The story told of Alvin whom unselfishly gave his golden harmonica to a very ill boy, Tommy, in the hope that he would get better. Isn’t this the true spirit of Christmas? A time of giving to our family and friends and especially to strangers we have never met. And yes, I do agree that the spirit of giving should be all year long and not only during Christmas.

Last year what my friend and I had done are to pool some money to buy presents for the poor children in her community. We did not have a lot of money but she and her cousins managed to buy a lot of presents. They had a great time shopping and wrapping the presents. She told me that the children were really happy to receive all those presents. And that made me very happy too. However, sad to say I would not be able to do much of that this year. How about you, what would you be doing this Christmas?

If you have no idea, maybe you would like to be involved with this great ecookbook idea from Patricia Wisdom; her creative way of helping to spread word on UNICEF. Do hop over to take a look.

And something which I started a year ago. You can download a free copy of Symphony of Love: Pictorial eBook of Love Quotations by Paying it Forward.

More story on giving at Christmas: Secret Santa reveals his identity

If you have kids of your own or have spent time with kids, then I’m sure you can recall how they have always tried to imitate you; whether it is the thing you are saying or things you are doing. Most of the time we would find their imitations funny and adorable to us.

What if they imitate our violent acts or our rude cursing and swearing at each other? That wouldn’t be very funny and adorable right?

If we ever hope to build a world where people love and care for each other, where people show loving kindness, compassion and respect toward each other, then we have to do it from young. We have to inculcate in the young to love and care for each other, to show loving kindness, compassion and respect toward each other. But how can we hope to influence them with such positive values if we act otherwise?

In other words, we must start first with ourselves.

When I think of honesty, very often the fable about George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree comes into my mind. When asked about it, he cried, “I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it with my little hatchet.”

The anger died out of his father’s face, and taking the boy tenderly in his arms, he said, “My son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees!…”

However, there is no evidence that this ever occurred. This was part of a book of mythic stories authored by Mason Weems that made Washington a legendary figure beyond his wartime and presidential achievements.

I believe that most of us have lied in one way or another. In fact according to Dr. Gail Saltz, she believes that everybody lies. It may only be “white” lies, but everyone tells lies or “omits the truth” sometimes. Why do people lie? Dr. Gail said, “They lie to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment.” Of course these are not the only reasons.

Whatever the reasons behind the lie, could one ever justify a lie that he/she made? Maybe it would be more acceptable when it was a “white” lie. Then again, “how can we make sure that people don’t abuse the uses of “white” lie?”

University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman said, “Anything that is not accurate is a lie. You can argue that a lie done to make someone else feel better is relatively minor. But they have an effect. The bottom line is that a lie is a lie.”

Although he did mention that it is socially useful to tell lies, I believe that in the end we always have the power to choose to tell the truth. As what Mark Twain said, “I can lie, but I won’t.” I hope that I will be strong to choose the truth at all time.

I have always reminded myself that lie is like a thrown boomerang, it will fly back to you … eventually. However, if I choose to speak the truth always, I don’t have to remember anything; I don’t have to worry about the snowballing effect that comes with continuous lying.

Randy Pausch author of The Last Lecture said, “Most people who have told a lie think they got away with it … when in fact, they didn’t.” One could have lied and fooled the whole world, but when one faced the mirror, one couldn’t lie or fool the one within. So I believe that Honesty is the best policy. Do you?

I took a lesson on Patient along this shoreline at Sembawang Park the other day. With my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone, I waited patiently. The slightest movement I made, the ‘timer’ would reset and I would have to wait for another 5-10 minutes. What was I waiting for?

Could I have just walked to the shoreline, asked the little crabs to come out from their hidings to let me take some photos of them? I did try but I failed terribly.

Walking directly to the crabs would send them scurrying into the openings between rocks and within seconds, it seemed as if they just vanished into thin air.

Then I tried standing still to wait for them to appear. After a while, they started to explore the surroundings carefully and slowly from the openings. Upon seeing that, I made the mistake to squat down too quickly and they were gone.

I learned my lessons well from the mistakes I made. I squatted very still and aimed the camera phone at the openings where the crabs appeared before. Patiently I waited and it paid off. Within 5-10 minutes, the crabs started appearing from the openings again.

First there was only 1 daring crab which came out to explore, then 2, 3, 4 and it went on, coming out from the different openings between rocks. Before I knew it, I saw about 10 of them around me. With as little abrupt movement as possible this time, I aimed and focused my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone at one of the largest crabs.

And the result? The second picture above. There is still a limitation on the camera phone. Pardon me for the poor shot. However, through this incidence, I realized how much professional photographers must have gone through to capture all those spectacular moments; how many hours of waiting for that close to perfect shot?

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

If they had not been enormously patient, could Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein turned out to be great scientists?

In one of Leonardo da Vinci‘s quotation, he mentioned, “Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.”

And for anyone who love gardening, what can you share about patient on gardening? I believe that patience and persistence are two key attributes to a lovely garden?

And the work of farmers who are still using traditional methods of farming. How many hours did they have to plough in the field, look after the seedlings before they can have a good harvest. Not to mention, they are under the mercy of Mother Nature.

And parents, what can children teach you about patience?