FINALLY i can post again! don't like my IE now something happened to it that stops me from posting my posts typed with sweat tears and blood (kidding). good thing that as consumers we have access to various products, in this case internet browsers. thank you google chrome!

some inspiration from events of the past week...

each and every one of us have many commonalities, perhaps more than what we tend to notice or even are willing to admit. beyond the obvious ones such as the fact that we all have 2 eyes, 2 ears, one nose, one mouth and so on, we can dig deeper and realise that each of us are really spiritual beings contained in a vessel of flesh and blood. there are things that hurt and injure us, and cause us pain and grief. i think it a safe statement to make that no one can go on in life properly and sanely without having experienced such. on the brighter side, the same things that make us up allow us to rejoice, feel joy, be elated, exhilarated, and of course love and be loved.

maybe some of us don't look the touchy-feely sort. i believe most of us do not want to. not that we are not - we just don't want to display that side of our selves. if we look deep enough there's always a story behind every person's life, and to me that is almost always touching. it's a real paradigm shift when you come to know of what the person you have always viewed with such colored lenses has gone through before. stories can change the way we look at someone entirely, even eternally.

i think i'm saying this on the off-chance that this actually speaks to someone. so that we can rid ourselves of these judgmental stereotypes that we've come to place others in. it is true enough that you don't understand someone well enough unless you've been in their shoes. them recounting their experiences to you does help with the empathising. but experiencing it for yourself is a so much more powerful experience. i am thankful that this year has opened up my eyes and heart to many of these true tales.

sure, we find it difficult to reach out to other people despite having witnessed the other side of them for ourselves. i don't deny that i face such an issue as well. but we should really meditate upon what it means to "love one another". many people probably think the notion of love is traditional, outdated, meaningless in the competitive and pragmatic and seemingly unfeeling environment we live in today.

but we only have to ask ourselves this and we know without a doubt: we all need love. if we need them, don't others too? a little more love gone around really makes the world an infinitely better place.

“Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.”