A Funny Cartoon

Pushpa sent me this cartoon :) All the readers of my blog have permission to name me when I exhibit the characteristics seen above. Right now, I am Bloated. Bordering on Psycho....

Last Hours

I read an article taken from The Guardian in The Sunday Times today and it disturbed me a great deal. It was a son's account of his mother's last days after she had set a date and time for her own assisted death as she had been diagnosed with cancer. In the Netherlands, it is legal to request for euthanasia if one is terminally ill and this lady had chosen to end her life on her own terms.

While the issue of euthanasia itself is debatable, I was most saddened not by so much by her decision to end her life but by the way she spent her last hours. To know when you are going to die, yet to spend the time worrying about your obituary, the coffin, the flowers and the cleanliness of your home.... I am filled with an inexplicable sadness. What filled this woman's life that she could not spend her last days meaningfully, making peace with her husband and sons, making peace with her Maker, and herself? To spend her last day on earth cleaning the house, clearing the garden, making her family wash the toilets? I feel so so sad for the people she has left behind.

All I can do is say a prayer for this family - for a time of healing, forgiveness and love. And a relationship with God who created us to live lives that are far more meaningful than a clean house.

Happy Teachers' Day!

I love Teachers' Day. Yes, I know that technically I am a Curriculum Specialist now, but after 5 years at MOE I know with a sense of certainty that nothing I have done in the past 5 years has given me the soul satisfaction I had in the 25 years before that. I will be the first to admit there were days when I hated getting up in the morning, days when I dreamed of jobs that seemed more glamorous, more rewarding, more exciting. But having now tried my hand at something else, I am praying for an opportunity to start teaching again.

And I think there must be something special about this job if it is the only one of two with a holiday declared to recognise it, right? We don't hear of a Lawyers' Day or a Doctors' Day or a Bankers' Day. Of all the professions, there we have it - Teachers' Day and Nurses' Day. That's it. Yay!!

So today I celebrated it as I have for many of the past years - with a time of reflection and a nice massage :) I'm also happy to have done some teaching - in the form of a mini-workshop I ran for the young teachers in my church on Saturday afternoon. The turnout was small - there were 6 people, but I have learnt over these years that all things happen to fulfil God's purposes. So though I would have liked 20, I know God met the needs of the 6 who came. It was nice that we had space to talk and though I had to rush a bit towards the end (as always, because I always over-prepare!), I think we talked about what mattered.

I also had a lovely surprise this morning. Dot (& Chit & Lily) sms-ed me to say I had a tribute in the Straits Times today!!! And Haslinda of 94A if you ever read this blog, know that you made my day today! The best Teachers' Day present you could have given me - is to bother to remember me 14 years after I taught you and to go the extra mile of writing to the papers. Thanks dearie! Wow! In this age of sms-es, your tribute touched me because it required an effort and I appreciate it. I wish I knew how to contact you so I could say thanks. And I am also humbled by the thought that so many children come to us day after day trusting us to teach them. It is an awesome responsibility and the impact we make on them lasts so long! I can only pray that I did more good than harm. I used to tell my kids that I was born to be their nightmare :) I think to some I was. But I do hope that to some I was a blessing.