A Thumb And The Remaining Four

25 Jul Lesson 10 comments

Summary - Lesson Learnt From Fingers

Yes, that is my hand eheh. The picture actually shows the polite way of pointing direction. The thumb is used instead of the second finger (called pointing finger right?). It is said that symbolically by using the thumb, we will be reminded that even though one finger is pointing at somebody else, the remaining four fingers are actually pointing at us.

Maybe to be funny we can start pointing at people using all ten fingers. Then no fingers will be back-stabbing us hehe. But being funny aside, we really need to check on ourselves before looking into other people’s fault or mistake. It is very easy to blame others on things happening to us. For example, a student who is getting bad grades. The first thing the parent usually do is to send him to a tuition class. In my opinion, this had indirectly blamed the failure to the teachers teaching at school. It IS true that there are some cases that the teacher is a bad teacher, but I don’t think all teachers in this country is bad. The parent should first check themselves. Are they involved in the child’s education. Had they given the proper motivation and maybe describe the importance of education to the child? Tackle these first, and later we can use that ten fingers kay?

Another example -

A man goes to his doctor and says, “I don’t think my wife’s hearing is as good as it used to be, what should I do?”

The doctor replies, “Try this test to find out for sure. When your wife is in the kitchen doing dishes, stand fifteen feet behind her and ask her a question, if she doesn’t respond keep moving closer asking the question until she hears you.”

The man goes home and sees his wife preparing dinner. He stands fifteen feet behind her and says, “What’s for dinner, honey?”

He gets no response, so he moves to ten feet behind her and asks again.

Still no response, so he moves to five feet. Again, no answer.

Finally he stands directly behind her and says, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”

She replies, “For the fourth time, I said CHICKEN! CHICKEN! CHICKEN!

————— Personal Note ————————–
When I first come to KL. That was in 94, I liked to explore the city by foot. So one day, I was planning to go to Sogo, and being new to the place, I asked this teenager the whereabout. He immediately gave me the direction. Go here then go there. I’ll try to memorize it and after thanking him, I follow the direction he gave me. To my surprise.. after about 15 minutes of walking, I end up meeting the same guy grinning to his ear. He also don’t know where he is. Ceh

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Allah’s Secret

24 Jul Islam 13 comments

Summary - The 4 secrets of Allah and why they were kept a secret

Of course we cannot tell everything about us. There is such thing that is called secret. Unless of course the secret will solve the problem, then by all mean, share it. Now we do know that everyone has a secret, even Allah.

So what do you think is Allah’s secret? Believe me that I did not make this up. I read it in a book long time ago. Obviously the following is rewritten based on memory.

Secret 1 - Lailatul Qadar
For those who may not know, “Lailatul Qadar” is a night appointed in one of the nights of Ramadhan. The night was kept unknown to motivate all muslim to work harder in order to get “Keredhaan Allah” by searching it in all 30 nights or at least the last ten night.

Secret 2 - His Saint
Saint or “Wali Allah” are those whose life are devoted only to Allah. He loved them so much that almost any prayer from them will be granted immediately. Obviously they themselves do not know of their status. Their identity were kept hidden so that we will always respect and treat others kindly. Who knows he/she might be one of them. Do you dare to hurt people loved by Allah?

Secret 3 - Soul
It is mentioned in a hadis (correct me if I’m wrong) that when several people came and asked Rasulullah about the nature of soul, they were told that the soul is Allah’s secret. Soul is basically what make us alive and concious. It cannot be the brain or heart because some organism like bacteria have neither and yet still alive. So why does Allah keep this a secret?. It is to make us humble that even though we had explore the whole universe and understand everythings, we will still not understand our own body and how we come to be alive.

Secret 4 - Death
The origin of life is a secret, of course death will be another. But unlike life, death is kept a secret in the manner that nobody know how and when we will die. It’s not a surprise that somebody who is so healthy died, if not natural cause, maybe due to accident. So.. as you may have guess it, death is kept a secret to allow us to live our life fully by seizing the day. Death is beyond our control and thus why worry. The same death will also urge us to “memperbanyakkan amal ibadat”(hehe I have no translation for this) as we can die any moment in our life.

There’s a saying that “work on your life as if you are going to live forever but “beribadatlah” as if you are going to die tomorrow.”

Of course this is just an opinion of the past ulama’. In the end only Allah knows the reason behind all matters

Maybe you guys can add to the reason why such matter is kept a secret. And also can somebody please give me an English word for beribadat?

————— Personal Note ————————–
My favorite memory on secret, is when I (during my childhood) was fasting in one Ramadhan. I was 10 or 12 years old at the time. Heheh so as what a child would do on his first time fasting, I cheated by eating the currypuff filling my mother made. To cut things short, my brother, filantera caught me. And so we established that this is a secret between us. Everything was going fine and we had break our fast for the day. Somehow, filantera couldn’t resist and spoke to me (in an intentionally-raised voice) - “Banji, mama tak tau lagi rahsia kita kan?”

