The Pursuit of Wealth - Does it equal to happiness?
When I was a young student I sometimes envy wealthy families who bought their children lots of expensive things and gave them lots of holidays abroad. Coming from a middle class family, my mother was a great saver as she saved to give both my brother and me an education in Canada and the United States.
Having the opportunity to study abroad meant that we have a great experience not only in getting a good education but also had the chance to make great friends from many countries and getting an awesome experience too.
Years after I did get a career in the petroleum industry for about 15 years. During that time I earned a decent salary but never thought of pursuing wealth as an ultimate goal in my life. I have school friends who did and their lives revolved around the material world. Some of course did not think that way and distanced themselves from those who did. For me I do my best not to judge my friends and still stay in touch with them as long as they are friends to me. It is not my business if their aim in life is lots of money or just live a simple but happy life.
When I moved to New Zealand, my first priority was to get my teaching diploma and then I knew that teaching would allow me to spend all my daughter's school holidays with her. We were never rich but we were alright. We never had to starve and always had a roof over our heads and clothes to wear! My daughter went to an all girls school where the girls came from mainly families who were quite well off. She always came home about how some of her friends were going for holidays abroad, etc. Recently she found that one of her friends was not as rich as she thought them to be. Instead her mother did some dodgy accounting which allowed them to live a luxurious life but now she is on the run from the law! My daughter now understands that not all is rosy in families who seemed to be well off!
About 3 years ago, I lost a friend to stomach cancer as she found out too late! Doctors gave her 3 months to live without chemo or 9 months with chemo. Her husband and her were quite wealthy but they did not spend their money frivolously. As they could afford it they went for the unsubsidized chemo drugs which finally allowed her to live for another 15 months. Despite their money you still cannot beat cancer.
Recently I lost someone in my childhood who was related to me too. I found that he was rejected as a young man by his girlfriend as he came from a poor family. I think after that he made his goal in life to make a lot of money! He did and accumulated enough wealth and built a mansion for his mother and sister and for him, too. He continued to achieve success in his career. His first marriage did not work out as he married quite young and she was also from a wealthy family. That probably fueled him further to be successful financially. He did remarry but had no children. Despite his wealth, it all ended in a very tragic freak accident where he lost his life at 54 years old. I kept thinking was his life really worth all that pursuance of money? He was still working when he died and did not even get to enjoy all his wealth. As he did not have any children, he was cremated and his ashes were thrown near a temple by the sea... The tragic thought for me was he was probably focused in making himself wealthy to show those who rejected him and looked down at him because of money....
Is the pursuit of money really worth it? Having lots of money does not mean that it will make you happy! To me health is more important and not even money can help you when you have an incurable disease! I live my life by letting GOD direct my life and trying to discover what HIS will is for me and to live according to GODs will. I have faith in GOD that HE will always take care of my needs and never let me despair!
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Saturday, July 16, 2016
You are always in my heart.....
You are always in my heart......
Years ago we met as students
Then one weekend we went with friends on a trip to the seaside
There you asked me to dance with you and we did so the whole night and only with each other
Next we met at another dance where you asked me to dance with you again
I was really happy but I had to tell you that we were distantly related....
Sad to say that freaked you out and we never saw each other again
We pursue our tertiary studies and went our own ways
I heard you got married but that did not worked out
Over the years I have wondered what had happened to you
And if you were happy with your life....
My life went on and so did yours...
Then I found that you have suddenly returned to the Lord
I was so sad when I found out....
In fact I was overwhelmed with sadness
I never thought you meant so much to me until now...
I hope writing this would help me overcome my sadness and move on...
I only hope that maybe someday we will meet again in another world....
May your soul rest in peace and that you are now wrapped in the arms of GOD .....
Years ago we met as students
Then one weekend we went with friends on a trip to the seaside
There you asked me to dance with you and we did so the whole night and only with each other
Next we met at another dance where you asked me to dance with you again
I was really happy but I had to tell you that we were distantly related....
Sad to say that freaked you out and we never saw each other again
We pursue our tertiary studies and went our own ways
I heard you got married but that did not worked out
Over the years I have wondered what had happened to you
And if you were happy with your life....
My life went on and so did yours...
Then I found that you have suddenly returned to the Lord
I was so sad when I found out....
In fact I was overwhelmed with sadness
I never thought you meant so much to me until now...
I hope writing this would help me overcome my sadness and move on...
I only hope that maybe someday we will meet again in another world....
May your soul rest in peace and that you are now wrapped in the arms of GOD .....
You are always in my heart.....
You are always in my heart......
Years ago we met as students
Then one weekend we went with friends on a trip to the seaside
There you asked me to dance with you and we did so the whole night and only with each other
Next we met at another dance where you asked me to dance with you again
I was really happy but I had to tell you that we were distantly related....
Sad to say that freaked you out and we never saw each other again
We pursue our tertiary studies and went our own ways
I heard you got married but that did not worked out
Over the years I have wondered what had happened to you
And if you were happy with your life....
My life went on and so did yours...
