Imagine --- By John Lennon

From time to time, I am sadden by incidents or things happening around me. And sometime it is difficult to escape from it/them, or at least not instantly. I personally find music a good cleanser and with soothing effect.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Death Is So Close To Us!

Death is never far from us! Yet people still bid for luck, or false hope, or simply lack of the courage in facing it (death) squarely and choose to escape or naively believing in something that they knew well would not work. Some described this "the market of hope" and it usually have a high value-added and difficult to benchmark the value of a life, or a day longer living, etc.

Open the newspaper today, 8 hostages were killed, 7 injured, 6 were released earlier. It was originally a group of 21 happy tour to Manila of Philippines. In the past 4 days, families were enjoying their holidays, enjoying their time together with other family members. Manila was considered a safe place to travel as for years and millions were in and out there without any issues. Then, walked up to the bus was this once outstanding (ex-)policeman, at his middle age, held the happy families as his hostage in seeking abandonment of his investigation and resume of work! This soft spoken person even told the hostages more than once he was not going to hurt them and they won't be killed. On the other hand, he did mention that he may be killed but not the hostages.

We don't really know what happened later that day, was the guy got agitated by the arrest of his brother, or all of a sudden, he changed into a cold-blooded, mindless, out-of-mind person, or it's simply the fate of life. This guy died at the scene, together with the 8 other people who otherwise were happy members of their own families. Lots of critique were on the handling of the Philippines police force incharge of the rescue plan, some went so far to blame the whole country and their people. Or can we not pause and think for a second, it's an unfortunate incident that happened. Yes, it's just another unfortunate incident that happened. The message is clear and loud, death is not far from us, and let's live our life to our fullest everyday!

Banker To The Poor - By Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus is now a famous Nobel Peace Prize winner for his Micro-lending project fighting against world poverty. Reading his autobiography of Banker To The Poor is a joy as his English is very concise and with great fun! There are a few paragraphs, in the Introduction Chapter, which I enjoy, and thus quoted here below:

In the year 1974 Bangladesh fell into the grip of famine.


The university where I taught and served as head of the Economics Department was located in the southeastern extremity of the country, and at first we did not pay much attention to the newspaper stories of death and starvation in the remote villages of the north. But then skeleton-like people began showing up in the railway stations and bus stations of the capital, Dhaka. Soon this trickle became a flood. Hungry people were everywhere. Often they sat so still that one could not be sure whether they were alive or dead. They all looked alike: men, women, children. Old people looked like children, and children looked like old people.


The government opened gruel kitchens. But every new gruel kitchen ran out of rice. Newspaper reporters tried to warn the nation of the extent of the famine. Research institutions collected statistics on the sources and causes of the sudden migration to the cities. Religious organizations mobilized groups to pick up the dead bodies from the streets and bury them with the proper rites. But soon the simple act of collecting the dead became a larger task then these groups were equipped to handle.


The starving people did not chant any slogans. They did not demand anything from us well-fed city folk. They simply lay down very quietly on our doorsteps and waited to die.


There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference. Like sleep, death by starvation happens so quietly, so inexorably, one does not even sense it happening. And all for the lack of a handful of rice at each meal. In this world of plenty, a tiny baby, who does not yet understand the mystery of the world, is allowed to cry and cry and finally fall asleep without the milk she needs to survive. The next day the may she may not have the strength to continue living.

... ... ...

The Optimist Creed - By Christian D. Larson

Promise Yourself ...

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

(Almost) An Accident!

There is an interview section with OmniTV this afternoon, so I need to drive downtown. After the recording, and the time was about 3:30pm, in my way back to Richmond. I had a car accident ... almost.

The traffic actually was kind of slow like what you would expect during the day traveling on Main Road, towards south direction. My car stopped, as the first car at the traffic light when facing perpendicularly with King's Edward Road, which is considered a main road. I as in the right side, the slow lane, while next to me, the fast lane was a red 4x4 truck seated with two guys. The traffic light turned green and like every time I did, I pedal on the gas and allow the car to accelerate from it's static position. My eyes were naturally facing forward. Then, the incident happened ... in a split of a second. In the corner of my left eye, I somehow felt the truck next to me was making a abrupt stop. My brain was not really thinking but my natural response, and I must admit it's a unconscious response, was to stop my car too! When my car was almost stopped, I heard a loud crash sound not too far from me. My head turned to the direction of the sound, then I saw a white Mercedes-Benz  C-Class sport car crashed into the left head of the truck. The truck didn't really move a lot, but the Mercedes-Benz then took a longer distance to stopped, almost in the middle of the road and not too far from where my car was. Luckily nobody was hurt. Despite the hard crash sound, I would have expected a much bigger damage to both the cars. Thereafter was the usual stuff of getting the insurance things sorted out.

