the REAL me.

As I was walking out towards the MRT station this evening, I passed by a man who was taking a photo of the sky. A little distance away was another man doing the same thing, and a few other random people looking up at the sky. So, the kaypo-ness inside me caused me to turn my head and take a look, and to my surprise, there was a rainbow in the sky. Not the kind that seems far off into the horizon, but it was actually towering over the HDB flats, a magnificent sight indeed.

It was right then that I had the urge to whip out a camera and take a photo of the rainbow. But to my dismay, I did not bring my camera out. And neither do I have a camera phone, so I couldn't even take a half decent photo of the rainbow. It was then that I began lamenting why I have yet to change my phone.

And then at that moment, I just thought of this song, 知足 by 五月天. Go ahead, play the video and listen to the first line of the song. Basically, it's a song about how sometimes, we try so hard to achieve what is out of our reach, when we should actually be contented with what we have. I think there's a Confucian teaching along this line, that says the measure of happiness for a person isn't about how much one possesses, but how one views what he/she possesses.

This was probably the second of third time of my life where I've seen a rainbow through my own eyes, not from photographs or videos. Perhaps, instead of having wanted to keep a long lasting memory of the rainbow, I should have been contented to have chanced upon it.

It's the same thing with happiness. Sometimes I longed for more happiness, or that my fleeting moment of happiness would last longer, but maybe I should treasure the happiness that I already have. And count the little blessings I get in life, and draw contentment, and happiness, from it all.

Yet it's all a very contradictory sort of thing. Aspirations and contentment seems to be a mutually exclusive pair. I suppose I have too great aspirations for myself to be contented with what I have. It's a strange thing. I like to believe that there's a greater purpose for my existence. That I am meant to achieve more. Yet once I start pondering about it, I lose confidence. Imagine if the billions of people in the world shared my view. Imagine if everyone wanted to be as successful as, say.. our MM Lee, or someone of similar importance. Obviously, not everyone is meant to be as successful as they hope to be.

Yet that does not mean that I shall resign to my fate and let destiny decide my path. True, I do believe that there's such a thing as destiny. Yet I believe in each individual's responsibility in playing an active role in shaping his/her own. It's not as if throwing everything to chance will ever come to fruition. Hence I have come to this conclusion: Aim to be the best that you can be, yet do not fret if you do not achieve what you had hoped for, and be contented with what you have gained in the process. As they say, it is the journey, and not the destination, that matters.
0 comments