Parable of the merchant

Once upon a time there was a rich merchant who had four wives. He loved the fourth wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best.
He also loved the third wife very much. He was very proud of her and always wanted to show her off to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run away with some other man.
He also, loved his second wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant’s confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his second wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times.
Now, the merchant’s first wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.
One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, “Now I have four wives with me. But when I die, I’ll be alone. How lonely I’ll be!” Thus, he asked the fourth wife, “I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”
“No way!” replied the fourth wife and she walked away without another word.
The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant’s heart.
The sad merchant then asked the third wife, “I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”
“No!” replied the third wife. “Life is so good over here! I’m going to remarry when you die!” The merchant’s heart sank and turned cold.
He then asked the second wife, “I always turned to you for help and you’ve always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you out this time!” replied the second wife. “At the very most, I can only send you to your grave.” The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated.
Then a voice called out: “I’ll leave with you. I’ll follow you no matter where you go. “The merchant looked up and there was his first wife.
She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, “I should have taken much better care of you while I could have!”
Actually, we all have four wives in our lives…. The fourth wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it’ll leave us when we die.
Our third wife? Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to others.
The second wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us when we’re alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.
The first wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material wealth and sensual pleasure. Guess what? It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we go. Perhaps it’s a good idea to cultivate and strengthen it NOW rather than to wait until we’re on our death bed to lament.

From author unknown.

Happiness will keep you behave sweetly. Challenge will keep you strong. Sorrow will keep you human. Failure will keep you modest. Success will keep you passionate, but only your attitude and loyalty which will keep you moving forward

don't wannabe COMMON,ORDINARY people

it's a beautiful Saturday morning. the weather is salubrious. a perfect day for a picnic. at bukit ayaq? just as you are trying to guide your kid into the crystal clear cascading water, the corner of your eyes would catch a glimpse of a young couple behind that heavy boulder in a "compromising position" you couldn't help but wondering,what the ----, only to discover that the girl is from one of your form four classes that you don't quite recognize her initially as she's not wearing her head scarf she normally wears to school.......

shopping at tesco perhaps. the crowd is so thick that you have to weave through them in the sweltering heat as the air conditioning system fails to serve its duty due to the excessive heat. rubbing shoulders with common people while shuffling and squeezing your way through the jostling crowd just to get that RM9.99 1,0kg MILO.

or sitting in your car listening to the nonsense babble of SY, KE andKyrill on 97.1 SINAR.fm while searching for that empty parking spot which seems non existence in that underground car park at the STAR parade even after the 18th round of what seems to be a hopeless hunt....
or making your way to that newly opened shopping mall in the centre of Aloq Staq with the incessant noise of engines created by traffic inching its way through the crowded streets, not to mention the blare of horns and the screeching of brakes...( it's the MEGA SALE! Malaysia is on SALE people!! hurry! or u won't get that 75%discount on the 330 thread count bedspread...)

or maybe spending your morning eating roti canai at Restoran Juliana, suffocating yourself in the thick cigarette smoke coming from that man behind you.(pak cik!there's a no-smoking sign on the wall you are leaning on. would you mind..). while sitting there waiting for your drinks to come, you sit patiently and stare in disbelief at those taxi drivers who entered just 3 minutes ago and wolla! there goes your roti canai and nescafe tarik on their table. and you keep calling the waiters to remind them of your order, and they replied back by assuring you that your roti canai is "on the way"....sigh......

that's so typical with ORDINARY people.....
ORDINARY occurrence in ORDINARY life of COMMON people.

Me? well. i will just sit here in front of my 4 year old 16inch acer laptop and monitoring my friends update on facebook and twitter, admiring their hectic schedule and envying their family trips to almost every nook and crook of the world, trying my best to keep my sanity alive with those video posts on youtube and metacafe and once in a while updating the school's blog on Maxis Cyberkids portal. when i grow tired of that, i will attend to my students' essays, marking and annotating every serious grammatical errors which doubled and tripled with every line, (trust me. it won't last long. i cease to continue after 3 scripts...zzzzz)
later, i will enter my humble kitchen and open the fridge,just to check what's for lunch? today's menu - " kangkong goreng belacan, sup ayam kampung, ikan temenung goreng kunyit, ulam pucuk petai cicah sambal belacan....mmm! that's scrumptious enough for the three of us.....( it's been a while since we last had our dining out. the experience of dining out here in kangar was substandard. the service was bad. the food was tasteless and unappetizing. the waiters were obnoxious!grr..)
i will settle myself by spending quiet times at home. encapsulating myself in front of this inferior lap top, listening to my favourite radio station-91.0mix.fm while stroking tommy, our family cat; once a while checking my roses, orchids and cactus.

man, life is GREAT. at least to me , it IS.

i don't have to be ORDINARY. don't have to be like COMMON folks. i won't settle down for less.

........i ain't much, but i'm all i got......