Until I gained back my own conscious I only then learned I was having some serious body sweat. If I did not respond and stopped my car, surely the white Mercedes-Benz would have crashed on me after crashing on the truck. And as it would have crashed on the left side where the driver was sitting, I am not sure if I would need to be hospitalized. Highly probably, it's a "Yes"!

Everyday we are living, enjoying things that we took them for granted. One incident after another, the message is loud and clear that we cannot take things for granted, and yet granted, we took things for granted and seldom we would show our appreciation to things that are already in our possession.

Thank you for the reminder! Thinking of it ... I am still in sweat!

First Week Into Normal Life!

This week's weather, to most of people in Pacific coast, is so so nice! Some may say the day time is a bit hot but then the blue sky, the white clouds, the fresh dry air. This morning, the last day of the week, the sky turns a bit gray, and earlier this morning, there was rain coming down and the grass is still wet with darker color.

This week is a memorable week, not because of it's weather, but because this week is the first week for me, and my family, to return to normal life. There is a pain-killer advertisement in the TV, which says, "Return to your normal ... whatever your normal is!" ... Okay ... WHATEVER my normal is, or more precisely, whatever my normal WAS! ... Hahahah!

Last Monday (2nd August) was a long weekend, for the BC Day. Together with hundred something church goers from Canadian Chinese Martyr's Church in Richmond, we visited the Westminster Abbey in Mission. The drive was very comfortable, except my GPS, nicknamed as Simon, kept giving me poor directions, and most often he would say "make a U-Turn if possible". Simon didn't really force me to make a U-Turn, but it is rather annoying to do so as we polite drivers seldom make U-Turn in the middle of the road.

Then, starting Tuesday to Friday, I was working mostly as before. In other words, this is the first week that I return to my normal life, and functioning as if I have not been sick before. Although I am in medication, I am working also to reduce the morphine that I am taking, and I am very glad to say that I am making reasonable progress on it. Then, in the evening, it's now a routine that Esther and I will have an after dinner walk and chit-chat what happened during the day! I am also glad that most of my friends and colleagues also treated me the same as before. We talk and work as if I have not been sick before. Tell ya ... this really gives me very good feeling ... returning to normal as a normal person ... and I am not sick anymore! From time to time, there are stress in my skeletal bones still remind me I am not good in certain postures. Then, I guess it's perfectly okay to admit I have weaknesses in certain position of my body.

I also continue to communicate with cancer fellows or their caregivers. Answering emails and attending phone calls and do whatever possible to aid and smooth their emotion. I am certainly glad that some of you told me and endorsed that my assistance are of big help to you or your relatives suffering cancer. Let me tell you again ..."The pleasure is really mine that I can be of help ... keep in mind that not long ago, or actually still is, I am a cancer patient and I am still living well with him!

This is only the first week, like the first step of a baby learning to walk. I definitely need to work harder in this direction and I am gifted that everyday I found meanings in my life. Praise the Lord!

Esther and I standing in front of the Westminster Abbey in Mission. A beautiful church inside!

Tribute To China!

Guys from Hong Kong, like our family, are spoiled by the various multi-millions dollars spectacular firework shows throughout the year, Chinese New Year, 1st of July and 1st of October, etc. As Victoria Harbor, the water between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, is surrounded by high rises buildings and anywhere you stand along both sides of the water, you would not be more than 5km away from the firework, and therefore, the fireworks can easily cover the whole universe above your head, and you can not only see, but hear so clearly and smell them as well. Please do forgive me if I am in anyway undermining the fireworks shows in Vancouver during the summer July time. In order to spread the event into 4 days, the fireworks become even smaller, and for a layman like me, there are very little difference, between one country and another that we can tell, be it the technology involved or the design of it. I tried reading through the official website and various newspapers in order to appreciate the hard works done by the people involved, you may also want to try doing same, very little I discover.

After said all above, together with Esther, and thank you for my Michael's courtesy of leaving behind his beloved wife at home (with dinner cooked), we headed off to Point Grey, instead of English Bay, to try out our photography skill in fireworks. When we were driving there by 8:00pm, it was raining, and at one point it was rather heavy. We arrived there and started setting up our cameras, etc., the rain stopped. We set there and chitchatted for about an hour, and people and families start gathering around (actually behind) us, the show started sharply at 10:00pm. Below are a few photos for your enjoyment.

Vancouver: The night is still young!

Typical fireworks ... keep in mind we are quite far away and I needed to zoom-in in order to take above picture.

I somehow like this one as it seems to me Ladies in pink are dancing in the sky ... ...!