Leonard's space

My mother passed away 14 years ago. Two weeks before her death, she was admitted to Alexandra Hospital for breathing difficulties. On the day of her admission, she struggled for breath and the doctors had no choice but to cut open her throat and inserted the breathing apparatus. Hence forth, her breathing was no longer her own effort but that of the machine. She had endured so much hardship raising 11 children and then the Japanese War, but this must be her most difficult moments. With her vocal cord cut, she was unable to speak. And because she had never gone to school, she couldn't write what was on her mind.

Dad passed away peacefully at home a few days after her admission. We kept it from her until after the funeral. The family gathered together to discuss how to break the news to her. Finally, it was decided that Fei Lin and I would talk to her. Fei Lin did a great job. She told her that dad had been taken to Heaven. There was a lot of church members who came to give us comfort etc. Mum understood and she was pleased.

One day, she started gesturing with her fingers drawing circles in the air. But we didn't know what she wanted. We sent for the maid, and immediately she could tell that mum wanted to eat preserved Assam shaped in circles. When we asked her if this was what she asked for, she knodded. We then assured her that as soon as the tube was removed, we would give that to her. Each day, we saw her getting weaker. She died in the early hours. I was the last one to see her the night before. I kissed her on the cheek before I left.

Indeed there are lessons that I have learned from the this episode. Breathing is so easy if we are healthy. But when our lungs failed, to catch a breath is a luxury. How I have taken so many things for granted. The Bible says "Give Thanks" regardless of the circumstances. In everything give thanks. Live like today could be my last. Then I would really appreciate all that God has blessed me with, and the people around me. Secondly, never had I imagined that just to communicate to your loved ones that she wanted preserved Assam could be such a struggle. Aren't these simple things in life? Shouldn't I be grateful that I could talk and I could write? So why get upset and uptight with minor irritations? I get upset when young people passed me by in church as though I was transparent. Not that I wanted them to bow to me, but a simple "Hello" would have been wonderful. But now I must be thankful that there are young people in church. Appreciate the flowers, the trees and the air. when people are dead, we sent flowers and spoke of all the good things, respectfully. We shake the hands and hug the bereaved family members to comfort them. Question is why wait till the funeral? Is this so difficult to tell my wife that I love her? Is this so difficult to buy her little gifts to let her know how much I appreciate her? Is this so difficult to show more care and love for others? Teach me Lord to cherish everyone in the family, and all my friends.

  

I am not sure if I can call this month an eventful one. But let me highlight some of the interesting events in October.

First, of course everyone in the Cheng Family rejoiced over the wedding of Albert's daughter to a respectable Navy Gentleman (Thank God not the Malaysian Navy). Joy flew back for the occasion and everything went smoothly.

And an interesting FGA Elder from KL (Elder Wong Ah Chiew) came to speak in our Church. I had the pleasure of interpreting for him. The theme of his sermon was taken from Col 3:22 to 24. He was such a hilarious speaker I lost control of myself as I was giggling in the pulpit. This is a just one of his stories. A man found his refrigerator had broken down. So he summoned a repairman to his house. As the man would not be home, he told the tradesman that the key was in th shoe in the show rack. He was to enter the house with the key and after the repair, he would have to lock the door and put back the key to its original position. However, he told the tradesman that there was a huge black dog in the house, the dog would not harm him as long as he just did what he had to do. Also, there was a talking parrot hanging from the ceiling. He was told to ignore whatever the parrot said. So came the tradesman. In the midst of repairing the refrigerator, the parrot bean to speak, and it provoked and irritated him, so much so, he began to talk back and scolded the parrot. In return, the parrot told the dog to get rid of him. The moral of the story is this: that if you allow the devil's lies to affect you, you will eventually be the devil's victim. Do your work faithfully, stay focused, and do what you have to do.

Of course I must congratulate the tainted politician who garnered such a large number of votes in the recent by-election. Hooray, you have won. I have yet to grapple with the reality in Malaysian politics. Never mind that you may be the most corrupt man, but people will still vote for you. Well done you voters. And my sincere apology for not being able to understand your mindset and your blind loyalty. Your votes showed that we are still living in the 20th century. Neighbours laugh at us, but who cares. Right? 

Then of course, this must be another ludicrous event. The MCA EGM was called, among other things,  to vote on a "No Confidence" vote on the present president. Sorry, his name is not even worthy enough to be mentioned in my blog. After the voting, the "No Confidence" vote was carried, and the audacity of the man - he refused to step down although he had promised earlier that he would do so if the majority did not have faith in him. Hallo, are you sure you are Chinese? If so, why no shame? So this is the sort of politicians we see everywhere here. In fact if you pick up a stone to throw anywhere, you are bound to hit a dishonourable politician.   

Wonderful October. The Germans have had their Oktoberfest, so have we.

On learning that some of my students flunked their Law paper, I volunteered to tutor them although I am no lawyer. But a number of High Court litigation cases that I attended in the past had sharpened my knowledge - so much so that I thought I could teach law better than some of these law lecturers. My advantage lies in my ability to explain in Chinese and an ability to give specific examples of some of the cases that I personally went through.

