Old Age Becoming Wiser

A police car pulled up in front of an older woman's house, and her husband climbed out. The polite policeman explained that "this elderly gentleman" said that he was lost in the park and couldn't find his way home.

"How could it happen?" asked his wife. "You've been going to that park for over 30 years! How could you get lost?"

Leaning close to her ear so that the policeman couldn't hear, he whispered, "I wasn't lost - I was just too tired to walk home."

These bodies become less cooperative as we age. For some, work becomes less fun and fun becomes more work. One older friend commented, "I've reached the age where the warranty has expired on my remaining teeth and internal organs."

But I like the spirit of Charles Marowitz. "Old age is like climbing a mountain," he says. "The higher you get; the more tired and breathless you become. But your view becomes much more extensive."

Atop the mountain, one has a better view of the world. One can see above the differences that divide people. One can better see beyond petty hurts and human fragility. Atop the mountain, one has a longer view of the past and can therefore understand the future with more clarity. Atop the mountain, one looks down on dark clouds of gloom and despair and fear and notices that they are neither as large nor as ominous as those beneath them would believe. It is also clearer that however dark they may appear, they too, are fleeting and will someday pass.

George Bernard Shaw said, "Some are younger at seventy than most at seventeen." I think it is because they have a broader outlook.

It will take a lifetime to climb the mountain, but, for me, the view will be worth the journey.

Something to share……

Many people who climbed up Mount Kinabalu in early mornings were to get to Low’s Peak, the highest summit of the mountain, just in time to get a glimpse of the spectacular sunrise. If old age is like climbing a mountain, then I will make sure that I will be at top of the mountain to see sunrise and not sunset.

As we age and grow older, we also grow wiser. Ever heard of, “Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes with age”? We gathered our working experience as our year of service increased. We learned through our mistakes, mainly from the bitter experience that we had gone through. Then we gradually acquired relevant knowledge through practical experience and became wiser in problem solving and decision making.

The words of God confirmed that,” The splendor of old men is their grey head.” (Proverbs 20:29b) For old men are “wise people who store up knowledge.” (Proverbs 10:14a)

“Everybody, no matter how old you are, is around 24, 25 in their heart,” said Bruce Willis in People. With such thinking in mind, life moves on……

Be a wise old man, always feels young in heart!

2ND DAY CNY (8 FEB 2008)

FAMILY REUNION (CNY 2008)

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Year of the Rat begins on 7th Feb 2008. We, the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and those in Melbourne, Cairo, Moscow, Paris, London and Boston, and all other placess of the world, will be celebrating Chinese New Year together with the Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China tomorrow.

By the way, how many of you know that the Koreans, the Vietnamese and Mongolians are also celebrating for their Lunar New Year which falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year?

“Rush Home” is the headline on today’s Star newspaper. It reported that a million of travellers were on the road as Chinese New Year exodus began. My two brothers, Kong Fatt and Kong Teck, and their wives and children together with my sister and her son are leaving KL at about 3pm to Segamat to celebrate Chinese New Year with us. Kong Teck and wife took a MAS flight to KLIA from Sibu this morning. We expect them to arrive in the evening to have family reunion dinner, all dishes specially cooked by my wife, on the eve of Chinese New Year.

I came back much earlier on 2 Feb, taking the 1525WIB MAS flight from Medan to KLIA. My wife and our youngest daughter, Josephine, drove all the way from Segamat to fetch me from KLIA. Our elder son, James, arrived home at about 11am this morning. He came back in his friend’s car, leaving Singapore at 6am. Our eldest daughter, just given birth to a baby boy, Jonas, in early morning on 16 January, is staying back in Kuching and not able to join us. So are Julie and John. Both of them are still in Melbourne, Australia.

To all my friends, pals and buddies, I wish you “Gong Xi Fa Cai” (in Mandarin) or “Kong Hee Fatt Choy” (in Cantonese). May you and your families be blessed and may you prosper as we celebrate a joyful and happy Chinese New Year on 7 Feb 2008.

TOMORROW WILL NEVER COME (There Is Always A Tomorrow For Tomorrow)

Have you ever heard of a guy’s plan to rappel off a sheer cliff of 100 feet near Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado, USA? All week he had been preparing himself for the rappelling trip. His physical preparation included “learning the ropes” on smaller cliffs and his mental preparation involved watching and talking to veteran rappellers.

However, when the day he was supposed to go, he was still very busy with a camping trip. The next day no one was going. The day after something else came up. From then until the end of the week he was going to make the rappelling trip….tomorrow. It never happened!

To this day, 20 years later, he still wonders,” Why didn’t I go? Was I unsure of my skills, was I too timid to take up the challenge or …….?

Something to share…..

When I was the Manager of Mekassar Estate near Bandar Mudhazam Shah, Keratong, Pahang from December 1985 – November 1988, I always wanted to make a trip to Tioman Island. However, I kept on postponing the trip. I have not visited the island till today.

Then again, when I was managing Morisem Estate in Kinabatangan, Sabah from December 1988 – December 1990, my intended trip to Brunei had also never come about till today.

When I was Plantation Controller for JCC Group from June 1995-December 2003, I used to visit its plantations in Sabah. I talked so much of making a trip to Labuan one of these days, but it never happened too. My problem was that I kept postponing the trip thinking that I could make it tomorrow.

This is the trouble of human’s weakness, keep postponing our plan as if we can make it tomorrow. Then we often find excuses because there is always a tomorrow for tomorrow. How true it is when someone says, “Tomorrow will never come.”

How to breakthrough this human’s weakness? Well, I think we have to keep telling ourselves “Do it now” whether it is a planned trip, a job assignment, a work programme or anything we plan to do today. We have to constantly remind ourselves to do it “Today Not Tomorrow”. Otherwise, there is always another tomorrow when tomorrow comes.