Faults

"..for the eyes of man see faults...but God looks at the heart"


Do you ever take notice of how people remember? Should you be remembered for the things you have done and ways in which you acted in, are those things good or bad? Are you remembered better for doing good or bad?

Have you ever noticed that people can remember your faults, embarrassments and wrongdoings; but forget easily the right things you had done? If a child come home from school with a score of 9 out of 10 correct answers for spelling, most parents might focus on that one mistake instead of the 9 words spelled correctly. Or for the sake of the title, take for instance in a 100 metre dash. Runner A trips halfway while runner B finishes the race in first place. People will remember how runner A fell down but few will remember runner B for running well.

It is apparent that faults are easier to remember compared to good deeds. People can see the mistakes you make and sometimes give comments without much thinking, but they seldom thank, congratulate or encourage you when you do something right.


An irony is this, people pinpoint faults in other people but can never seem to spot faults of their own. Sometimes it is so difficult to convince a person that he or she did something wrong. I'm not surprised because everything one does is always right in his or her own eyes, this is why we all need each other. Besides that, openness and discernment is important. But sometimes it is just as difficult to tell a friend that he or she did wrong.

There is a common need in us, since we are from the same kingdom, family, species. The common need for us to all remove the log in our eyes before removing the spec in someone else'.


It sucks when people remember your humble moments but forget your glorious ones. So we must all be aware in remembering each other for good deeds and try not to dwell on faults and embarrassments.
Together, we can build one another up! What are friends for?

Mangkat

My evening nap last night ended went overtime, just got up from my mom's bed  realising that I had to prepare for school already. Whilst Elaine was in the bathroom and I continued snoozing, dad woke up to inform us that there is no school today because the Sultan of Johore passed away last night.

No school! But I'm not too excited actually, today's class will be until 10AM only anyway. If the Sultan could die on another day, I would have gotten a longer "special holiday". Haha, there's no need to be so calculative, give thanks.

So I got up early in the morning to find out about a news, good or bad news, I won't go into that, but news anyway. News that there is no school for today.
However I paused for a moment and began musing.

I started thinking about people, about life, about the roles people play in life and so on. What good did the Sultan do for his people, perhaps a little average Joe like me wouldn't understand. Maybe he ruled with justice, maybe otherwise, but I, just a student, cannot tell. As far as I am concerned, the Sultan's death benefits me more than his life did.

Everybody plays a role in the lives of a certain number of people and have an amount of influence over them, be it consciously or not. How big is your role in the lives of those around you? How many people do you affect? Are the effects you have on people good or bad? Nobody is insignificant, but am I putting in effort to do anything about my significance, for the common good?
The Sultan had power, his death could cause local schools and government offices to cease operation for one day. Not many people can have such power, but everybody has to die. Will my death bring anything to people? How many people will my death affect? What will people say about my life? How many people had been blessed, or cursed? Will they be relieved or will there be mourners?
All these questions and uncertainties..... can be predicted by the way I live this life.

What good will my death bring? What good does my life bring?

漫漫地等

 漫漫地等

蓝蓝的天空占了灰

白白的云朵染成乌

水里的鱼儿停止游

草原的绵羊脏如泥

我的世界

你的离别

寻你的踪影

天堂于地狱

非天壤之别

我的世界

被遗忘的村落

没希望的故乡

世人现今几个常回乡探访？

天上的云都懒得哭

活在难民不去的故乡

生在四肢无力的处境

等待久等不到的来信

枯等你实现承诺

像等夏天的雪

以及冬天的花

情绪的动摇也好

理智的损失也好

不放弃，却不能指望

没关系，我以失去

如今

我还在漫漫地等

© Joel Yap

This is probably my first poem written in Mandarin! Hahaha.... Hope to brush up on the skill and continue writing with more quality in future.

What I tried to express through the verses here: There are many things in life which require us to wait for. Waiting may appear to be an easy task but can be a very difficult chore. The need to wait is uncontrollable by us, yet waiting can be a choice. If whatever you may be waiting for means enough to you, how long would you be willing to wait?

Are you waiting for an old friend, relationship to be restored, your possessions returned, treasure to earn, answers? Is whatever you are waiting for worth your action of waiting? How faithful are you in waiting? How much longer are you willing to wait?
Should what you wait for never come or take place, will you stop or continue waiting?
I fear I might go for the latter.

忙碌的感觉

今天突然间记得忙碌的感觉是怎么样了。这两天将会有好多事情要做，时间排得满满的。

15 January,
4-6PM: Sports practice in school
6.30PM: Band practice in church

16 January,
Morning: Study group(try la, hahaha!)
2.30-3.30PM: Band practice at youth centre
3.30-4.30PM: Class sketch practice
4.30-6.30PM: Youth group fellowship

17 January,
Whole day out

其实比起其他同学，这可能只是小儿科罢了。但我不懂得怎样安排好时间，节目都很重要，不知如何嗜好！
以上的节目，我不可能每一个都早到；却很不喜欢迟到！怎么办？
哈哈，那就早退吧。

忙忙碌碌我不喜欢；
游手好闲也是不好。

开始有忙碌生活的感觉了，试试看吧！

庆幸至少晚上可以有自己休息的时间，感谢主。

Kluang Baru Basketball Court

Eighteenth hour of the day
in a weather just so nice
went with few friends a neighbourhood court
I enjoyed the presence and movement of air


There were groups of people
we were one of those


At a corner stood a man of ripe age
doing his Taiji without a care
gently done with strength, every move
totally undisturbed by his surroundings


A row of bikes parked at a side
some Malay boys gathered
minding their business, puffing their cigarettes
awaiting a ball before playing on the grass


Not far away were a family of three
a young couple with a string in their hands
the tender aged trying to grab the flying kite from the sky
among all, this caught my eye

打球

此时下午四点四十五分。

等一下有个重要的约会，必须准时出席。 朋友邀了我在篮球场打球，本来不想运动的我竟然受不起朋友请吃雪糕的诱惑，答应了去尝试磨练磨练球艺。好久没做运动了，整个人就像未长出翅膀的蝴蝶一样，动弹不得。 其实是不想动而已，只想睡觉。昨天竟然成功睡了大约七个小时的午觉，真爽。但也很浪费时间。
毛毛虫要是不熬过一个艰难又沉闷的过程就永远不能变成蝴蝶在天空中飞舞。

不想去打球，可是一定要去。 实现承诺比纵容自己更重要。

去打篮球只是一个非常非常非常简单的比喻。 这世界上还有无数我们不想做但得做的事情。请问有哪个学生是心甘情愿念书，做功课的呢？哪个成人会希望天天有做不完的工作？

不喜欢，不愿意，不会（有时），不想  做的事情，见的人，去的地方，失去的事物，放下的东西等等，  毕竟很多都是我们所需要经历的。
地球不是天堂，万事不如意。

运动对健康有益，待会儿去做运动是对的。

朋友， 谢谢。

请别忘了冰淇淋的约定！