but who set the line?

Look at this world that we live in. Why do we say that this world is real? You will say we ‘exist’ here so it is real. We see, we feel, we touch, we sense, we smell…so how can this world be fake? You will say ‘Hey! I meet friends, I go to work, I live in a house, I drive a car. There is day time and night time. I feel hungry when I don’t eat, so how can it be not real?”

Let me ask you a question… You fall asleep at night, what happen to this world you call Real? Your mind shut out. You shut out your mind from all these worldly sensation and experience…so where is this real world? You will say “When I am asleep, the world still exist”. Of course it does, because you know you will wake up to it.

Can I give you another way to look at things. Give thought this way…”When I am asleep, I left this Real World and go into another dimension called the Dream World. In the Dream World I experienced all that I do in the Real World. In my Dream World, I go to work, I meet the same people I know, I meet people whom I have not met recently, I perform activities, I feel too and I sense because in my Dream World I am able to feel happiness and sadness. In my Dream World I can perform activities as the Real World or maybe even more. In my Dream World I go holidaying too. I have all the feeling and sensation when I am with my boyfriend/ girlfriend/ husband/ wife….so on and so forth”. Is the Dream World Real? Or is there really a Real World or a Dream World?

The YOU in the Real World will say this is real and the Dream World is fake. The YOU in the Dream World will tell you equally that the Dream World is also real!

This is an awesome feeling and realization. It breaks the chain bonding me to the Real and Fake World. In actual, there is no Real or Fake world, it is created by US. That all your virtual games on the Internet, you create all you wanted. I am recently into Farmville and I started building up my dream farm. I go in everyday to harvest, to plant, to buy, to visit neighbor and perform activities. I started to collect cash and exchanged them for all the goodies to make my farm nice. IS this real? Once you get obsessed, you will spend entire time doing the Farm…and it became real.

So in this so call REAL and FAKE world in actual fact there is NOTHING but our Mind activities. We are all here, in this REAL World because we all wanted the same thing, we share the same defilement and we share the same KARMA…the shared KARMA to create this world. We are so attached so we say this is Real. We are afraid of death because we felt that we are losing this Real world. There is nothing too lose. Subsequently all the other Worlds – heaven, hell, asuras, animal, human…are created by our Mind. Who send you to heaven or hell? It is you yourself and the Mind activities created by you. Therefore watch it my friends!

This Body is also a temporarily REAL world. This body rot as it is make up of the Earth Element. In us we have all the five elements. Whether it is internal or external, as long as these elements are in harmony, you will be safe or else, the external will wave havoc and the internal will also wave havoc. So what is REAL?

After explaining, did you get what I mean? What I am trying to tell you…that everything is FAKE. There is ‘nothing’ internally and externally but a world painted by our Mind accordingly to our Karma.

Sometimes I felt like I understand a little the emptiness theory but I need to see it clearer. So you work on it too. Since nothing is for real and permanent, there is nothing you cannot let go but because lives after lives we grasped, we are afraid to let go. Me too, but I am trying to let go because I know I will surely die one day. I will see the virtual world I created for myself and hopefully able to attain some wisdom from it and ‘wake up my Mind’. Cheers!