Family Dinner

Last night was one of the few times in a year we gather the whole family to have a meal at a local restaurant. It was indeed a joyous and meaningful occasion for me and my wife. We have reach a certain age in life when we could enjoy and appreciate the warmth and love of the family knowing that we have fulfilled our responsibilities in bringing up our children in a good way and being quite confident they will do well in life and become useful people.

Cyclone Nargis change our perspective too - We are proud of our children response in their donations to our relief effort in Yangon. We all feel lucky to be living in Singapore and having everything we could have wanted in life and more. In contrast to the poor villagers living in the Irrawaddy delta, fighting for survival everyday under conditions which are hardly different from what it must have been a hundred year ago. It is good we feel a need to reach out and help in the small way we did, that we empathise with our fellow human being, that we are not superior to them, we are fellow travellers in life adventure, just that a lot of people has been dealt a lousy card by lady luck... thousands lost their life just like that... karma?

As we reflect on this matter, our thoughts also goes to the people suffering from the Sichuan earthquake......