Mid-Week Thoughts

Finally it’s back to the grind, after two long weekends. The family got together the CNY weekend at PD and again last Saturday (with the addition of the extended family members and friends) at the “open” house we hosted. All in all it was good fortnight of love, laughter, feasting and all.

Of course, when the family meets, it is also grandchildren doting time. The Mizuans, Sara (5+) and Adam (2+) never fail to touch us, the better half and me, in so many ways –


Thank God for kids there's magic for a while
A special kind of sunshine in a smile
Do you ever stop to think or wonder why
The nearest thing to heaven is a child.

(From “Thank God For kids” by Oak Ridge Boys,
Written by Eddy Raven)

And when all the baby fat and “innocence” are no more with them, will the little ones still be as sweet? Who knows as yet another song suggest –


When I was just a little girl (boy),
I asked my mother, What will I be?
Will I be pretty (handsome) ?
Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me:

Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be;
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera,
What will be, will be.

(From “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day,
Written by Jay Livingstone)


“What will be, will be.” Sounds fatalistic, don’t you think so? But it’s a song of the fifties. A simple question, a simple answer; in a world less demanding and at a time less complex.

Times have changed, of course. No self-respecting parent nowadays will tell their little ones. leave it all to fate. Each one of them has a “vision” for the child.
Not bad really, if not forced on the child, but as the framework to guide them to adulthood.

Have I got a “vision” for Sara and Adam? No, that is their parents’ task.

But maybe, just maybe, I hope for them to be true anak Malaysia – that is to be fully aware of their ethnicity but at the same time conscious and respectful of others of a different race and culture. The same approach too for their Faith – and also be Cosmopolitan, thinking like one and having the skills to adapt to the demands of a world becoming increasingly borderless.