masterwordsmith-unplugged

Of late, we can see a diversity of opinions in cyberspace which is testimony of the beauty of freedom of speech in the net. There are those who are filled with positive vibes like yours truly and yet those who preach a gospel of doom for reasons known to them. I wrote about this at length in my previous post called WHAT REALLY MATTERS AT THE END OF THE DAY? The following post is the graceful , hopeful and beautiful comment that Nick wrote as a response to my thoughts. He has given me permission to repost it and I have done so with minor editing. Thanks Nick. I pray each of us will continue to abound in hope no matter what and continue to reject the attempts of some to bait us or to provoke us via the subtle use of psychological warfare/propaganda overtly or covertly to stir us into the opposite direction or to make us cower in fear. We will overcome with strength and wisdom from above and from within ourselves and friends.


Life is about living - NOT griping. We have only one life - let's live it with hope. Let's believe that no matter how dark the day, the sun will come shining through like it always has. Thanks! Have a great day.

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OPTIMISM OR PESSIMISM? written by Nick

Life is all about choices. Even though we don't have any choice in determining our gender, race and country of birth, but so does all of humanity. It's not about fretting all the challenges and adversity that life throws at us.

It's about us accepting it and looking for ways to be happy and making other people around us happy too. You choose to do something after accepting the fact.

Indeed being pessimistic, negative and becoming a "scrooge" is a choice too but isn't it a waste of time and effort on our part to spread sadness, sorrow and melancholy when we can bring joy to the world and to others with our existence?

Wouldn't it be great to spread happiness and hope to our family and friends? Why would you choose gloom over happiness? Even the worst human being longs for happiness.

So it quite unnatural (well against nature to be exact) to be pessimistic because if we look at our world, we can see optimism and hopefulness in nature itself.

The birth of life in our planet for instance...it borders on miracles AND HOPE because for life to exist, so many things and events must occur at a specific time and at specific level that a single minute deviation would prohibit the existence of life.

Against all and enormous odds (billions or trillion to 1, against), those sequences of events and time did come together to allow the creation of life on this planet. If that is not hope and positive inclination of nature (divinity/hope) then I don't know what is?

Life and nature itself is full of positive energy and why should we be different? We are sons and daughters of this world, right? So why are we against our own nature and become pessimistic and gloom and bleak?

Choose and the choices are all around us.

Choose wisely because we will not be here again and our choices effect others as well. Change happens when we are hopeful and optimistic of a different outcome otherwise we will not want change.

Even those pessimistic who preach negativism are hopeful that people will change and join them. Isn't that a contradiction? Hoping for people to share their negativism/PESSIMISM?

I say that hope is the engine of life and humanity is the fuel that powers the engine. SO LETS US BE THE BEST FUEL FOR THE ENGINE OF HOPE AND LET THE ENGINE ROAR TO LIFE AND CHANGE THE WORLD!

Everyday we went to sleep with the hope of waking up in the morning. It is GOD's way of telling us something, maybe??? Hopefully, Yes!

DO STILL THINK THAT YOU DO NOT MATTER? HAVE YOU LOST HOPE IN YOUR LIFE? WELL, THINK AGAIN FOR HOPE LIVES AND HOPE NEVER FAILS US.

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Thank you, Nick, for that very moving piece. Bless your pure heart and love for humanity and this nation.
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I pray each of us will not lose hope but continue to soldier on and believe and hope for the best. Hope never fails us and is always alive! Have a lovely evening and do leave a comment if you wish. Thanks!

I used to be such a negative person. Honestly! Those who know me for many years know that I am a far cry from the Empress of Negativism and Worry. I would think of the most negative outcomes in life as if to prepare myself for the worse thinking that it would reduce the blow from life when it really hit me. Most of the time, such negative possibilities hardly ever happened. I had, through negativism, robbed myself of decades of happiness. This is the main reason why I have changed so much to be a positive person. Ready or not, I have come to terms with the fact that some day it will all come to an end.

What is the point of harping on negative possibilities? When some pose such questions to me, I am always reminded of what I used to be and how relieved I am unshackled from my cares and burdens. It took my husband over thirty years to breed optimism in me. Through negativism, I failed to see so many blessings in my life.

It is the same as the political scenario of our country. There are a few who think things will never change. I beg to differ. I still believe that change will happen - otherwise, why would I blog about it daily?

It will never change if we do not change ourselves or if we continue to believe it will never change or if we do NOTHING to make change happen.

Why should we resign ourselves to the current pattern? Think of the Law of Attraction. It is again not blind idealism or pipe dreams but I believe beyond a certain level of sadness, it is largely up to ourselves to get out of the mire and not succumb to the whirlpool of depression or apathy.

One day, there will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. We will expire and leave this world. All the things we collected, treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

Our wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance - in fact diminished to NOTHING. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Even our grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will be no more as well as our hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists.

