Reflective Thought

Credit: Images Copyright DigitalGlobe.

You see picture above?  Imagine the green to be some kind of moss and the orange is some kind of brick. And there you go, puddle at your backyard.

But no, this is a picture taken from satellite from Sri Lanka when tsunami struck on Dec 24, 2004.

When I see above image, I’m dumbfounded. I couldn’t help but compare it to the small images of flood  I’ve taken few weeks back on my hometown (at my backyard and taken from my phone, so forgive its unclear-ness).

Recently (yesterday night, exactly) another tsunami stuck again in Mentawai Island, Indonesia that causes activities to volcano in Yogyakarta (Java Island, also in Indonesia).

And really, those natural disasters is almost… humbling. Like it’s whispering (and shouting, if you see from another angle) that your and my little world can be easily, very easily shattered.

Humbling, indeed.

Learning From Mistake

Try to imagine a world without mistakes. When everything we do always stick to the plan and things we do will never, ever go wrong. And as interesting as this notion is, we know that it is pretty impossible, in our current world at least.

We, as human (I hope you are, my dear reader), who constantly faced with decision-making moment, be it major or minor decision, will inevitably make a mistake.

And living in this current age, where comfort and safety is quite guaranteed, there are times when we take every good thing we have as granted. Including expecting things to go exactly like we wanted. 

There are many times in my life, when I forget that a smooth plan is not something that *should* happen by itself. And despite everything, I often forget that sometimes no matter how much preparation we had, things go wrong and failure happens.

Looking back, I can see more clearly. These mistakes, when learnt correctly, is a powerful teacher. Experience is the best teacher they say, although there are times you must learnt it the hard way. As the saying goes: What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. As long as you are not dead from the mistake, there bounds to be something to be learnt from it.

And while I don’t particularly want to repeat those (mostly painful) mistakes again, it definitely shapes me to be a wiser person. More mature, perhaps, or I hope so.

So, I guess all I can say is: Live and learn.

Small Things. Big Things.

Small things can make big difference. Yes, this saying is overused, cliché, and overall, boring. Who wants to do small things? Everybody (including me) wants to do great things. But of course, some great things can only be achieved by being faithful in doing small things. (sounds familiar? No? Read bible more )

Today, I took a journey to KL, Malaysia, because my semester break is almost over. And when I arrived at my house, everything is (*is*, I haven’t really clean it up) filled with fungi and dust. And I tell you, it’s a pretty bad combination when you have just taken physical toll (taking two hours boat, five hours bus, walks with heavy luggage, total ten hours journey from where I leave home to when I arrived) and mental load (disappointed with friends that suddenly change their trip date).

At night, I feel truly exhausted. Sad, too (this is for another post, if someday I find it worth posting). I really just want to curl up and sleep everything off (which is just running away from the real problem). But just a few message on Facebook, few calls to my hand phone and I felt better. Much better.

See, this is the power of little things. I’m not usually this emotional or so easy to cheer up. (Maybe it’s ‘that’ time of the month?)

Most of the time, you never know what little things you do, means really much to that person. Do what you can (because even this, is already not easy).