An Old Story

I used to love reading Reader's Digest when I was a kid. Then, only the US Edition was available and had some beautiful stories, jokes, as well as informative reads. At later stage if I remember correctly, the issues were released by RD's Japan office, and later still, their Hong Kong office. By the time the issues were locally released, I had lost interest in RD for many of the old sections were not to be found; Humour In Uniform, Life's Like That, Laughter The Best Medicine, as well as Drama In Real Life, were to me, the must read sections. And after reading Raden and Cikgu, I was somehow reminded of one of the many stories in RD, and are as below.

Who's The Smarter One Now?

This is a story of a construction crew tasked to dig a long trench in a suburb. As the trench work was not of a high priority, A, the supervisor, brought along only 2 workers with him, Siful and Naj (can't remember the exact names here).

After several days of digging, it crossed Siful's mind why he and Naj had to do all the hard work while A sleeps blissfully under the shade of a tree, and posed the question to Naj, who replied "I don't know. Why don't you ask A?" And that, was precisely what Siful did.

After climbing the long ladder out of the trench, Siful confronted A. "I want to know why Naj and I have to do all the hard work while you sleep all day long, and have a better pay than us?"

Knowing that Siful is not too bright a person, A decided it would be better to show rather than explain. As he stood up beside the big tree he said "See my left palm here? I want you to punch it as hard as you can. If you manage to do that, I'll go down into the trench and do your work while you can sleep all day long". A then put his left palm just in front of the tree.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Siful threw the hardest punch of his life. A, being a man of better experience, pulled his palm just before the punch landed, and instead of the palm, Siful punched the tree, and let out a scream of pain.

After bandaging Siful's right hand, A said "Now you know why I am here and you are down there? I am smarter than both of you put together. Now, go back to your work".

Siful went back down the trench. But before he could continue his work, Naj asked him "So, do you have the answer already?" And a smile lit up on Siful's face.

"Yes,"Siful said. "Now, I will show you why I am smarter than you. But first, you must punch my left palm as hard as you can". Being in the middle of the trench and far from its walls, Siful put his left palm in front of his face.

-/end.


ps. Read related story at Rocky's Bru and here.

People

Update: Video Malaysiakinitv

At times, and I admit there are many of those at that, I really wish I am a good political writer, able to write about the problems plaguing people not in Malaysia, but the world over. But I am not and I accept that rather grudgingly as there are many issues which needs to be highlighted Even with the availability of the Internet, far too many people are still blinded by the pains that trouble their brothers and sisters.

As Muslims, we are taught that a simple act of kindness in lightening the burden of another human or creature are acts which are looked upon favourably by Allah s.w.t. These simple acts which would include the removal of a nail or potentially harmful objects from a street, or helping the elderly or the unfortunate crossing, were taught to us when we were small. And there is another, a hadith, if I am not mistaken, which says though not verbatim "Amongst the act of kindness would be the building of a road for the convenience of the people". There are many more quotes from the Hadith and the Noble Alquran, which taught and encourage human to be kind to one another as well as all the creatures of this world. Though never a religious student nor person, I was fascinated by those many reads. Unfortunately as I age, I became lost in the temporary splendour of this world. Now, events of these past few days leave me wishing that I had been true to my path.

A glance at the events still unfolding in Bandar Mahkota Cheras caused me to remember of similar events in Kajang and Jalan Klang Lama area, where the resident of the area are being robbed daily by highway bandits legalised by the present Federal Government.

In BMC as was in Kajang (though on a smaller scale for the latter), residents are up in arms over having to continuously pay the toll even for a short trip to a neighbouring residential area. In BMC, a road built years ago to connect 2 residential areas, were barricaded by the authorities on the grounds that the toll operators would lose out on their collection. For the past few days, the residents - backed by the new Selangor State Government - has been seesawing with the toll operators - backed by the Federal Government - in allowing free passage between the 2 residential areas. While the Pakatan Rakyat State Government are thinking about the people, the Sarkas led Feds are thinking about the profit or loss to the toll operator! Perhaps, the Hadhari Feds - like me, previously - have forgotten about the Hadiths and the teachings of Islam, that one of their main roles is to provide and protect the people.

Looking at the situation above, would it be too naive for me to ask "What happened to the voices of the people?". We may not be living there in BMC, but our fellow countrymen does! Let us all join the people there in upholding their rights! If we can't be there physically, then let us assist them by adding more voice and condemnation the injustice, trivial as some may think of it. But all things began small, including the little speck of blackness in our heart. And this too, include the looming food crisis here in Malaysia.

Last night towards the tail-end of KP meeting, someone mooted an idea for KP to be proactive regarding the rising cost and shortage of rice. The idea mooted was for each member to keep tabs on the price and availability of rice within each member's area of residence. Collectively then, we would be able to anticipate for the future. Though this is not withing the scope of KP, it may well be should the people of Malaysia suddenly find rice in acute shortage or with prohibitive cost! Thus, I would like to propose the same to my fellow bloggers and friends to do the same. And one does not even have to go out of one's way to do it.

Each time we step into a sundry shop or hypermarket, just glance at the price of rice and the stock available. Make a mental note of it and later put it as a note when you blog. And if you pass it to me, insyAllah, it will be tabulated by KP - my email address is at my profile page. Let's try to make this a real people's effort to assist, not the nation per se, but people within. What say you, my friends?

Worth A Thousand Punctures!

Received this email about a truly inconsiderate driver in a parking lot. To be fair to the driver and maybe owner of the car, I had to delete the plate number. Apparently the email sender took picture and sent it wide, perhaps, in hope of putting some senses to Malaysians in general, and the driver in particular. Hmm...if I have my way, I'd just puncture all 4 tyres then watch from a distance.


*****.Azman@ my.ey.com

Driver of WPK **** (VERY SELFISH, STUPID, IGNORANT & F*^^@* DRIVER EVER LIVE IN THIS PLANET)
All
Appreciate your help to pass this message on so that the driver of this car can be located. If you send to 10 persons (your friends and relatives). Very soon it will arrive at the inbox of the driver.

Thank You

THE WONDER OF INTERNET - TO EDUCATE THE IGNORANT


Anyway the number plate WPK (the alphabet PK) in Cantonese stands Pok Khai - This person is a real Pok Khai (a real m****r f****r)