Happy Chinese New Year

To all my friends (remember me or not),

 

Wish you a very happy Chinese New Year. I pray that in this season you'll not only experience blessing and prosperity, but reconciliation and restoration. I pray that grace and love and forgiveness will abound in your visitations and your homes.

 

Have a good one!!

 

Joash Chan

 

Public Transportation - Trains (1)

I don't know how or why we started doing it, but now dad sends me to the train station and I take the train to work. It's a 10-minute drive to the train station, a 10-minute ride on the train, and another 10-minute walk to the office. It's half the price of the bus fare, and the train service runs on a schedule - and they are mostly on time. Sometimes they are late, for like 5 minutes the most. At least they have the decency to announce it through the speakers at the train station. The best part is that I don' t have to wake up at 7am.

 

The downside of taking the train to work? Well, for one, my dad has to take the trouble to fetch me to the train station. Can I walk to the train station? Sure, but it'll take 40 minutes. Dad normally wakes up earlier than me, so he's cool like that. Another downside is that he has to pick me up after work again. Sometimes he's not at home, so family friends (ya, we're really blessed like that) will have to fetch me - like I'm a king or something. Truly grateful for all these people.

 

Of course there are smokers at the train station - they seem to be everywhere, and those non-smoking signs or TAK NAK campaign efforts never do stop them. Cigarattes make people fearless like that, I guess that's why most gangsters are smokers. Then there's also the passangers that don't move in so that more can go in, but I won't go into an overly-crowded train anyway. There are little annoyances here and there, but all of life is like that...

 

What never ceases to entertain me are the announcers. Their slangs and different ways of pronouncing the same word give me something to think and laugh about. Some sound depressed when announcing a certain station, I have no idea why. Some just try too hard till they manage to pronounce the word in two different ways. Yes, even when I'm alone, making fun of their voices is a pretty enjoyable thing to do...

 

The world is in need

It's time to go home now. So pack my laptop and head towards the door. I say goodbye to one or two colleagues on the way and head towards the lift. You know the drill. As we walk towards the exit of the building, I take a deep breath. Once again I have to pass through an area where bird-droppings are more common and leaves falling off from the trees. I guess this is how the world repays us for working hard.

 

Then someone lights a cigaratte as we pass through the non-smoking sign. I give a disgusted look, but make sures that no one sees it. I react to a disgusting act, but I don't want pick a fight. Along the way to the train station, there's a bus stop, and there I see more people smoking. And I don't see anyone near them.

 

I see more of them at the train station. The low roof and the weird bridge I passed is already depriving the fresh air I need, but they don't bother to care for others. I meet another one along the way to my dad's car, here to fetch me back home. She as well, couldn't wait till she walked to a wider area where everyone else can avoid her easily, or at least think they could. I breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that my dad isn't a smoker.

 

So why does these smokers have to smoke? Why do they do it in public? Why can't they wait till they're alone to feed their addiction? Can't they consider others? In spite of their addiction problem, don't they have enough good in them to be considerate and caring? How about those who drink and drive? What about those who sexually abuse others? Why can't they control themselves?

 

I come to a conclusion that someone with a problem will most likely trouble and hurt others as well. A gambling uncle can't stop asking for money and just can't discontinue his bad habit. A man's devotion to work causes him to lose his family. A druke driver kills an innocent kid, throws a family into mourning and shock, and be thrown to prison himself, leaving behind a family that is dependant on him for income.

 

I'm only mentioning small portions of the issues faced by the society. Where are the solutions to these problems, these illness of society? Sure, law with greater punishments are in place now, but aren't we still going on a decline? The world as it is now is going on a downhill slide, and we need something fast.