Victory and failure matter no more as well as our social class symbols or the lack of those. It does not matter how beautiful or ugly we were but it is our life that counts.

Why am I writing this post then? As always, I read my posts and readers' comments for the last five days and see readers' thoughts and my own and take stock of things. I just realized that lately, I have been saying that I want to make my life count.

I really do.

So what will matter? How will I make my life and my days count? How can I assess the value of my life?

I have never been a materialistic person. My dear husband says I am a low maintenance wife who splurges on hair saloons and books :-). I do not hanker after branded goods and seldom go shopping. Yet, in these times as I age, I realize that even the collection of books I amassed over the decades mean nothing to me.

It is what I have built in my life that matters, not what I have but what I gave.

Despite reaching the top of my class in university, I am at the bottom of the earning ladder because of my inclinations and career choices. But I am happy where I am, driving a small car, living a simple life, wearing shorts and t-shirts at home and filling my days with my blogging and time with my family and the handful of friends I have in Penang. At this point of my life, what really matters to me is not my success but my significance.

I often ask myself the impact I have left in the lives of those with whom I have come into contact. I even wonder who will come to my funeral :-).

What really matters is not what the many lessons I learned in my life but what I taught in my courses and classes, even to my own children. And I believe I have left footprints in their hearts that can be seen till today.

At the end of the day, I believe that for all of us, what really matters would be our lives that must demonstrate integrity, compassion, courage, even sacrifices that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to do the same in their lives that the world will be a better place.

In short, our lives and our characters matter. It is not the number of friends that we have but how many will miss us when we die.

I know I am a sentimental woman but even my memories will be gone when I die. What matters would be how far my loved ones and friends remember me when I am gone.

Life is so short and it is easy to be blinded by worry, cares, tension, news reports, rumors etc. Of late, I suddenly realized that time is running out on me!!! I may be concerned about the political scenario but some point in the future (and it has started already), I will be concerned about health issues. Soon enough, I may be gone and I had better do something to make life matter for me and for those around me.

It was then I decided that I had lost enough years of my life dwelling on the negatives, robbing myself of the positives and in that process - losing some friends who could not tolerate my negativism and worrying streak! I am thankful for those patient ones who stood by me from then till now, prodding me to wake up and till today, we are still good friends. For those who decided that I was too negative then, I think of them fondly and pray that there will come a time when we can reconnect and I can tell them that I have learnt my lessons in life....

In some of my recent comments in response to readers, I talked about choice. Each of us has a choice, many choices in life. Living a life that matters is a conscious and deliberate choice that we make and I hope and believe all of us have made that choice. Choose to live a life that matters - to yourself, to everyone around you and to our country.

Take care, dear reader. God bless you and yours. Have a nice day!

In line with the current state of madness, I thought I'd post something really crazy...it is not my style I know but what the heck! We need to destress and unwind, laugh a little and forget what's bothering us! Have a great day and er....please do not use these insults on anyone...:-)

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I bet your brain feels as good as new, seeing that you've never used it.

I bet your mother has a loud bark!

I could make a monkey out of you, but why should I take all the credit?

I don't consider you a vulture. I consider you something a vulture would eat.

I don't know what makes you so stupid, but it really works!

I don't think you are a fool. But then what's MY opinion against thousands of others?

I hear the only place you're ever invited is outside.

I hear you were born on a farm. Any more in the litter?

I heard you got a brain transplant and the brain rejected you!

I heard you went to have your head examined but the doctors found nothing there.

I know you are nobody's fool but maybe someone will adopt you.

I thought of you all day today. I was at the zoo.

I would ask you how old you are but I know you can't count that high.

I'd like to help you out. Which way did you come in?

I'd like to leave you with one thought...but I'm not sure you have anywhere to put it!

I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV.

I'll never forget the first time we met - although I'll keep trying.

I'm busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?

I've seen people like you before, but I had to pay admission!

If I ever need a brain transplant, I'd choose yours because I'd want a brain that had never been used.

If ignorance is bliss, you must be the happiest person alive.

If we were to kill everybody who hates you, it wouldn't be murder; it would be genocide!

If what you don't know can't hurt you, she's invulnerable.

If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.

If your brain was chocolate it wouldn't fill an M&M.

Keep talking, someday you'll say something intelligent.

Learn from your parents' mistakes - use birth control!

Pardon me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a damn.

So, a thought crossed your mind? Must have been a long and lonely journey.

Some day you will find yourself - and wish you hadn't.

There is no vaccine against stupidity.

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Dear reader, I know what you are thinking :-). These can be used for certain characters :-) but please don't- no matter how great the temptation! I guess I have to confess that I had a delightful time reading through this list :-) and hope you did too! Keep that smile on your face and have a great day! Do leave a comment if you wish :-).