Between USD1 M & The Son Back

About two weeks ago, i received a bad news that one of my distance relative had lost her baby. The baby died in the custody of a babysitter.  Another case of choking while being left alone with a bottle of milk.

In 1992, when my first born was 3 months old, I was promoted and was given the responsibility to manage a branch in Kuantan.  My wife and baby were in KL and I became a weekend husband.  After three months, I called my wife and asked her, " Rozi, what do you really want in life?" "Happines...." she said.  And I added,"Happiness is not about making money, happiness is about being together".  She understood what I meant and immediately she tendered her resignation.  Soon after that, she and six-month old Akram joined me in Kuantan.  At that time, a lot f people close to us objected to her action of leaving the job. They cannot accept that a woman left a job so that she can take care of her baby.  And i never like the idea of someone else taking care of kid other than her mom.

In December 1993, there was a news in TV3 about a couple, whose maid had ran away that day, and this couple need to go to work but didn't know what to do with their two kids, 4 year old boy and two year-old daughter. Then someone call them and said there was somebody who can take care of their kids and by 9am they sent their kids to this lady in Bangsar.  Then both of them rush to work.  ( I remember the timing very well because it was also at that time that the condominium in Highland Towers collapsed)

By 11am, the husband got a call from the police.  Her son had died from falling off the 15th floor, where they were supposed to be taken care of by the new-found babysitter.  I still remember how sad and how disturbed the couple was when they were shown on TV.   They were speechless and did not response to the reporters.
At that time, i asked my wife," If you go to that couple and offer them... on their left side there is USD 1 million and on their right side there is their son back, which one, that you think, they would choose?"  I asked that quite loud so that the people that opposed to her resignation before ( that happen to be around at that time) would hear that and would understand my point.  Of course they, the couple, would have chosen their son back, no matter what amount of money you offered them.  How do we know? because at that time we also had a son and a daughter. And we know we would never trade them for anything.

"You see Rozy, that couple could not make that choice.  But when you resigned last year, we made that choice, that we want our son rather than the money.  We are lucky because we have the choice. But  that couple didn't have that".

Now 2010, it is quite impossible for the working couples to live without a maid. And that includes me. I have a new family with three small kids and the mother is working.  So to minimize the risk of getting a bad maid, I went to Jakarta/  Bandung to get one myself.  And Alhamdullilah, our maid is very very good. 

Nali Ahmad

Nazli Ahmad is my friend since 1977.  We went to the same boarding school in Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan. Then we continued our study in the United States.  Didn't see again until last July when we had our school reunion in KL.  One thing i noticed about her is that she has a flair in writing. I really enjoyed her writings and had urged her to start a blog.  But until today she has not started yet. She actually can start by copy and paste all her writings that she had sent to our e-group forum.  There's no need to write new ones yet.

Nazli, or affectionately known as Nali, has 14 children. And she has thousands stories about her children that she can tell us.  So Nali, what are you waiting for?

Thank you, Pakcik Hassan

I wrote my first posting on my blog in June this year.   Then i kind of forgot about it.  Then i received a nice surprise in my email.  An email from someone called Pakcik Hassan.  He urged me to write. And think there's a lot of people out there who are like me, love to write but then do not really make time for it.  Therefore I would like to share his letter with all of you, with his permission of course.  And one person that I am sure can benefit from the letter is Nali Ahmad.

I owe it to Pak Hassan.  Thank you Pakcik Hassan.

"Encik Nordin,

 

I came to your blog by accident and was surprised to find the June posting was the first and had been updated despite a promise to relate about your family trip. I wonder why.

 

I started blogging three, four years ago. I did it for a reason. I had been running a voluntary school for my kampong children for over ten years. It was doing well with a measure of success. It was a gratifying effort and I wanted to write aboit it to tell visitors that it is worth our efford to help the poor  children around us in education. Gift of monet and material does not go very far but education is for life. My blog is meant to be a small window to see through, not meant to be a showcase. Thse, my single-handed voluntary work and blog writing, have been running fairly well, alhamdilillah.

 

So, why should you stop. You have a message, a deep-seated desire to express your inner conviction that this world is temporary. Indeed it is so. Give yourself a chance to tell the readers why you feel so;  incidents, expreriences, tragedies, successes in your life? you seem to be able to express well in English. It is a shame if all has gone cold before it starts. Push on. Express your inner self with feeling and sincerity, without attempts to show off.  It does not matter if you have one or two readers. You have children.  Matured as you are one dy, they will assess your writing and tke in what you are telling them today while you are well and healthy. After all this is all temporary as you rightly believe.

 

Salaam

Pakcik Hassan"

Selamat Hari Raya Haji / Happy Eid Adha

Tomorrow Malaysians will be celebrating hari raya haji. And i am still KL, in my office in KL Sentral. For the first time in many years, I'm not going home to Kuala Terengganu. Poor Mom.  I just too engrossed with my work lately and totally forgot to plan to balik kampung.

Raya Haji is always a special occasion for me.  Normally i would make sure that I'l be home on that day and would slaughter a cow or two.  Normally I shared the korban with friends and relatives.  The korban meat would then be distributed among the needy families in the kampung.  One family would get between 500g and 1kg each.  It would be enough for them to have a good meal for a day or two.

I did that because some forty years ago, i could only taste the sweetness of the beef only during this occasion, someone would bring the meat to the house. It wasn't that much, not more than 50 or 100g, but that was good enough for me. Because that was the only time my diet would consist of meat for the year.   That's how i remembered it.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha everyone!