Then I found that you have suddenly returned to the Lord
I was so sad when I found out....
In fact I was overwhelmed with sadness
I never thought you meant so much to me until now...
I hope writing this would help me overcome my sadness and move on...
I only hope that maybe someday we will meet again in another world....
May your soul rest in peace and that you are now wrapped in the arms of GOD .....
Years ago we met as students
Then one weekend we went with friends on a trip to the seaside
There you asked me to dance with you and we did so the whole night and only with each other
Next we met at another dance where you asked me to dance with you again
I was really happy but I had to tell you that we were distantly related....
Sad to say that freaked you out and we never saw each other again
We pursue our tertiary studies and went our own ways
I heard you got married but that did not worked out
Over the years I have wondered what had happened to you
And if you were happy with your life....
My life went on and so did yours...
Then I found that you have suddenly returned to the Lord
I was so sad when I found out....
In fact I was overwhelmed with sadness
I never thought you meant so much to me until now...
I hope writing this would help me overcome my sadness and move on...
I only hope that maybe someday we will meet again in another world....
May your soul rest in peace and that you are now wrapped in the arms of GOD .....
Thursday, March 7, 2013
COMPETITIVE ANYTHING! BEWARE!
In this current world, a lot of parents are keen of getting their children into some extra curricular activities be it sports or music or any other activities. For myself, it was more of an activity which will keep my daughter occupied as well as keep her fit. I never had dreams for her to be a world class figure skater or an Olympic hopeful! We do not have the hundreds of thousands of dollars anyways! But here I am sharing with all you parents with young children to think carefully before you encourage them to compete in any level!
I only know one sport but I have learnt a lot from friends who are parents, too! When my girl first started to compete at the tender age of 4, she got a lot of wonderful praises and admiration! And she loved it and lapped it all up! So she continued to skate and want to skate. Then when she get to the tween stage that is when she started having a lot of 'battles' with her coach who had high hopes for her and always harping on her not reaching her potential! After about 3 years, she was all broken as her Russian coach was also verbally abusive so I had to change coach to one who used to coach her when she was younger just to see her through her competitive season. Now she has swapped to her current Czech coach whom she respects and is happy with her skating again.
So, number 1 is coaching style. Then next is the part with making friends with other fellow skaters! Here like in the school ground there will be lots of ups and downs and friends come and go as part of the life package. But as they grow to teenagers, you will come across some peer skaters who will pscyh all their competitors out before they skate their programme or programmes. Usually the skaters are gathered in a room before their scheduled time to prepare themselves mentally for their skate. A lot of coaches are aware of these tactics so they will remove their skaters to other places and to reduce the stress and pressure.
On ice even before the competition, the skaters are supposed to give way according to certain heirarchy but some skaters do not bother to give way even though a skater has the right away during a programme skate with music. Usually they will give way only if your are bigger size as everyone knows that if you crash into someone bigger than you, you will suffer the consequences no matter whose fault it is! There are also instances where ex coaches can be vindictive and purposely ignoring the rules and sending their skaters into your way disrupting your programme. If I have a $1 for everytime my daughter complains about this issue, I would be rich by now!
Then there are the 'skating mums'! Before I knew the connotation of the title of 'skating mum', I would think I am a skating mum as I do not skate but am just the chauffeur and the bill payer! But do not cross the path of skating mums! They would do anything to push their 'skater' to the point of tears and tantrums! Sometimes you can see the battles between mothers and skaters and it is not a pretty sight! I have always believe that a child must have his or her own determination to do well in anything they do and if your parents need to wake you up to skate in the early mornings, you do not have it! But sadly with most young skaters, it is more of the parents pushing and more pushing! I can understand as figure skating is an elite sport and thus a big drain on the wallet(easily $10,000 - $20,000 a year depending on locations of away competitions, etc)! Another skating mother who has a son doing competitive swimming tells me the cost is no different in swimming! A good pair of goggles is easily a few hundred dollars and double that for swimming trunks! And when we complained of the early morning starts (my daughter's earliest lesson is 5.30am) swimmers are worst! They have to be in the pool by 5 am most days! Where skaters have injuries due to falls, swimmers usually end up with chest infections!
One of my close friends whose children was also musicians apart from skating told me it is no different in the music world! With competitive parents, she told me that there are occasions where blades are taped to the piano ivories to injure competitors!!! What?! This is just at school level children and not even the world class levels where people sabotaged your music equipments, etc! And in sports, the use of drugs and hormones! When my daughter had a bad ankle injury last year she had to take pain killers before skating but when competing, we had to be extra sure that the painkillers she took were not on the banned list of drugs.
In New Zealand, parents have to pay for all sports and music activities. If you are in a team sport, you have to pay for the rental of the sport uniform (which was fund raised in the first place) and pay for any rental of sports centre and equipment if you do not have your own. Then of course transportation and accommodation is entirely on the parents or caregivers on away games if the children fails to raise the money through fun raising! Everywhere you go children are always fundraising for this or that!
