Thursday, May 06, 2010

How my world came tumbling down

After a few people smsed me and emailed me, I kind of realised that this post is a bit too much. Hence the disclaimer before the actual post itself. Do know that while reading this letter, it's supposed to bring out a certain point that is found only towards the end of the letter. SO, while reading it, the scenario painted out are NOT TRUE. While writing this disclaimer will spoil the "ah-ha" effect, I think making people unnecessarily worried about me isn't exactly the intended point either.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear readers,


I had a very very bad week.


I fell down the stairs when I was going for my dinner last week. Dropped down a flight of stairs, sprained my left hand and broke my leg, leaving my leg in cast now. That was after I received a letter from the hospital after a full body check up the previous month. What can I say? The results are...not optimistic at all. It says that I've a growth in my right forearm, so more needs to be done before it can be ascertained whether it's malignant or not. As I was musing over the possibility of a cancerous growth, I must have lost my concentration and fell over the flight of stairs.


How can a spate of bad news hit me so relentlessly and furiously? Didn't my mum's high blood pressure got worse this month and had to be sent to the hospital? My pet cat's recent death already had me sleeping with my pillow wet and my eyes puffed up with all the crying. I don't think I've anything left to cry anymore. My gf had threatened to leave me after a very bad spate of arguments, so I can't seek consolation with her. Can I talk to my friends? They had 'left' me because while I was busy with my work, I didn't have time for anyone except to make more money. While they are physically there, our frequencies no longer resonate. It's just an empty feeling talking to them, because it reminds me of how things were in the past and how different they are now.


But all these did not happen at all. I did not fall off the stairs. I did not go for a medical checkup and neither did I receive any letter sentencing me to death. My leg is perfectly fine and my hands are still as dexterous as ever. My mum's blood pressure did not get worse and she did not go to the hospital at all. My cat is still very much alive and mewing for attention occasionally. My pillow and bed sheet are crisp and fresh as it had been changed just last week. I did had arguments and disagreements with my gf but she did not threaten to leave me. We are still very much in love. My friends are still there with me and though our frequencies no longer resonate perfectly, they are still in phase with each other. Conversations with them are no longer are as satisfying as I used to remember them, but we still know each other like a connoisseur to his favourite vintage wine.


So why did I tell you this? I just lost a few k in the stock market as the price spirals down and I want to let you see things in the proper perspective. Things are not as bad once you realised that you have a wonderfully blessed life right now, at this very moment. What is a few k of losses? Don't wait for the moment when you lose the things you have now to realise how fortunate you are.


Life is still very wonderful :)



Yours truly,

La Papillion

23 comments :

AK71 said...

Perverse!

FF said...

you are sick la LP!

got me worried about you for a moment.

Anonymous said...

"Man, who is born of woman,
is short-lived and full of turmoil."

I find great comfort in the truth.

hh

Anonymous said...

Hi LP,
Sorry for preaching over here. After seeing your write-up, I just cannot control myself and has to say this.

Life is meaningless without God in the picture. Our transient life will be gone before we know it. All our toils under the sun is but only chasing after the wind. Whether rich or poor, famous or not, all will not be remembered for long after they return to the dust.

Therefore, one should enjoy the fruits of his labour recognising that this enjoyment is a gift from God who enables him to have the life (be alive) to enjoy them.

Jeremy. :-)

la papillion said...

Hi AK and FF,

Pai seh, pai seh :)

I'm glad to be in the presence of caring friends. I might not have seen your face, but it's been nice knowing that you cared about me all the same.

I'm really blessed.

Kyith said...

you basket case, bai dan xing le.

la papillion said...

Hi HH,

Hey hey, what is the comfort in this line? Elaborate more?

Getting quite cryptic these days, haha :)


Hi Jeremy,

It's okay :) I think my post made many people have the sudden urge to act.

I've achieved my point then, of contributing my little part to the world, so that it can send ripples everywhere.

la papillion said...

Hi Drizzt,

Haha, thanks for your concern :)

Very paiseh...i'm really not trying to milk sympathy here. I wasn't even counting my losses...but trying to write in a manner that invokes emotional response to something that I feel strongly about.

Life's ups and downs had to be viewed in a broader perspective. Like what Jeremy said, if life is transient, most of our problems are not that significant anymore.

