Appreciation, Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep, Gratitude, Inspiration, Life, Love, Margaret Schwarzkopf, Mary Elizabeth Frye, Poems, Relationship

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

bk
May 21, 2008

I happened to chance upon this poem a while ago when I was checking my email. Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep is a poem largely considered to be written by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1904-2004), but of disputed origin. Of course the reason I am sharing this remarkable verse here is not to discuss who the original author is but to share with you the wisdom in the words.

It was said that Frye first wrote this poem in 1932 for a German Jewish friend, Margaret Schwarzkopf. Margaret Schwarzkopf had been worrying about her mother, who was ill in Germany. The rise of Anti-Semitism had made it unwise for her to join her mother. When her mother died, she told Mary Frye she had not had the chance to stand by her mother’s grave and weep.

Frye wrote the poem as part of her condolences. Like Frye who wrote this inspiring verse for her friend, I would like to share this remarkable verse with you and to the survivors of Myanmar’s (Burma) Cyclone and China’s Earthquake. May this poem inspires, consoles and strengthens their human spirits.

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

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Photo credit: Ulrich Welzel

Attitude, Dream, Gratitude, Happiness, Inspiration, Life, Picture/Photos

Beauty is an Art

bk
May 20, 2008

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt –
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Love this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. The wisdom in the quotation itself is timeless and enlightening. I believe that beauty is an art – an art of human being. I remembered reading a story of a lady, by the name of Rose, who went to college at 87 years old. When asked what motivate her to be in the college at this age, she said, “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”

I would like to share with you part of the story that is especially inspiring:

“We do not stop playing, because we are old; We grow old because we stop playing.”

“There are only few secrets to always staying young, being happy and achieving success.”

“You have to laugh and find humor every day.”

“You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are already dead and don’t even noticed about it!”

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.”

“If you are 19 years old and lying on bed for one full year without doing at least one productive thing, you will turn 20 years old. If I am 87 years old and lying on bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn 88.”

“Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.”

“Have no regrets.”

“The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

That is certainly very true. We are growing older everyday but the question is, “are we also growing up?” As the saying goes, “Growing old is mandatory, growing old is optional.”
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Photo credit: Foundry Co

Happiness, Life

I’ve Arrived and Checked In

bk
May 19, 2008

A story of an email gone wrong, contributed by John Beahan, which I received from a friend a few days ago.
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I’ve Arrived and Checked In

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.

The husband checked into the hotel. The was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife.

However. he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and, without realising his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband’s funeral.

He was a minister who had a heart attack and died. The widow decided to check her email, expecting messages from relatives and friends.

After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow’s son rushed into the room and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I’ve Arrived
Date: October 16, 2004

I know you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!

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Photo credit: Peter Thomas

Giving, Gratitude, Information, Life, Love

Let Us Say a Little Prayer

bk
May 14, 2008

Another powerful storm headed toward Myanmar’s cyclone-devastated delta on Wednesday and the U.N. warned that inadequate relief efforts could lead to a second wave of deaths among the estimated 2 million survivors, according to The Associated Press.

This will not only make it even harder to get to the worst-affect area but will also add on to the agony of the survivors.

“They are already weak,” said Pitt, the U.N. spokeswoman. A new storm will impact “people’s ability to survive and cope with what happened to them … this is terrible.”

Although the news of a second cyclone was not broadcast by Myanmar’s state-controlled media, Yangon residents picked up the news on foreign broadcasts and on the Internet.

“I prayed to the Lord Buddha, ‘please save us from another cyclone. Not just me but all of Myanmar,'” said Min Min, a rickshaw driver, whose house was destroyed in Cyclone Nargis. Min Min, his wife and three children now live on their wrecked premises under plastic sheets.

“Another cyclone will be a disaster because our relief center is already overcrowded. I am very worried,” said Tun Zaw, 68, another Yangon resident who is living in a government relief center.

The most frustrating thing is that soldiers have barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in the hardest-hit areas, but gave access to an International Red Cross representative who returned to Yangon on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

According to the agency’s country head, Bridget Gardner, the damages were extensive and large but also selflessness as survivors joined in the rescue efforts.

“People who have come here having lost their homes in rural areas have volunteered to work as first aiders. They are humanitarian heroes,” said Gardner.

Gardner’s team visited five locations in the Irrawaddy delta. In one of them, they saw 10,000 people living without shelter as rain tumbled from the sky.

“The town of Labutta is unrecognizable. I have been here before and now with the extent of the damage and the crowds of displaced people, it’s a different place,” Gardner was quoted as saying in a statement by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

In Labutta and elsewhere she said volunteers were giving medical aid to hundreds of people a day even though “they have no homes to go back to when they finish.”It is truly an act of selflessness from the survivors.

Let us join our hands in prayer for the people of Myanmar and China in this difficult time and wish goodness upon them. Regardless of what religion you believe in, do include the people of Myanmar and China in your prayer everyday.

Ways you can help:
1. World Vision (Singapore)
2. Save the Children (Internatinal)
3. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) (International)
4. The Salvation Army (International – Please remember to state where you want your donation to go to)

Appreciation, Giving, Gratitude, Happiness, Information, Life, Love

United for a Good Cause

bk
May 9, 2008

I believe that some of you have read or heard about the situation in Myanmar. It was discouraging to read one report from Yahoo last night that the U.N. had suspended relief flight after the Myanmar government blocked the U.N. agency from distributing supplies it flew into Yangon on Friday. I was relief to read just a while ago that U.N. has resumed relief flights although relief workers were still being barred entry.

