the 8th wonder

wow, it has been a long hiatus. I guess perhaps what nette says has some grains of truth in it - that if you sleep badly on Sundays, you will start off on a bad note and be depleted of energy for the rest of the week. The week has been been dour and tiring, and I find myself succumbing to the temptation of sleep every now and then when I'm back at home. And the pressure is building up towards the start of prelims. Sigh. Confidence, oh competence.

All of a sudden, I miss my primary school and secondary school classes where everyone can interact with one another so comfortably, without having to catch what we are saying. There were no unseen red tape or unfelt tensions, and even ordinary lessons can become extraordinary ones when we participate constructively and positively.

And there is a difference between constructive and positive. While the former refers to anything that promotes improvement or development, the latter reflects how such suggestions allow the general tenor of discussion to be sustained at a high note, without being strained. After all, there is a reason why silence, the situation where intensity of sound is zilch, is also known to be caused by destructive interference.

But on the flip side, there are also friends in the class whom I will miss a lot once JC is over. As one of my favourite sayings goes, "Each friend represent a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born". I think that explains it all =)

I recall this question a friend had recently about existence. And to you my friend, if you ever read this, the immediate purpose of our existence is to create a world in others, a world that is better than what was, a world that has your unique footprint, a world that continue shining when all other worlds have stopped. A world that replaces grief with joy; that which substitutes apathy for appreciation; and that which transmutes loneliness into friendship. At least that's how I see it.

I have always marvelled at the wonders of the world we live in today. There is so much wonder, beauty and joy present in the little things in life that many often overlook them as they continued their frantic run on the never-ending threadmill of competition. Even a simple thing like observing how the morning glow changes from purple to pink, from pink to azure, from azure to white can be so heartwarming.

In fact, what is more incredible is how all of us have seen the Eighth Wonder of the World, but only few have realized it. There are many things in life we take for granted until there are gone - let us open our eyes and identify the ones that will make us feel incomplete when they are gone, and start appreciating them. Because friendships require sustenance too, and there are times when we are too distracted to feed them the nutrients that they need. Only when we see the first petal of the flower that once blossomed starts to wither that we take action, but often, that might have been too late.

Good friends are like stars - you don't always see them, but you know they are there.