The Day I Learnt About Honesty

It was winter, January 1982, Cleveland Ohio.  I was at Euclid Avenue waiting for a bus take to take me to downtown.  When the bus stopped, i boarded the bus through the rear door.  We were supposed to pay for the ride by putting the money in the coin box beside the driver on our way out when we reached our destination.  There's two types of coin box, one with the electronic counter and the other was just a plain glass box.  The first one will give out a sound whenever you put enough money in it and the other will totally depend on the driver to watch it.  This bus came with the second type, the clear glass box.

Being 17 at that time, i thought i wanted to save some money by not paying in full and i didn't think the driver will ever notice it.  The full fare was just sixty cents but still, i didn't want to pay in full.

Then it was time for me to get down from the bus.  I passed the coin box and put in forty cents and hurried down.  When i was out of the bus, i needed to wait for the bus to move on before i could cross the street.  While waiting, i took a look at the driver, just want to check if he noticed what i did.  To my surprise, that driver look at me straight in the eyes.  He just stared at me.  That means he knew what i did.  I was restless.  He kept on staring at me until he drove away.

From that moment, i promised myself that i would be honest in whatever i do, no matter where i am  and no matter if there is anybody looking at me or not.

Then i realized that there were a lot of Islamic values in this american community.  People were ( and still are i guess) basically very honest and hygienic.  Newspaper were sold in a box where you need to  put some coin to open it.  And i saw some of my friends who only pay for one newspapers but took one each after they opened the box.  

One day I was at ATM machine and try get a US100 from the machine. It only came out US50. I went to the bank and complained about it.  The teller apologized to me and immediately gave me US50.  She trusted me. There's no form to sign or no letter to write.  If that happened in Malaysia, you may not get your money at all.

Five years in the United States taught me a lot.

Tan Sri P Ramlee

Who doesn't know P Ramlee? I am sure almost everyone in Malaysia knows him.  But how many people know what he went through during the last few years of his life. I didn't know  it until i watched the documentary in National Geographic a few days ago.

It really sad to know that he was having a very difficult life then.  It makes me feel angry.  Today we call him Seniman Agung.  The Government gave him the title "Tan Sri".  But all that happened after he is no longer with us. I am angry because it is very typical of our people, to only appreciate someone after that person is no longer with us.  P Ramlee died as a poor, lonely and distressed person.

Dear Ramlee, if you can hear me, my "suara hati", please accept my apology, on behalf of all the people around you while you are alive, for abandoning you when you needed us the most.

May we not to repeat the mistake again with our love ones now.

Sri Sementara

About ten years ago, i visited a family friends, Abang Yusof and Kak Moh ( it should be Kak Mah but  she's a Kelantanese, so we called her Kak Moh, just as how the Kelantanese would have addressed her).  As we parked our car in front of her small bungalow, we noticed that they named their house "Sri Sementara" (means The Temporary).

After we have been seated comfortably in their living room, i just couldn't wait to ask them why they had named their house 'Sementara', are they planning to move soon?  

I met Abang Yusof and Kak Moh when we were traveled together to Amman, then to Medinah and Mekah in September 1999.  I had my mother Aminah Taib, my wife Rozita and my two kids, Akram & Balqis, traveled with me.  Akram was eight and Balqis was five at that time. We took a Jordanian flight to Amman and had a night stopover.  Later we were joined by Wan Muhd Zamri for the trip to Madinah & Mekah.
That was my first trip to Mekah and Madinah and I just couldn't describe my feelings of being there. On the return trip, we made a stopover in Amman again and this time we took the opportunity to visit Baitulmaqdis/ Masjidil Aqsa in the neighboring country. (I would write more of my first trip to these three holly lands later.)

My eyes scanned the entire area of Abang Yusof's house.  There was nothing much in the house. It was a  very simple setting with minimum decorations.  Perhaps they were really moving somewhere, I said to myself.

Kak Moh was serving the kopi-O and pisang goreng (black coffee and banana fritters) when Abang Yusof said," Buke koh kito semo ni ake tingga ke dunio ni pado  bilo-bilo maso sajo?" (Aren’t all of us shall be leaving this world at anytime now?).

With that answer, i immediately understood what they meant by naming their house as Sri Sementara.  It was a temporary stay for them in this world. 

Shouldn't we all think like that? Sometimes we are too busy chasing the rainbow that we forget that at any time Allah Almighty can call upon us at anytime. Are we prepared for that? Do we have all the answers for the all the questions that He will ask us?

Where did all our wealth come from? And where had we spent them? Had we read the Qur'an and understood all His messages? Had we lived by them?  

Or perhaps we have been infected by the disease of the akhir zaman, al wahan, like what our Prophet had said,

Rasulullah SAW pernah bersabda yang bermaksud: "Seluruh umat manusia hampir mengelilingi kamu seperti mereka (yang kebuluran) mengelilingi hidangan makanan,
lalu seorang sahabat bertanya: Adakah kerana bilangan kami pada waktu itu sedikit, wahai Rasulullah?
Jawab Baginda: Tidak, bahkan bilangan kamu amat ramai tetapi kamu adalah laksana buih di lautan.
Allah akan mencabut daripada hati seteru atau musuh kehebatan kamu dan menyematkan dalam hati kamu perasaan al wahn.
Lantas sahabat bertanya lagi:
Ya Rasulullah! Apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan al wahn itu? Ujar Baginda: Iaitu cintakan dunia dan takutkan mati."
(Hadis riwayat Abu Daud dan Ahmad) 

Prophet had said, which means: "All people surround you as they sit around the food", then a friend asked: "Was it because we are small in number at that time, O Messenger of Allah?"His answer: "No, there are actually lots of you, but you are like bubbles in the ocean. Allah will draw your greatness from the heart of the your enemies and will put al wahn in your hearts".So a friend asked: Ya Rasullullah! What is al wahn?He said: "The love for life and fear of death. "(Hadith narrated by Abu Dawood and Ahmad)


Perhaps I too, should name my house a " Sri Sementara 2".