“What is that?” is a short film directed by Constantin Pilavios about a conversation, between a father and his son, when sparrow landed in front of them.

There was an email, with a very similar story, which I received back in 2006. Whichever came first, I do not know. But I hope, through the conversation of the father and his son, we could all be brought back to the time when we were young. Did our parents not shower us with tender love and patience?

This short film reminded me of the many conservations between my inquisitive four years old niece and my mother. Whenever she was watching TV programs with my mother, she would always ask her grandmother what was going on in the show. When my mother answered her question, she would pause to think for a moment and continue to ask another question.

This process of question and answer would just go on and on; the little one never seemed to run out of questions. However, no matter how many questions the little one asked, my mother would always answer in a gentle, patient and loving manner.

I was also reminded of the few conversations one of my aunts had with my grandmother. My grandmother is going to ninety-five soon and she tends to forget about certain things. Like the father in the short film, she would ask the same question repetitively or repeat the same words again and again. But my aunt would always answer her gently and lovingly with a smile.

What similarity can you see between my niece and my grandmother? One is four years old and another at ninety-five years old. Now, if we think about it, my grandmother was once young like my niece and probably with an inquisitive mind. My niece will one day be old like my grandmother and may tend to get forgetful too.

The young will not be with us forever as they move out of the house one day to start their own lives. The best memories are the attention, love and acceptance we can give to them now; these will positively influence them to act the same way toward their children.

The old too will not be with us forever as they will pass on one day. Let them leave with loving thoughts, much as the love and care which they showered upon us when we were young.

Chicken A La Carte is an inspiring short film by Ferdinand Dimadura, produced in 2005.

How fortunate most of us are, to have food served readily on our tables hot from the stove. And yet some of us have often taken the food for granted. We have so often reminded our young ones to be grateful for the food served to them and yet we are guilty of taking our food for granted at time.

I was once talking to a friend about not wasting food in restaurant and she shared with me a remark her friend made, “would finishing the food on the table made a difference to all the hungry people in the world?”

Her friend certainly has a point there especially when we view from her friend’s perspective. Finishing up all the food on the table would not make a difference to all the hungry people in the world and forcing all the food down would not be good for health too. What else could her friend have done? What can we have done?

Then it dawned upon me, “although it is not a good habit and bad for health to finish all the food we have ordered in the restaurant, we can order the amount of food that is within our capacities.” In other words, “do not order more than we can finish.”

In doing that, we do not waste food and we do not do harm to our healths by over eating. I know, we still wouldn’t make a difference to all the hungry people in the world, but this is the first step. What’s next? Let us start from around us?