Obviously my mother interrogate him and my secret is all out in the open. heheh so understandbly I was “rotan” by mother. I know that I get him back after that.. but unfortunately cannot remember what

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Never Run Away From A Problem, Solve It

23 Jul Relationship 18 comments

Summary - Problems are meant to be solved not hidden hoping it will go away.

Today, one of the machine in the mill had a breakdown. When we had a look, we can see some scratches at the shaft (Actually there’s more damage to it, but let make this simple). I then asked “How is this get scratched?” The operator said he know nothing of it and the workshop personnel back him up by saying this is normal. I was surprised at the answer, because damage like that cannot be normal. Something must have cause it. And for the workshop personnel to say it normal means that they’ve encountered the damage previously but were lazy to follow up and investigate. They just replaced the shaft.

Yes, there is such thing as wear and tear in the industry but I know wear and tear when I see one. This is not wear and tear.

In short, we investigated and solved the problem. The reason I highlighted this is because it a typical practice for us to hide the problem rather than face it. Investigation to find the cause of the damage is very tedious and time consuming, Yes I know. But it had to be done. Or else the problem will keep recurring.

This is not only bound to engineering problem, but to all of our life problem. If we somehow hurt our loved ones’ feeling, usually we will just try to apologize or worse just sleep on it, hoping tomorrow everything will be back to normal. This will not solve the problem, instead the problem will accumulate until one time, all hell break loose. Unfortunately for us, relationship is not like a machine where we can just overhaul or get a new one.

So please, if we’ve hurt our better half’s feeling, talk it over. If talking and open up feelings are not a culture in your relationship, start it immediately. You (the man) will not be weak by expressing your feeling, but of course don’t be overly emotional. and you (the woman) will be better understood if you speak up your feeling once in a while, but of course as gentle as possible.

————— Personal Note ————————–
There is a phrase taken from Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah talk on relationship in Era on how to persuade your husband to do things around the house. Somehow I remember them. Caution - husband and wife conversation follows…Wife - Bertuah saya dapat abang ni tau, abg ni baik, suka tolong di dapur.
Husband - Iye? (Hati berbunga2)
Wife - Tapi kan…. kalau abg boleh tolong saya basuh pinggan.. lagi saya terharu.
Husband - (knows already the wife actually want some help with the dishes) Ye la.. I’ll do it for you
Wife - Tq

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There Should Be No Other Opinion But Mine - WRONG

22 Jul Idea / Mind Hack 10 comments

Summary - Another mind set that require some change, that “our opinion is the only opinion”

Some of my friends did ask me some questions. I graduated in Chemical Engineering from University of PETRONAS, so why didn’t I apply for a job in chemical plant or offshore oil rig. Instead I am working in a palm oil mill. They looked at me as if I had been a failure and that chemical engineering from PETRONAS MUST work in an oil rig, and nothing less.

We Malay, will have a long way to go to have a world class mind if this is the kind of mentality our graduates have.

What in your opinion is the definition of success? It is my believe that the answer is very subjective and it varies from one person to another. So why is it that we have to judge people using our own definition. Our understanding of the word “success” may not be the same way other people understand “success”

Parents in the early years of their children had told them the meaning of success is measured in term of career they will end up. They implanted the idea that successful people are those working as doctors, engineers and lawyers. In a way, this is quite a good method, because it will give the children some direction to work on. But the parents should in time tell the children to find their very own definition of success. please don’t raise them believing that if they are not lawyers, engineers or doctors, they are a failure. Don’t use the same definition of success to the children. They may not be lawyers but maybe they will become a businessman instead. “Datuk lagi” huhu

Anyway… Success for me is how you achieve what you aim. So what do I achieve with my current job?

My house is just 1km from my workplace. I have never experience traffic jam, tolls and road accidents (touch wood), I can have breakfast, lunch and tea with my wife everyday (of course dinner also), I can even go back to sleep during my lunch break comfortably on my bed,

I only answer to one person, which is the mill manager (no politics whatsoever), I knew exactly what should I do to be promoted, in term of requirements etc (I’ve seen some engineers that have worked so long but canot be promoted simply because no vacancy)

True that I may not get paid as handsomely as others, but look at what they’ve been missing. People are given each 24 hours a day, In the end it will all add up. Gain something and loses another.

The best thing about my work is that I enjoyed it. Isn’t this the most important things?

Anyone else have had experience alike? being force to believe in something?

————— Personal Note ————————–
My dad had also tried to suggest our future career. I’m supposed to be a lawyer, My second brother - an architect and my third - a doctor. We have no idea then what the job will require us to do, but it did in a way give us a sense of direction. So I’m not really against parent putting ideas in their children head. Because if not, it may soon be corrupted by fellow friends anyway. It’s just that the parents should be open minded and respect the choice their children took (of course only after they were able to know bad from good, “akil baligh”)

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Weirdest Things You Can See On The Road

21 Jul Funny / Sunday 5 comments

Source : Collection from internet

Hey it’s Sunday! These are some pictures showing rare things you would see on the road. So word of advice.. Be careful when you’re out there, the weirdest things can happen