According to John Holmes, the U.N. coordinator for humanitarian affairs, he said that the death toll from Cyclone Nargis ranges from 63,000 to 100,000, well above the Myanmar government’s announced toll of 22,000. Most of the victims were in the Irrawaddy Delta, where as many as 6 million people lived. It was reported that about 2,000 square miles of land in the Irrawaddy Delta is under water. With phone lines down, roads blocked and electricity networks destroyed, it was nearly impossible to reach isolated areas in the swamped Irrawaddy delta, where the stench of unburied and decaying bodies added to the misery. Heavy rain that is forecast in the next week is certain to worsen the plight of almost 2 million people awaiting food, clean water, shelter and medicine, according to The Associated Press.

In this photograph released by Democratic Voice of Burma on Friday, May 9, 2008, bodies of children killed during Cyclone Nargis lay in water in an unknown location in Myanmar.(AP Photo/str)

A child plays in flood water, from Cyclone Nargis, 30 km (19 miles) from the centre of Yangon in this handout photograph taken May 9, 2008. REUTERS/Joe Lowry/International of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/Handout (MYANMAR).

Survivors in one of the worst-affected areas, near the town of Bogalay about 20 miles inland, were among those fighting hunger, illness and wrenching loneliness.

“All my 28 family members have died,” said Thein Myint, a 68-year-old fisherman who was overcome by tears and trauma as he tried to explain how the May 3 cyclone swept away the rest of his family. “I am the only survivor.”

Survivors were sleeping amid the debris of their splintered homes in Bogalay, where more than 95 percent of the houses were destroyed.

Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other supplies landed Friday in Myanmar without incident. “We are not experiencing any problems getting in, (unlike) the United Nations,” said Danish Red Cross spokesman Hans Beck Gregersen.

“Many are not buried and lie in the water. They have started rotting and the stench is beyond words,” Anders Ladekarl, head of the Danish Red Cross.

The United Nations has issued a “flash appeal” to its members to raise $187.3 million in cyclone relief for Myanmar. That amount is based on a quick assessment of needs by more than 20 organizations, and it includes $56 million for food, nearly $50 million for logistics and about $20 million for shelter, according to CNN.com.

“If we do not act now, and if we do not act fast, more lives will be lost,” said John Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

U.N. officials said the pledges are needed to provide food, water purification tablets, emergency health kits, mosquito nets, cooking sets, plastic sheeting and water jugs for at least 1.5 million people in the next three months.

I have added a badge from Network for Good on the right which will allow people in the US to make a donation to the people of Myanmar. For people in Singapore, you can still follow this link http://www.worldvision.org.sg/st_donation_methods.php to make your contribution. If you know of any other ways where people can contribute, please let me know. Let us all do our part to help the people in Myanmar. Many thanks in advance and wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead.

Ways you can help:
1. World Vision (Singapore)
2. Save the Children (Internatinal)
3. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) (International)
4. The Salvation Army (International – Please remember to state where you want your donation to go to)

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Appreciation, Giving, Gratitude, Happiness, Life, Love

An Urgent Call to Act

bk
May 6, 2008

After reading one of the featured news from Yahoo last night, my mind was deeply disturbed. As I was lying in the comfort of my bed, my mind couldn’t help wandering off. Questions popped up in my mind one after another. How is the situation there? I am lying cozily here in my bed but how about the people? Still stranded in the open without any shelters, clean water, foods, clothing and blankets? It is probably night time over there and as the chill of the night sets in, people in the hardest hit areas, will probably be trembling and freezing. As I thought about these, my heart felt heavy. I read that the death toll could hit as high as 10,000 and leaving many missing and homeless. Just a moment ago, I read the update from Yahoo that the death toll soared above 22,000 and more than 41,000 others were missing.

The force of nature is definitely not one to be reckon with. Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the World Food Program said.

According to a report from Associated Press, images from state television showed large trees and electricity poles sprawled across roads and roofless houses ringed by large sheets of water in the Irrawaddy River delta region, which is regarded as Myanmar’s rice bowl. “From the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge,” Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration office in Yangon, said in a statement.

According to a report from Channelnewsasia.com, “NASA pictures taken on Monday showed the entire coastal plain under water, with fallow agricultural areas of the delta – the country’s main rice-growing region – particularly hard hit by flooding. The storm hammered the country’s former capital, Yangon, over the weekend and left hundreds of thousands homeless across the country. The images showed the city, which sits on the delta’s southeastern edge and has a population of more than six million, surrounded by flooding.”

Foreign aid teams have described scenes of horror in the region, with rice fields littered with corpses and desperate survivors without food or shelter four days after the storm struck.

The United Nations has warned that the widespread flooding will pose a “major challenge” to aid organisations desperately struggling to get assistance to those affected.

It believes hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless in the Yangon region alone, and there are fears of disease spreading in the absence of proper shelter and drinking water.

For those of you in Singapore who want to make a donation to help out the people in Myanmar, you can do it through the Singapore’s World Vision Website: http://www.worldvision.org.sg/st_newsroom.php

For those not in Singapore, I do not know how you may be able to make a donation. If you know of any website where you can make an online donation, do feel free to let me know. Many thanks!

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Appreciation, Attitude, Determination, Gratitude, Inspiration, Life, Video

An Inspiring Dance

bk
May 5, 2008

This is a truly amazing video sent to me by a friend. What could a guy who lost one leg while still a child and a girl who lost her arm in a car accident do? After watching them, I would say almost anything! Their disabilities did not stop them from dancing. Through this inspiring dance, they not only shown strength, but also shown great determination. And through the dance, they had also shown how friendship and mutual support can once again make them ‘complete.’

This reminded me of another story which I posted previously in my other blog, Inspirational and Heart Touching Story of a Dancer.

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After watching this, what else is not possible?