If all that is described really happens, my world will come down. I'm thankful and grateful that it's not true.

Unknown said...

Lp,

I really thought you are not fine despite the disclaimer.

Hahaha !!!! Your letter tells us to look at the bright side when things got worst.

Jeng

Anonymous said...

"Man, who is born of woman,
is short-lived and full of turmoil."

Suffering is expected. Its comforting to know the truth.

There are different responses to the same situation tho.

Thanks for sharing with us your responses.

Maybe u want to think of several other responses?

hh

Anonymous said...

"Our transient life will be gone before we know it. All our toils under the sun is but only chasing after the wind. Whether rich or poor, famous or not, all will not be remembered for long after they return to the dust."

How short is social/family memory? A teacher asked the students in her class who can remember something about their grandparents. Many put up their hands. The teacher then asked "who can remember about your grandparents' parents". Class went quiet. A cheeky boy finally said "I know, they were all dead"

hahaha...sad but true.

.. remind me not to delay drawing up family tree while my parents are alive. Maybe this would make a meaningful father's day gift for dad.

Happy mother's day to all moms! Elaine and all...
hh

Sanye ◎ 三页 said...

Phew... You got me worried for a while.

Well I lost a few 10K's these few days too, but life is still wonderful. Shopping time has started.

Buggery said...

Wah... Nice post. Got me there for a moment but still these things need reminding every now and then.

It definitely served as a reminder for me!

Anonymous said...

"Life goes on." I like that line. Life goes on whether you decide to lie down and cry/die, or shrug and carry on doing what you can.

la papillion said...

Hi Jeng,

Hey, why nobody believes me even when I put the disclaimer, haha :)

Actually my point is this - things can be much worse. The fact that they didn't makes you blind to the fact that they could happen. SO count your blessings and treat the little tragedies in your life with the proper perspectives.

la papillion said...

Hi HH,

"Man, who is born of woman,
is short-lived and full of turmoil."

My interpretation (pls do not take offense):

The line seems to differentiate between the sexes, rather than a referring "men" as humans. We can see this because the line specifically included the word "woman", all in the same line. So, if the word "men" refers to the two sexes, then it would be rather odd.

It seems that man's life is short lived and full of turmoil. Short lived, I take it as being short in length, which is true because men do live shorter than woman, in general. Full of turmoil - full of troubles and strives?

I am rather curious of the line "born of woman". It seems that to be put that purposely to indicate something. Can I rephrase it as "Because man is born of woman, his life is short-lived and full of turmoil"? The context is impt of course.

That's how i interpret it. That's also why I'm confused when I read that line and asked for further elaboration.

la papillion said...

Hi sanye and buggery,

I'm so sorry! Not my intention to cause worry!

la papillion said...

Hi anon,

Life goes on with or without you. That's also the moral of the story for this wonderful movie I've watched - Lovely bones.

Anonymous said...

Hi LP,

Its taken from Job 14:1, u may find different translation of this bible scripture.

938 Eugene Low has a program call "change your perspective and you can change your life"

Can we really? change our perspective and change our lives?

Maybe one may ask "What is the TRUTH in this situation?"

Can we get to the TRUTH by ourselves? How to ascertain if it is the TRUTH?

Who can reveal the TRUTH to me?

If the "perspective" is not absolute TRUTH, how will it change when the situation change?

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
hh

PanzerGrenadier said...

Hi LP

Sometimes, we need to take a step back from our current situation before we can know if something is "good" or "bad".

Our perception of events as they happen become our reality.

Glad to see that it was an exercise in scenario planning and challenging people's mental models. :-)

Be well and prosper.

la papillion said...

Hi PG,

Haha, I'll be careful not to do this again. Quite a no. of pple complain to me that I was cheating their feelings...though I did not think so :)

I agree with you. Things can be quite insignificant if we look at it with a different view pt.

mm said...

haha LP,

Nice article..

You are using the art of contrast within the tools of INFLUENCE in this article.

You might like the book INFLUENCE: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION.

Its one of my favorite books on how ppe. are trying to influence you and how you can use your own defenses to "BLOCK IT".

Cheers,
mm

la papillion said...

Hi mm,

Ok, I shall look out for that book :) I didn't even know what techniques I'm using, haha :)

Thanks for dropping by :)