Smell the Flowers

Last 2 weeks, there was an open house event at the orphanage. The board, sponsors and people from the nearby area has been invited to attend as the children would like to perform a play as a thank you to everyone before the school year ends.

The children on the stage were excited and look forward to entertain us with their best performance. Cat heard that they have been training a whole month for this. But half of the attendees were not even paying attention. Some were talking, others were already showing a bored face and looking at their watches as if they were wasting their time there and would prefer to be elsewhere.

Then one of the board director stood up and went to the stage.
'Could everyone just off their handphones and give only 30 minutes of your attention to these children. Not a week or a day but only 30 minutes. They have been practising practically every day in order to express their gratitude to all of us. We, who have enjoyed a lot in life, are only asked to sit and give 30 minutes of our time. That is all that is required. Is it too much to ask?'

Ooo..there are still heroes in this life. Cat was already standing and clapping her hands for that guy who has voiced out cat's mind before cat got the chance. The clapping was cut short as cat's friend was pulling cat's hand to make cat sit down. :) Ouch..

There were those with guilty faces and those like cat who was glad for the speech. There was a bit of a silence and the show continues with now everyone giving their full attention.
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If we don't have time to listen to these children, what do we have time for?
We do need to slow down and remember what we really need. a sense of fulfillment, of happiness, of peace.

Maybe we are too occupied with ourselves (this includes cat). We are in a hurry to get home at night, so that we can go to bed, so that we can wake up early in the morning, so that we can go to work again ..etc..etc.. :) And we spend the weekend preparing the work for the next week.

Cat agree that we need to work hard sometimes to make end meets. But when we never stop to look at the sky, we lose our human side. We become mechanical.

In the old days, people work side by side with nature, using their hands producing something that they can touch and feel. They interact with neighbors to sell their products. Nowadays things are more abstract. We sit in front of a screen and does not connect it with real life.

Cat is as guilty as the next person. Cat hated waiting in line and would just like to rush from one place to another. Cat would sometimes get impatient when the service was slow regardless that it was a fresh new staff who was at her first job. Hmm.. :) but Cat is trying to change.

Maybe it's time to slow down a bit and give someone a break. Cat is going to pay more attention to what's happening around cat and spend some time getting to know her neighbors. :) Ah...Cat.. seems like you'll never graduate from this life's school.

Signing off,
Cat

When life’s problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate