Weights

It was like carrying one child on my right shoulder, and another on my left. All the way from Chinatown, back home. Though, its moments like these that will remain in my mind, years after leaving this place eventually. Things like, if you don't have money, you don't have food, therefore you don't eat (That only happened to me once or twice here, so not too bad), or the fact that if you don't have money, but there's food in the house, you don't get to eat if you don't cook the raw chicken. Or the fact that you don't have a car and even if you're gonna buy truckloads of stuff, you're gonna have to figure out a way on carrying those things back home. I remember carrying a 5kg rice on one shoulder and 2 kg chicken on the other, just a few years back, and I remember thinking to myself, "Never again in hell". Of course, I wasn't rich enough to eat out everyday, so like it or not, I had to.

So today, I carried 8kg of drinks on one hand, and another 8 kg of other groceries on the left, and it really wasn't that bad. It was an effort, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

No, I'm not trying to say that I'm physically strong (although....terel jugak la kan?=p), but, things that we make a fuss about everyday, don't deserve the fuss after you get used to doing it. When listening to my dad's, uncles' and aunts' college stories, theirs were WORSE. I am not kidding. My dad told us (my brother and I) that he never came back home, not even once, during his duration of study in the states, and he only had one phone call from his dad. He had to work several jobs, even when under scholarships, and he was tight, really tight. Though, he did mention that there were others that has gotten it worse. It's really hard to imagine, when you've never been through it yourself.

So, I try to tell myself that every little discomfort that I come across, I should just let it pass. Instead of venting anger and annoyance, embrace it. It is going to be a part of a very beautiful memory when I leave this place, I'm very sure of it. It's hard I admit to stay calm when things are tough, but these things built character. If you've had it easy all your life, you've never really lived at all, and I'm sure everyone goes through it at least once in their life. God is fair.

I, for one, have been pretty lucky. Though not amongst the luckiest, but I'm grateful.

(This post was meant for Thursday. I forgot to post it)