Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Worlds Chennai 2014
Can't wait to go to Chennai next year. I won't debate but I think it will be an amazing and unique experience to be in Chennai for WUDC(World Universities Debating Championship) 2014. I should start saving now! :)
Thursday, June 21, 2012
21 Pictures that restore your faith in humanity
I came across this article in this website here but I would love to share again here... I was so touched by the pictures. I hope you feel the same about how to treat people and how to have faith about the good things that still exist in this life.
(Michelle Gantner / Maladjusted Media)
17-year-old Meghan Vogel was in last place in the 3,200-meter run
when she caught up to competitor Arden McMath, whose body was giving
out. Instead of running past her to avoid the last-place finish, Vogel
put McMath's arm around her shoulders, carried her 30 meters, and then
pushed her over the finish line before crossing it.
Elite Cleaners in Minneapolis helped over 2,000 unemployed workers
that couldn't afford dry cleaning. Owner Don Chapman estimated that it
cost his company $32,000 dollars.
Sue Drummond was walking her beloved Shih Tzu, Bibi, on a pier in
Melbourne, when a fierce gust of wind picked him up and hurled him into
the rough waters of the bay. A passerby, Raden Soemawinata, who happened
to be on the pier that day to scatter his grandmother's ashes, wasted
no time in stripping down and diving into the bay to rescue the animal.
1. This picture of Chicago Christians who showed up at a gay pride parade to apologize for homophobia in the Church.
2. This story about Japanese senior citizens who volunteered to tackle the nuclear crisis at Fukushima power station so that young people wouldn't have to subject themselves to radiation.
3. This picture of two Norwegian guys rescuing a sheep from the ocean.
5. This poll about what Snooki should name her child.
6. The moment in which this Ohio athlete stopped to help an injured competitor across the finish line during a track meet.
7. This exchange between a 3-year-old girl and a shopping center.
8. This note that was handed to a waiter along with a $20 bill by an elderly lady in his restaurant.
9. This sign at an awesome Subway restaurant.
10. This picture of a villager carrying stranded kittens to dry land during floods in Cuttack City, India.
11. This sign at an awesome drycleaner's.
12. This photograph of a man giving his shoes to a homeless girl in Rio de Janeiro.
13. This picture of a firefighter administering Oxygen to a cat rescued from a house fire.
14. And this one.
15. This interaction between a Guatemalan girl and a tourist she just met.
16. This gesture from a neighbor.
17. These photos of two children collaborating to rescue a dog who had fallen into a ravine.
18. This note on a young family's check.
19. This exchange between a protester and a soldier during a protest in Brazil.
20. These pictures of a man jumping into rough waters to rescue a stranger's Shih Tzu in Melbourne.
21. And this photograph of two best friends on a swing.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Food for thought
I saw this story on my friend's facebook timeline. It is very touching and it is so true. A lot of couples fight and not pay attention to each other anymore after certain years of marriage, I have seen lots. I really think they need to learn to maintain the feeling. Marriage needs effort, love does not just stay like that.
“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.
Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?
I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!
With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.
The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.
In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.
This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.
I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.
My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.
On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.
She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.
Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.
Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.
But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.
She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.
That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….
The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!
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