Happy Teachers’ Day to all my teaching friends! (And to an ex-teacher!) This is the day when I sent greetings round to all my former colleagues and teaching friends.
Some of my old friends replied me, asking me how I am. What I am surprised is that the first to reply me is a friend I met only recently, my coursemate in my part-time studies. I have only spoken to her twice, and we would meet during lectures but other than that, we have no chance to talk to each other.
Yet she is the first to reply me, asking me how I am since she has not seen me around in school. So I told her I deferred my studies to next year. But her greetings really warmed up my day.
Comparatively, those people I have known for a much longer time, be they NIE coursemates or former colleagues, some take a longer time to reply and some do not reply at all.
I am not saying that everyone must reply me. But what I am surprised is that at times, people you only met recently can be friendlier and nicer to you than those you have known for a very long time.
Maybe those you have known for a long time tend to take the friendship for granted, and know you will always be there no matter what happens. I will not say that is wrong thinking on their parts.
I just feel warmed and touched that someone I have only spoken to a couple of times cared enough to ask about me and said will pray for me. That is enough to put a smile in my heart.
One thing I always wonder though is what kind of friend am I? It is hard for me to make friends partly because I am introverted. I keep many things to myself and choose to tell those whom I really trust. (Well, I splash it in cyberspace and let anyone access how I view things, things which even my close friends do not know about, but then that is another story altogether.)
Thus I never belonged to any group back in school. I was always with just one or two close friends, never a whole group. It is only when I left school that I am able to make more friends and belong to some groups.
But those friends I did make back in school, we remain firm and close even till now. I have two secondary school friends and one primary school friend whom I still keep in contact with.
And of course, my best friend, whom I have known for more than ten years. Plus a couple of close friends whom I know when I was doing law, and a few others in NIE. Plus one whom I know from my music class years ago, and a couple more I know through e-mailing each other back in school.
That about sums up the friends I have known since schooldays. (This does not include my godbrother who is MIA in America, and my childhood friend, both whom I have known for more than twenty years.)
As a friend, I wonder how I am like? I try to be sincere and true to everyone. As long as I know a person, and the person needs help, I will try to the best of my ability to help. Maybe because I am too much of a pushover, thus in recent years, I realize that not everyone can be trusted.
I have friends who ask me why do I always go out of my way to help others? I have no answer to that. Habit, I guess. I believe in being nice and true to others, and as a friend, I cannot just turn a blind eye if I know there are those whom I can lend a helping hand to.
Because of this, I have been taken advantage of a few times. I have gotten cheated, backstabbed, and shown no appreciation whatsoever by those so-called friends. I have been told not to be too nice to others, but I feel as a friend, do whatever I can for others.
I believe what goes around comes around. If you are nice, people may be nicer to you one day. And anyway, is it not better to pay it forward and make the world a better place?
Someone asked me this earlier on. He said if both he and I like something very much, and if he takes it he will feel bad as he knows I like it, and if I take it he believes I will feel bad too since he likes it, so what shall we do?
My answer? I told him I will tell him to take it, since he likes it so much. And even though I like the thing a lot, but I care for him more and will want him to be happy. As long as he is happy, that is the best satisfaction I can get.
And that is true. When you love a person, you will want the person to be happy. A little self-sacrifice or inconvenience on your part does not matter as long as the one you love is happy.
The same goes with friends I feel. As long as the friends and people you care about are happy, that is all that matters.
Some of my old friends replied me, asking me how I am. What I am surprised is that the first to reply me is a friend I met only recently, my coursemate in my part-time studies. I have only spoken to her twice, and we would meet during lectures but other than that, we have no chance to talk to each other.
Yet she is the first to reply me, asking me how I am since she has not seen me around in school. So I told her I deferred my studies to next year. But her greetings really warmed up my day.
Comparatively, those people I have known for a much longer time, be they NIE coursemates or former colleagues, some take a longer time to reply and some do not reply at all.
I am not saying that everyone must reply me. But what I am surprised is that at times, people you only met recently can be friendlier and nicer to you than those you have known for a very long time.
Maybe those you have known for a long time tend to take the friendship for granted, and know you will always be there no matter what happens. I will not say that is wrong thinking on their parts.
I just feel warmed and touched that someone I have only spoken to a couple of times cared enough to ask about me and said will pray for me. That is enough to put a smile in my heart.
One thing I always wonder though is what kind of friend am I? It is hard for me to make friends partly because I am introverted. I keep many things to myself and choose to tell those whom I really trust. (Well, I splash it in cyberspace and let anyone access how I view things, things which even my close friends do not know about, but then that is another story altogether.)
Thus I never belonged to any group back in school. I was always with just one or two close friends, never a whole group. It is only when I left school that I am able to make more friends and belong to some groups.
But those friends I did make back in school, we remain firm and close even till now. I have two secondary school friends and one primary school friend whom I still keep in contact with.
And of course, my best friend, whom I have known for more than ten years. Plus a couple of close friends whom I know when I was doing law, and a few others in NIE. Plus one whom I know from my music class years ago, and a couple more I know through e-mailing each other back in school.
That about sums up the friends I have known since schooldays. (This does not include my godbrother who is MIA in America, and my childhood friend, both whom I have known for more than twenty years.)
As a friend, I wonder how I am like? I try to be sincere and true to everyone. As long as I know a person, and the person needs help, I will try to the best of my ability to help. Maybe because I am too much of a pushover, thus in recent years, I realize that not everyone can be trusted.
I have friends who ask me why do I always go out of my way to help others? I have no answer to that. Habit, I guess. I believe in being nice and true to others, and as a friend, I cannot just turn a blind eye if I know there are those whom I can lend a helping hand to.
Because of this, I have been taken advantage of a few times. I have gotten cheated, backstabbed, and shown no appreciation whatsoever by those so-called friends. I have been told not to be too nice to others, but I feel as a friend, do whatever I can for others.
I believe what goes around comes around. If you are nice, people may be nicer to you one day. And anyway, is it not better to pay it forward and make the world a better place?
Someone asked me this earlier on. He said if both he and I like something very much, and if he takes it he will feel bad as he knows I like it, and if I take it he believes I will feel bad too since he likes it, so what shall we do?
My answer? I told him I will tell him to take it, since he likes it so much. And even though I like the thing a lot, but I care for him more and will want him to be happy. As long as he is happy, that is the best satisfaction I can get.
And that is true. When you love a person, you will want the person to be happy. A little self-sacrifice or inconvenience on your part does not matter as long as the one you love is happy.
The same goes with friends I feel. As long as the friends and people you care about are happy, that is all that matters.
2 comments:
If you both like it, can't you share?
What if it's something that can't be shared, and only one of us can have it?
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