21 February 2009

Of Family, Friends and Foes - updated


20 February 2009
It's Friday night and I've just returned from a truly pleasant distraction in my, otherwise, rather dull life. So much effort is needed for me to drag my lazy self to anywhere! Those who understand me, know this is the story of my life. Homemaker, homebody and homely! Truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.

When I was driving home, I gave some thought to the groups of people that revolve around my life. In my opinion, the three major categories would be (1) Family, (2) Friends and (3) Foes.

Family - We CAN'T choose them!
We are born into the family and we have no alternative but to accept that our blood contains the genes that bind us. Some of us have great relationships and some don't. However, no matter what the strength of those ties are, the fact remains that we belong to the same clan.

Then comes the extended family from divorce, re-marriage, death or whatever other reason. This group also forms an integral part of our life. I am very proud to say that, in general, I am fine with everyone. I am not always in touch with them all but the knowledge that we are family holds us together.

This photo collage is of my immediate family! It doesn’t go beyond two levels! I am very proud of the fact that there is love, acceptance and tolerance despite the racial and religious differences. This is what being an “Anak Bangsa Malaysia” is about.

Friends - We CAN choose them.
Somewhere I read that “friends” are the family we choose for ourselves. I smiled when I first saw that. I think it is a superb notion that our friends are quite like “family” too.

We make friends in different periods of our lives: kindergarten, school (primary and secondary), college, uni, work, parties, clubs, mamak stall, gyms, etc. We have different sets of friends and sometimes we are different with each group. It doesn’t mean we have split personalities. It just means that each group brings out a different side of us.

One group of friends whom I affectionately call my “vigil family” is growing from strength to strength. I can barely keep up with who is who sometimes. But you know what? It doesn’t matter if you know all of them or if they know you! When we are together, there’s love and trust and camaraderie.

These three collages truly speak for themselves. You can almost touch the feeling of unity that was generated in that place. I left early and I did not know the party had carried on with more merry-making and dancing. However, I was there for the show of solidarity, in the form of a prayer for RPK. It was a very magical moment. We all prayed in our own way!

Please note the collage is not photoshopped! These pictures are real! The “Anak Bangsa Malaysia”, from all walks of life, in all shapes and sizes, of different races and religions, stood united together and sent a loud message to God.

Dare we believe that the moment made God smile? Yes, we can!

More of the Anak Bangsa Malaysia!

A final collage where you can see how it was worth the effort to join them. Sadly, I missed the late fun. Snif snif

Finally Foes - They choose us!

I don't want to waste my time nor space on them. All I can say is "what goes around, comes around" and "It's not over, 'till it's over".


Signing off......
Anak Bangsa Malaysia
Credit: Some pictures in the collage were taken by Pahlawan Volunteer and The Whisperer.


See the whisperer and dawningeyes, pahlawan volunteer, delcapo, and beyond51 for more!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

love the collages, as usual....

it was a good nite indeed.... we forgot about our worries for a while there...

SFGEMS said...

delcapo: You are absolutely right. That night, not only did we forget our worries for awhile but batteries were being recharged for the next round.

Anonymous said...

Such a wonderful post. LOVE you lots.

Pat said...

Hello dear,

Am in PD and the pix won't open for me. So I'll come back and look at them when I'm in KL :)

But I couldn't agree more with the words. All true.

And it sounds like your new family of friends is a lovely one!

Starmandala said...

That's the SPIRIT, Lita! InSPIRation!
ESPRIT de corps! The SPIRIT OF WHOLENESS or Wholly Spirit! The SPIRIT of freedom, justice & truth shall prevail against the crumbling Evil Empire....

SFGEMS said...

Stephen Grosse: Cium cium to you!!!

Pat Goh: You are part of the new family of blogger friends! A special one at that!

Antares: Wholly agree with you! Wholeheartedly with you in this crusade! :)

Anonymous said...

Busy celebrating my birthday today, but I cannot end it without dropping by to say HI to all the anak Malaysia.
It was indeed a night full of meaning, the meaning of sharing dreams and hopes and of striding bravely into the unknown. Come Monday we and the rest of Malaysia will stand with RPK

Anonymous said...

When we pray, we moved the hands of God. The Old Book says, "Pray without ceasing." God hears the prayer of His people. In His time, He will make all things beautiful.

We do what is possible and God will handle the impossible!

SFGEMS said...

Anonymous: Happy Belated birthday. Yes it was such a nice night.

DanielyKL: Amen! More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of!

AFP RESOURCES said...

Yes Lita,

GOD gives everyone of us X amount of energy everyday. You have made the right choice by focusing on FAMILY and FRIENDS. Allocating time to what Foes do, say or write just eats into time for FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
GOD BLESS ALL ANAK BANGSA MALAYSIANS

Aloysius
Anak Bangsa Malaysia

SFGEMS said...

Aloysius: Thank you for your nice comment! I think that God has been keeping an eye on all of us, whether we believe it or not! :)

Icekoolbabe50 said...

Hi Lita,

Loved reading this. You really do good lah.

Keep it up!

SFGEMS said...

Icekoolbabe50: Thanks so much for the thumbs up! You are such a sweetheart!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lita and thanks, Got ur many interesting articles thru emails too. Something new came up with different angle of changed. visit http://new2013nation.wordpress.com
You take care and thank God for answering prayers for Pete too.
Bye now

Mark

STEADYAKU47 said...

Hi..what "rather dull life" are you having? From what i see of your Blog you are doing OK. Let me tell you what I did today. Did not go anywhere, did not talk to anybody save my wife and son. Did not do anything to further the cause of Human Beings, the Greening of the Earth, Peace in the Middle East...nothing I can think of that would be meaningful to life - BUT - I let my mind meander all over the place - and with my PC and the Net/Web...I travelled wherever I wanted to and its was so fulfilling. Looking at Zveloyak posting images of his time in London etc made me think that maybe I might dig up my old photos and do the same. Then with my PC I went to London, Moscow and even Morocco. Then to You Tube to listen to Dusty Springfield singing "Yesterday when I was Young" and the another version of the song by Charles Anzavour..then to Elvis to hear him sing "One Night with You" and then another version of the same song by Kim Wilde ...I had a ball by the time I finished and felt totally fulfilled. Try that once in a while.... but you have to be very selfish to do so because you are only feeding yourself... sometime you must do just that to make yourself feel good. Enjoy life.

HH

SFGEMS said...

Mark: Thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot, my dear friend! ;)

HH: Yessssssssssssss, I so agree with what you mean about being selfish and doing frivolous stuff to while away the hours, just for personal fun! I'm not averse to that at all! In fact, I might be guilty of doing too much of that! Thanks for the reminder! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Lita

It's me Doris (your cousin's cousin - that's all I'll say for now). Hope you remember me. We last met at SFX carnival and you let us share your table. Guess you remember now! Liked what you wrote about when you were 22. Made me remember when I was that age too. You hit the nail right on the head. Lita, I used to admire you as the pretty one. You have not changed one bit only prettier on the inside too as you write from your heart. What great penmanship. I read through your whole blog! I learnt shorthand at Goon's too. But 80 was the most I could write but now shorthand is a thing of the past but due to my past training I sometimes think in shorthand...can you believe this. How come I'm writing this? Well, just chanced on your blog lah. OK guess I've taken up enough space on your blog. Keep up your good work esp with your vigil.

Take care k.

Doris