One of the subjects that I taught was "Misrepresentations". One has to determine if it is a statement of opinion or a statement of facts. So a statement of opinion cannot be a statement of facts, and vice versa.

But someone in the corridors of power has given new meanings to old words. Since he is a man of high standing in the country, I am considering calling the students to tell them that I have been teaching them the wrong things.

As a matter of principle, I don't buy the English dailies as I am of the opinion that they are not fair in their reporting. But I do get to read the tabloid news because "the Sun" is free. On page 4, it was reported that this man said the man who was found guilty of money politics three years ago should be given a second chance. Therefore voters should vote for him. He went on to say that although he was found guilty of money politics by his own party, and suspended for six years (later reduced to three years on appeal), he was never charged in Court and therefore his guilt was a "technicality". Now I realised that I was wrong - that although it was a fact that he was corrupted, he was technically "not corrupted". So does it mean that a statement of facts has now become a statement of opinion? I think that's what it is tentamount to. So supposing that Ah Beng has been stealing money from his family members for the past 22 years, but his family did not have the heart to bring him to the police. Nevertheless, they had a conference, and they decided that Ah Beng would have to be punished by not receiving any pocket money for the next three years. After the three years was up, Ah Beng is now no longer a thief because he has been "punished." After all, his theft was just a technicality because he has never been convicted in the court of law.

The above shows I still don't understand politics. But as the saying goes- "Ignorance is bliss." 

I didn't stand up to acknowledge the applause from the church congregation as the bride on the microphone heaped praises and thanked me. First she thanked me for looking after her while she was in Singapore like her own father - taking care of her, teaching her how to love God, to conduct herself etc etc . Then she thanked me for travelling all the way from JB to attend her wedding in Kuching. In my mind, I must be saying "Hey, who is Uncle Leet?" The event : Wedding in Kuching. The date: 26 September. The bride: Han Yee. I had taken the flight from JB on 25th, stayed in 360 hotel (rather clean and pleasant) and attended the evening's banquet. The restaurant was only a stone's throw away. Naturally all of Han Yee's siblings and parents were there. There were also some from her cell group in Singapore. Food was served from 7.15 pm. People took turns to perform over the Karaok screen and music. The dish that impressed me most was the "Pattaya Mango Fish". It was huge and deep fried,topped with shreds of Mango. Really tasty.

The church wedding at Ching Daw Methodist Church was held the next day. I took a taxi there. Apart from family members, not that many guests. As the choir sang some familiar songs, I noticed that her sister, Han Jie, had a golden voice. We had buffet in the premises and I managed to meet some people. As there was still a bit of time before my departure, her brother-in-law King Fu, offered to give me a lift to the airport. But in the meantime, he drove me to his self-designed house. Very comfortable and his three chidren created some ruckus, like other normal kids. Then he drove me to their parents' house where I was warmly welcomed by her parents. Mother cooked some delicious dishes and I heartily ate before leaving. Then Han Jie handed me a bagful of goodies - pepper and tit bits. She declined any payment. I gratefully accepted it, bid farewell to everyone, and headed for the airport. I was overwhelmed by the kind hospitality of this family.

Now, who is Uncle Leet? What sort of legacy am I leaving behind years after I am gone? What sort of eulogies will my loved ones recite? A man after God's heart? A man who really wanted to please God? A man who lived his life to the full - in helping and blessing others?

Or is there another side of me. Will the real Uncle Leet please stand up. 

Day by day, the weeds across the road and in front of the house are now manageable. The garden is constantly being expanded as more flowers and plants and are planted. The pink Lotus planted in the third pond has had its first bloom few weeks ago. The main problem is the weeds in the surrounding vicinity. They produce huge amounts of seeds. These seeds spread over a wide area as they take advantage of the strong winds. It is impossible for me to uproot all of those weeds - well they are enormous and their roots go down really deep into the ground. And I discovered that the best means of controlling its spread is to cut off the weeds flowers before their seeds mature. They are collected into plastic bags and dumped away by MBJB rubbish trucks. In place, I sow carpet grass seeds so as to saturate the ground. Over time, i can see that things are improving. What was a weed stronghold is finally transformed into a decent garden of sorts. More plants are coming.

The moral of the story is this - that our minds are sowing seeds all the time. The seeds that we sow depend on the inputs that we received. So if we watch horror movies all the time, no price for guessing what we will be thinking most of the time. Or if it is pornography, the output is disastrous. A few weeks ago, a mother pleaded with me to bring her son back. That was on a Sunday before the bilingual service. What happened? She explained that her son, who is now 16, used to be a good boy, attending the youth service diligently and having many church friends. But he completely changed when he started to play computer games. Many of these games involved decapitating heads and violent killings. Consequently, he started to beat up everybody at home, even his little sister of barely 5 years old was nor spared. He skipped schood and the moment he was at home, he was before the computer screen.

If we are inundated with worries about finances, our minds will be saturated with finding ways to make more money. Psalm 1:2 says "His delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night."  The result? "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does he prospers." No secret formula - Delight in God's word and start sowing good seeds.