beauty
love
joy
peace
faithfulness
gentleness
patience
self-control
(1) The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Let it come in. We think we dont deserve love, we think
if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man called Levine said it right. Love is the only rational act. (2) Sometimes, in the mornings, that's when i mourn. I feel around my body,
I move my fingers and my hands--whatever I can still move-- and I mourn for what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I am dying. But then, i stop. I give myself a good cry if
i need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. YOU. (3) The culture doesnt encourage us to think about regrets until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with
egotistical things, career, family, having enough money--trillions of little acts just to keep going. We dont have the habit to stand back and look at our lives "Is this all I want?" You need
someone to probe you in that direction. It doesnt happen automatically. I have found my teacher. Have you found yours? (4) Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. Listen to that bird
on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time, you might not be as ambitious as you are. (5) Love each other or perish. Family-- nothing else can give you spiritual security. Not
money, not fame. (6) Learn to detach. Dont cling to things, because everything is impermanent. Let the experience penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it. If you dont allow yourself
to go all the way through them, you can never get to being detached. You're too busy being afraid, afraid of pain, grief and vulnerability. Throw yourself into these emotions. Dive in, all the way.
Then, you will know what the emotions are, and detach. (7) You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And age, is not
competitive. How can I be envious of where you are--when I've been there myself? (8) Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community and people around you, create something
that gives you meaning. Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you wont be dissatified, envious and longing for someone else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed
with what comes back. (9) Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.Think of my voice and I will be there. (10) Respect, compromise and talk openly. Have a common set of values in life with
your partner. (11) The biggest defect we human beings have is our short-sightedness. Invest in the human family. Invest in those you love and who love you. In the beginning of life, when we were infants,
we need others to survive, right? At the end of life, you need others to survive right? (12) Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Tears are okay. Life is a tension of opposites. (13) As long as we can love
each other, and remember, the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. Death ends a life, not a rlnship. (14) I love you, Coach. He had finally made me cry.
Above-- excerpts fr Tuesdays with Morrie... (My entries, links and tagboard are in that order -> respectively.)
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Sunday, September 04, 2005
Tuesdays with Morrie-- an old man, a young man and life's greatest lesson.
The excerpts i chose to share with everyone reading this blog..
"It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins a chant, "We're number one! We're number one!" Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of "We're number one!" he rises and yells, "What's wrong with being number two?" The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sits down, smiling and triumphant. "
2nd:
"Mitch," Morrie whispered.
Uh-huh?
I rolled his toes between my fingers, lost in the task.
"Look at me."
I glanced up and saw the most intense look in his eyes.
"I dont know why you came back to me. But I want to say this..."
He paused and his voice choked.
"If I could have had another son, I would have liked it to be you."
I dropped my eyes, kneading the dying flesh of his feet between my fingers. For a moment, I felt afriad, as if accepting his words would somehow betray my own father. But when i looked up, I saw Morrie smiling through tears and I knew there was no betrayal in a moment like this.
All I was afraid of was saying goodbye.
3rd:
The funeral was held on a damp, windy morning. The grass was wet and the sky was the colour of milk. We stood by the hold in the earth, close enough to heat the pond water lapping against the edge and to see ducks shaking off their feathers.
Although hundreds of people had wanted to attend, Charlotte kept this gathering small, just a few close friends and relatives. Rabbi Axelrod read a few poems. Morries's brother, David -- who still walked with a limp from childhood polio -- lifted the shovel and tossed dirt in the grave, as per tradition.
At one point, when Morrie's ashes were placed into the ground, I glanced around the cemetery. Morrie was right. It was indeed a lovely spot, trees and grass and a sloping hill.
"You talk, I will listen," he had said.
I tried doing that in my head and to my happiness, I found that the imagined conversation felt almost natural. I looked down at my hands, saw my watch and realized why.
It was tuesday.
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I miss the times in JC that i have these kind of sessions with Mr Yap.. For pp who dunno, Mr Yap was my physics tutor.. i sucked at physics.. everytime, i stayed back after sch to look for him to ask physics qn.. When i broke up with my ex, I needed someone to talk to. He was the only teacher i could turn to. Mr Yap and I have both almost same viewpoints on alot of things and he knew me super well.. He took an afternoon off from school, to listen to me at the scrabble board.. jus listen to me talk.. and of course, see me cry.. Days where i felt like shit, i could jus sms him during class (other lessons) and go, "Mr Yap, free today? i go look for you." Classmates knew tt i was super close to Mr Yap. every time when they made him angry, i will be the one who talk to him. I remember there was once.. (none of JC classmates knew abt this. even esmee n jh) i felt super horrible.. My ex had a softball match.. Somehow i dinno why it affected me so much.. maybe because that time when he had his prev softball match, he got hurt really badly, a bat strike him.. i got so worried.. had to accompany him to the docs.. Mr Yap was at Bras Basah. When i messaged him telling him i was feeling super horrible, he called me up, told me the directions to go to Bras Basah from VJ and told me he's seeing me straightaway. I met him up at Macs.. and he bought me Milo (to give me energy to talk).. and we spent like 3hrs at the Macs at Bras Basah.. it was just me talking, he listening... and he said, once i made it thru A lvls, i can call him my godpa.
I am blessed to have a teacher like him. That's why i said i found a teacher to guide me. I miss those sessions with him.. That's why.. my classmates never understood how i can talk this kind of stuff to him.. they never knew why he's at St Hildas now, i still go visit him..
I msged him on teachers' day. I really miss those sessions.
*brena*; timed 10:57 PM