Life Is A Struggle

I think it was last Thursday. After our lesson ended at 6 p.m., the usual bunch of us ( Mok, Kai Ming, Bernard and I ) went to take our dinner near the Bazaar of Section 6. It was going to be a holiday on Friday so we were not in a rush to go anywhere. After dinner, we stayed back and chatted for a while ( as if we had a choice since it was raining like nobody's business at that particular time -.- ). Then, Bernard said he wanted to go Seven-Eleven to stock up some necessities, so, off we went. On the way, we saw a cute abandoned kitten.

The kitten was in a sorry state. Shivering in the cold, it curled up in fright whenever we tried to approach it. It's probably a mere few months old. The parents were nowhere in sight. Feeling sorry for the deplorable state the kitten was in, we bought a pack of cat food and went on a feeding spree !

Bernard feeding the little kitten ( He's obviously the expert here )

The hungry kitten nibbling on the cat food

Mok and Ming looking on as though it's some mildly interesting television show =)

Since there were still some leftovers, we decided to walk around the block and feed whatever cats we saw. We gave pregnant cats and baby kittens more helpings. It's not that we are not fair, we DO believe in equality to all, just that some are more equal than others. Hehehe..

Bernard ( again ) feeding a pregnant cat

We left the packet with a terrified kitten which was too scared to come out from its hideout

On the way back, we were all feeling a bit sad for all these abandoned kittens. Based on experience, i don't think these kittens will survive for long. The only consolation we got from this experience was knowing that perhaps we'd helped these poor kittens stay alive to fight in another day.

Bernard remarked on the way back, "Life is a Suffering."

I gotta say, i couldn't have agree more.

After i went back to my room, while i was thinking about that phrase "Life is a suffering", as if to counter that thought, an excerpt from Desiderata ( a plaque with inspirational quotes given to me by Mr Arthur ) floated up from my mind,

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle to yourself. You are a child of universe, no lesser that the trees and the star; you have a right to be here. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. And above all, strive to be happy."

You're a child of universe, a child of God; you have a right to be here

Went to play badminton with my close friends yesterday at the bowling centre.

Sing Siong, Lawrence and I

I would liken life to a badminton match. I am no expert in badminton, but one fundamentals i think all players would agree with me is, if you started off big and played like there's no tomorrow in the starting game, you're inviting trouble. After the first few rounds, you would be sapped of your energy and you would be too exhausted to keep up with your opponents. In short, you're just inviting your opponents to beat the crap out of you. Experienced players would probably started off easy as if everything is a breeze.

My friend used to advise me ( because i suck in badminton ), "It's not about the energy you have; it's not about your stamina. It's just about using the right techniques and you can play badminton almost effortlessly. The problem why you grow tired easily is because you presented yourself too strong at the start. Don't struggle too much, just relax and take things easy."

It never was about your strength, but about your technique, and attitude

I read an article about this off the Internet,

"Make today a breeze, not a battle. Never fight. Nothing is worth fighting for. Wisdom never fights, it waits patiently, speaks positively, releases easily, sees benefit in everything and envisions a future of abundance knowing that all needs will be at the right moment, in the right way. If you think life is a struggle, you will always be struggling. If you think life is a breeze, your attitudes and actions will convey lightness and easiness. And that's what attracts everything you need and much more. Make today a breeze, not a struggle."

Life is a breeze, not a stuggle

I DON'T quite agree with that phrase, though it has some truth in it to a certain extent.

The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there's a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding -- that existence is a struggle. In my opinion, i think struggle is the father of all things. It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world ( even animal struggles for food and security ), but solely by means of the most brutal struggle.

For better or for the worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real. Need and struggle is what aspire us to excel in life. Without struggle, there would be no progress at all in life.

Struggle is what keeps us going and excel in life

There are things in life that is worth the struggle, like love and friendship. Opportunity follows struggle. It follows effort. It follows hard work. It doesn't come before that.

I like what Friedrich Nietzche said about struggles in life,

"Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a good chance of battle, leave no rooms for regrets."

Welcoming obstacles and struggles in life doesn't mean you'll live through every single one of them. It doesn't mean we'll be a victor over it at the end of the day over every single predicament. There will be defeats. There will be struggling in life. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for our dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.

Sweet success becomes sweeter when long delayed and obtained after more struggles and defeats. Until you have been to the deepest of valleys, you'll never appreciate the beauty of the highest of mountains.

If you never tasted defeat, how would you know what is victory and success ?

In conclusion, life is just one big struggle. Strength does not come from winning. Struggles develop strengths. When we go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that's strength.

Whatever the struggle, continue the climb. It may be only one step to the summit.

Persistence and perseverance is the mother of success

It was because yesterday i dared to struggle, that today, i dared to win a glorious victory =)

P.S. I just realized why Bernard was very good when it comes to cats. He practically lived with them his whole life. For a full account, you can visit http://scribblealltheway.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html