A few days back, a friend remarked, "What is so happy about new year?" That came about because this new year, there is the big Indonesian flood; last new year was the tsunami disaster; and the new year before that was the bird flu epidemic.
Come to think of it, it is true that for the past few years since I-cannot-remember-when, there has been disaster after disaster every end of December / beginning of January. So much so that a lot of people do not even look forward to the coming of the new year anymore, because they think there may be some disaster somewhere again.
True, for the past few years, people have lost their loved ones during this period. Those poor souls never lived to see the coming of the new year. So for those who have lost their loved ones, the coming of the new year is no longer any cause for celebration as they will always be reminded of their loss.
But I guess depression and misery is only as far as how people want it to be. It is something like some people forever seeing the glass as half empty, whereas there will always be others who see the glass as half full.
Heartless as I may sound considering my recent "bereavement", I feel that those people, instead of forever mourning their loss (not saying that they should not), but why not look around and be grateful for what they have instead of what they have lost? Grateful that they are still alive, grateful that they still have some loved ones and families, grateful that there are people who care for them.
My late teacher's husband and daughter did not shed a tear at her funeral. Now the father-daughter can only depend on each other. Some may think they are heartless by not crying, but I suppose they were the ones who have a first-hand encounter of how she battled with her illness, how much she had suffered, the pain she had gone through, so perhaps her passing is in a way - relief? happiness? peace? - to them. And I cannot say I do not agree with them in this respect.
I have seen how much my late cousin suffered when she was struck down with leukaemia. I have seen the numerous tubes poking into her at the hospital, and the loss of all her hair. She was only eight then, only a few months younger than me, and I really cried seeing her that way. When her suffering finally came to an end, I was so relieved that she would not be painful anymore.
No doubt people cannot help being a pessimist in light of all the negative things going on in the world right now. But being pessimistic is not likely to get one anywhere, so why not be optimistic and confident that things will only get better?
I have to constantly remind myself of this too, to only see the glass being half full, and it is up to me to make it always full.
Come to think of it, it is true that for the past few years since I-cannot-remember-when, there has been disaster after disaster every end of December / beginning of January. So much so that a lot of people do not even look forward to the coming of the new year anymore, because they think there may be some disaster somewhere again.
True, for the past few years, people have lost their loved ones during this period. Those poor souls never lived to see the coming of the new year. So for those who have lost their loved ones, the coming of the new year is no longer any cause for celebration as they will always be reminded of their loss.
But I guess depression and misery is only as far as how people want it to be. It is something like some people forever seeing the glass as half empty, whereas there will always be others who see the glass as half full.
Heartless as I may sound considering my recent "bereavement", I feel that those people, instead of forever mourning their loss (not saying that they should not), but why not look around and be grateful for what they have instead of what they have lost? Grateful that they are still alive, grateful that they still have some loved ones and families, grateful that there are people who care for them.
My late teacher's husband and daughter did not shed a tear at her funeral. Now the father-daughter can only depend on each other. Some may think they are heartless by not crying, but I suppose they were the ones who have a first-hand encounter of how she battled with her illness, how much she had suffered, the pain she had gone through, so perhaps her passing is in a way - relief? happiness? peace? - to them. And I cannot say I do not agree with them in this respect.
I have seen how much my late cousin suffered when she was struck down with leukaemia. I have seen the numerous tubes poking into her at the hospital, and the loss of all her hair. She was only eight then, only a few months younger than me, and I really cried seeing her that way. When her suffering finally came to an end, I was so relieved that she would not be painful anymore.
No doubt people cannot help being a pessimist in light of all the negative things going on in the world right now. But being pessimistic is not likely to get one anywhere, so why not be optimistic and confident that things will only get better?
I have to constantly remind myself of this too, to only see the glass being half full, and it is up to me to make it always full.
0 comments:
Post a Comment