Extending a Tuesday with Morrie...

TheSUN frontpage today warms my heart like birds chirping on a summer's day -- as I guiltily bite into my non-CON BF of fried mee plus lontong sotong plus kambing rendang at "Semuanya Okay" kopishoppe somewhere in SJ, where folks are still okay.
The guilt arises from the dire warnings of well meaning friends that I should not indulge in "rich" foods because hereditary factors are not on my star's side. Maybe on my broadsides, but some say my Ignorance is Bliss policy is too much for asides. Hope thou art not LOST because that is not one of my goals in life, to misslead, especially young maidens adrift on life's by(E)ways.

Our Malaysian hero businessman RAVICHANDRAN THARUNALINGAM, shares double-billing with New Zealander MARK INGLIS, for conquering EVEREST, the world's highest mountain, on Monday, the feat well captured by theSun's headline --

True grit
and all heart

I can straightaway appreciate why TRUE GRIT takes precedence...

INGLIS LOST BOTH LEGS IN A CLIMBING ACCIDENT 24 YEARS AGO.
He becomes the first double amputee to reach the summit of Everest.

RAVICHANDRAN climbed for charity -- aimed at raising RM2million for seven Malaysian charitable organisations; so I hope our corporates will respond with a heart as big as Ravi's.

CONGRATULATIONS are more than in order to both men of much physical prowess and mental spirit. In the case of INGLIS, many human beings caught in his situation when he lost both his legs from below the knees would have given in to despair and be paralysed in self-pity.

The media reports said Inglis, 47, the feat was a showcase of what one can achieve with tru grit, as he is a double amputee, having lost both legs because of severe frostbite suffered after a blizzard trapped him and a fellow party member in a cave in New Zealand's Mount Cook for 14 days in 1982. In the latest climb, one of his carbon-fibre legs snapped while climbing at around 6,400m and he was forced to repair it with spare parts.

Truly a role model to the world, especially to the Young Ones.
Please forget the so forgetable Buku Rekod Guinness ala Malaysia -- No more the Longest sandwioch, Largest moon-cake and Most crooked bridge for with more hands and money, any nationals can do that.

Let's treasure the true human endeavour testing the individual's physical, spiritual and mental prowesses to their limits. Both Ravi and Inglis have risen to the occasion. Heroes to emulate.

Perhaps some of my ER would attempt to reach that Nobel Prize one fine day.
For starters, let's equip ourselves with some basic lessons of Living -- on any of the Tuesdays with Morrie.

~~~~~~~

Using Despotic, as opposed to poetic, Licence,
Desi extends Tuesdays with Morrie to wedNURSEday,
which is usually associated with a Childe of Woe.
But most of my ER here need some PEP-ing, don't you?
"Pep", in my vocab, means "to lift up" --
akin to XoXo, remember?
(or jest between mui-mui Helen -- and Desi -- who inspired,*
this Post, comPost?)~no, not instigated*, I know not till the day I die why the Oz tried to convert me to use this alternative.

I divert to my own selfish delight to Comments arriving like shy virginal brides at a blooming groom's chambers in
Da Steal of Da Nite, as if Da Desi's Code might transfer some Da Vinci's poison into YoungMinda, (Theels, please pass Da Chanel!...)
before I resume this morn's lesson on Life. Courtesy plus courtsey, from Mitch and Morrie. Gentlemen are aloud too, you know. The curtsey and lesson, my mean...

~C1:

"Helen said...

Meow, **scratching Mr Desi **

Sorry, sithkitty got the 1st prize liao! **purrrr, purrrrrr **

"Remember me with smiles and laughter
for that is how I will remember you all.
If you can only remember me with tears,
then don't remember me at all."

9:08 PM "

DESI: Joe.psc - There goes OUR attempt at JV-ing as Da Collectors. Let's stick to Versifying, some itchifying also-can:); we'll leave the bitchifrying to Da Helenic gang!:(No, no-cun', I hear some whisp''ing...


~~C2:

"lc teh said...

sigh...my you guys are so poetic, I need to go back to school to keep you in sight. And also remember that little girl running down hill (or was it up?) with arms outstretched. Really enjoy your play with words (and purposely-misspelling), Desi.
9:19 PM "


DESI:
Readers like you, LC, maketh my day. Backers like thee "feed" me (Oops, must watch my waistlines!) with more poetry --- that can wean the birds down from the safe branches of the Tree, into questionable Desi's terrortry! ~~
and soweth sweet charity&harmony as I offer Guests like Teh some teh-C!. Thanks for the kind words.
IT truly lifts. My heart is as Mitchy as can be for the sext 24...



~~~C3:

"sweetspirits said...
Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal.
Then i await for heaven to heal me.

10:24 PM "

DESI:
I'm among at least five in the Reception Committee,
but sweets, tarry awhile on GOoD Earth,
there is much comPOST to make with Desi.


C3plus1:

"Twisted Heelssaid...
Aww, I've missed just by an hour! Had exams, hehe.

Happy Belated Desi-teach Day :)

1:03 AM"

DESI: To all my EsteemedReaders like Theels,
You are all my Parttime Teachers, hopefoolly,
fulldime fRiends.
"HAPPY TEACHERS' DAE! dear all"

What is more gratifying than to know some parties I have not met regard Desi as a Mentor. I'd rather that I'm most times mentee, sometimes Mentor.

I always acknowledge that honour with rumour/humour, Desi's on the take, so how about gifting/buying me that CON?
Learning is lifelong, and at least is a two-way, but most times, multi-way, journey.
As some of my discerning readers did note, "Some pupils come in for a Reason, others for a Season, the gem-my ones for a Lifetime."




Now I must return to~~~~~~~
learning from Two Generous Teachers, Mitch and Morrie.

Exerpts:


The first time I saw Morrie on "Nightline", I wondered what regrets he had once he knew his death was imminent. Did he lament lost friends. Would he have done much differently? Selfishly, I wondered if I were in his shoes, wouuld I be consumed with sad thoughts of all that I had nmissed? Would I regret the secrets I had kep hidden?

When I mentioned this to Morrie, he noddded. "It's what everyone worries about, in't it? What if today wre my last day on earth?"

:
:

"Mitch," he said, "the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough moeny, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks -- we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?"
He paused.

"You need someone to probe you in that direction. It won't happen automatically."

I knew what he was saying. We all need teachers in our lives.

And mine was sitting in front of me.

:
:
The Fourth Tuesday
We Talk About Death

"Everyone knows they're going to die," he (Morrie) said again, "but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."

So we kid ourselves about death, I (Mitch) said.

"Yes. But there's a better approach. To know you're going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That's better. That way you acn actually be more involved in your life while you're living."

How can you ever be prepared to die?

"Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks,'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?'"

He turned his head to his shoulder as if the bird were there now.

"Is today the day I die?" he said.

Morrie borrowed freely from all religions. He was born Jewish, but became an agnostic when he was a teenager, partly because of all that had happened to him as a child. He enjoyed some of the philosophies of Buddhism and Christianity, and he still felt at home, culturally, in Judaism. He was a religious mutt, which made him even more open to the students he taught over the years. And the things he was saying in his final months on earth seemed to transcend all religious differences. Death has a way of doing that.

"The truth is, Mitch," he said, "once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
I nodded.