So parents of young children, think carefully if you want your children to excel in sports or activities of any kind! It comes with lots of $$$, stress and not to mention injuries, too! It looks like it is the same no matter what competitive activity you choose for your child to pursue.
In this current world, a lot of parents are keen of getting their children into some extra curricular activities be it sports or music or any other activities. For myself, it was more of an activity which will keep my daughter occupied as well as keep her fit. I never had dreams for her to be a world class figure skater or an Olympic hopeful! We do not have the hundreds of thousands of dollars anyways! But here I am sharing with all you parents with young children to think carefully before you encourage them to compete in any level!
I only know one sport but I have learnt a lot from friends who are parents, too! When my girl first started to compete at the tender age of 4, she got a lot of wonderful praises and admiration! And she loved it and lapped it all up! So she continued to skate and want to skate. Then when she get to the tween stage that is when she started having a lot of 'battles' with her coach who had high hopes for her and always harping on her not reaching her potential! After about 3 years, she was all broken as her Russian coach was also verbally abusive so I had to change coach to one who used to coach her when she was younger just to see her through her competitive season. Now she has swapped to her current Czech coach whom she respects and is happy with her skating again.
So, number 1 is coaching style. Then next is the part with making friends with other fellow skaters! Here like in the school ground there will be lots of ups and downs and friends come and go as part of the life package. But as they grow to teenagers, you will come across some peer skaters who will pscyh all their competitors out before they skate their programme or programmes. Usually the skaters are gathered in a room before their scheduled time to prepare themselves mentally for their skate. A lot of coaches are aware of these tactics so they will remove their skaters to other places and to reduce the stress and pressure.
On ice even before the competition, the skaters are supposed to give way according to certain heirarchy but some skaters do not bother to give way even though a skater has the right away during a programme skate with music. Usually they will give way only if your are bigger size as everyone knows that if you crash into someone bigger than you, you will suffer the consequences no matter whose fault it is! There are also instances where ex coaches can be vindictive and purposely ignoring the rules and sending their skaters into your way disrupting your programme. If I have a $1 for everytime my daughter complains about this issue, I would be rich by now!
Then there are the 'skating mums'! Before I knew the connotation of the title of 'skating mum', I would think I am a skating mum as I do not skate but am just the chauffeur and the bill payer! But do not cross the path of skating mums! They would do anything to push their 'skater' to the point of tears and tantrums! Sometimes you can see the battles between mothers and skaters and it is not a pretty sight! I have always believe that a child must have his or her own determination to do well in anything they do and if your parents need to wake you up to skate in the early mornings, you do not have it! But sadly with most young skaters, it is more of the parents pushing and more pushing! I can understand as figure skating is an elite sport and thus a big drain on the wallet(easily $10,000 - $20,000 a year depending on locations of away competitions, etc)! Another skating mother who has a son doing competitive swimming tells me the cost is no different in swimming! A good pair of goggles is easily a few hundred dollars and double that for swimming trunks! And when we complained of the early morning starts (my daughter's earliest lesson is 5.30am) swimmers are worst! They have to be in the pool by 5 am most days! Where skaters have injuries due to falls, swimmers usually end up with chest infections!
One of my close friends whose children was also musicians apart from skating told me it is no different in the music world! With competitive parents, she told me that there are occasions where blades are taped to the piano ivories to injure competitors!!! What?! This is just at school level children and not even the world class levels where people sabotaged your music equipments, etc! And in sports, the use of drugs and hormones! When my daughter had a bad ankle injury last year she had to take pain killers before skating but when competing, we had to be extra sure that the painkillers she took were not on the banned list of drugs.
In New Zealand, parents have to pay for all sports and music activities. If you are in a team sport, you have to pay for the rental of the sport uniform (which was fund raised in the first place) and pay for any rental of sports centre and equipment if you do not have your own. Then of course transportation and accommodation is entirely on the parents or caregivers on away games if the children fails to raise the money through fun raising! Everywhere you go children are always fundraising for this or that!
So parents of young children, think carefully if you want your children to excel in sports or activities of any kind! It comes with lots of $$$, stress and not to mention injuries, too! It looks like it is the same no matter what competitive activity you choose for your child to pursue.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Another Miracle
I have been waiting anxiously for my kidney operation for a few months and it finally happened just this Monday. I had a keyhole operation to remove a big stone (thought one consultant) or a big cyst(another's opinion) in my kidney. Miraculously, during the operation, they found the cyst was outside the kidney and not inside as they originally thought! So the operation was about an hour less. I actually requested a lot of my friends to pray for me before the operation so I believe that had helped a lot. The operation went smoothly and now I am on my way to recovery after a rough days the last 2 days. Apparently people tell me the worst days are actually a few days after the surgery and not immediately after because it takes a few days for the aneasthetic to wear off and then your interiors wake up and struggles to catch up with the rest of your body! I am now officially painfree for the last 24 hours and I hope it stays that way!
Praise God for taking good care of me during my surgery as everyone told me that the operation went smoothly except for the intubation which left me with a very sore throat.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
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